Need help with cooling issues
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Need help with cooling issues So I changed my Camaro’s thermostat to a 160 and I changed all the coolant made sure I topped it off I started the car everything was normal but as soon I drove it the temp went over 210 and back down to the middle I drove it a little more and the temp wen higher Between 1/2 and 3/4 and then after 10 min went back down to 1/2 and kept doing the same thing over and over the oil looks clean. Coolant level doesn’t drop doesn’t loose power what can this be ? Bad head gasket ? Bad water pump ? ( does not leak)
Joined: Nov 2001
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From: Schiller Park, ILL Member: #317
I wouldn't suspect a bad head gasket or water pump issue if this happened immediately after a t-stat change. That's too coincidental to be probable, plus there don't appear to be any other symptoms to point in that direction. Sounds like there is either air trapped in the system or you have a bad t-stat.
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From: PDX-OR-USA
Your buddy is right, sorta, a 160 without the fans reset will cause the motor to heat cycle badly. The fans need to come on about 20 over the stat, The quality of the thermo switch for the fans is huge if its not being handled by the engine ECU. You want a narrow dead band on the switch ,, Like on at 185 off at 165 many are more like on and 220 and off at 170,, hard on the engine to cycle as far as that will let it..
Joined: Nov 2001
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From: Schiller Park, ILL Member: #317
It's true that, without fan adjustments, the 160° T-stat won't do anything to lower coolant temps when you're sitting at idle or creeping along at lower speeds. But at steady cruise, and/or in cool weather, you'll still have a reduction in running temps even without fan tuning. Keep in mind though, that the stock temp gauge on the '99-'02 cars won't show much movement for temp fluctuations within the 185°F to 235°F range (you'd need a scanner to verify true coolant temp).
Going back to a stock 187°F (86°C) t-stat will NOT fix this problem though, unless the problem happens to be that you have a faulty 160° T-stat that's sticking, or you happen to burp the air out of the system while swapping T-stats again.