Hey guys, I have an 84 with a carb. 350, with some little things done to it(look at Sig.). Well anyway... when I'm driving it the temp. guage will work its way up around the 230-240 area, one time I pulled over and checked and it wasn't "overheating"? I was thinking it may just be the gauge?? it has an after market Temp. gauge , if that matter any. This is my first small block, my father converted me from Ford to Chevy lol. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Katy B.

 

230+ degrees driving down the road sounds to hot to me. Stop and go traffic maybe.

My 1991 fan kicks on at 220, so I installed a Derale temp controller (set to 160 degrees for the fan to kick on) as well as a manual switch to kick the fan on anytime I need it.

Is your Air dam(n) in place?
Is your fan coming on?
Guage may not be accurate?

Where is the temp being measured?

 

u said it was an aftermarket guage,is it mechanical? mechanical means that theres no wires going to it,but theres a thing that looks like a bullit that screws into the motor and thats what measures the temp. if its mechanical it has to be right. does the coolant in the radiator boil?

 

take alook at the wire that comes out of the block that goes to the temp gauge, I know my temp wire has come a little too close to my headers a few times and it was giving an incorrect reading.

look at the wire and see if its burned at all, you might want to splice a new length of wire in there so that you're not getting the reading through a damaged wire.

 

The 84 does not have an electric fan. It's probably the gage or sending unit. Check the actual temp with a kitchen meat thermometer.

 

If ya find out the gauge is reading right and you need to get the temp down, make sure you front spoiler is in good condition. That caused me to overheat badly

 

Yes my gauge is Mechanical, I will check the wire and see if it is burned at all. No I checked the coolant and it was not boiling. I put plenty of coolant in it, still ran warm, It also has a six blade flex fan. Right now I have it parked in my garage because I'm working on it and stuff so I'm going to check what you all are telling me hopefully I can pin point the problem and fix the darn thing, thanks for the help, I'll keep you all updated! Thanks agian!

Thanks,
Katy

 

my car runs around 210-220, so i guess thats normal, 240 ..you cay have a small problem, try to flush your radiator, or you heater core may be clogged, you could bypass that just to test it. make sure your second fan kicks on, if not, it may be your coolant temp. sensor?? because if the car is actually getting that hot and its not the temp gauge then you can be doing more and more damage to ur car, causing a head gasket to go... good luck

 

my car runs around 210-220, so i guess thats normal, 240 ..you cay have a small problem, try to flush your radiator, or you heater core may be clogged, you could bypass that just to test it. make sure your second fan kicks on, if not, it may be your coolant temp. sensor?? because if the car is actually getting that hot and its not the temp gauge then you can be doing more and more damage to ur car, causing a head gasket to go... good luck

 

This sounds like a temp sensor on its way out. They're easy to replace and pretty cheap, so I'd just pop on of those in and see where you stand.

 

the temp sensor tells the computer how hot the motor is and when the motor reaches around 220 to turn the electric fan on , so if its bad the fan won't go on.

 

I agree with DARTH you said the car got hot while driving , sounds like your front spoiler isn't there or its broken and the motor isn't getting enough cool air.
Good luck
Dan

 

doubt its your coolant sensor for 2 reasons....one it usually trips a code either hi or low....and also it has an effect on your air/fuel ratio so your car will either run rich or lean if its going bad.

 

Did you bleed the cooling system, it may just be as simple as air pockets in the system.

 

You people aren't reading obviously... SHE HAS A CARBERATED 84 WITH A MECHANICAL GUAGE...It's not the second fan there, isn't one...no computer to deal with either (not one that does anything with cooling anyway)...I would check the AIR dam though.