I don't know about your car, but w/ mine the temp gauge will creep up while sitting at a light, and when I leave the light is when I want the most power from my car anyway. Plus I like having a consistent temperature to look at, and not having the gauge swinging around in stop & go traffic. If you do most of your lead-footing from a roll, of course it doesn't matter, but for us stoplight bandits, it makes a difference.

 

Well said!...

 

right under 210 like they say its not working too hott on our cars now my lt1 car its sits where it supposed to be! You would think they would want a functional temp gague...but on the lt1 no functional fuel gague lol

 

on my LT1....(my ls1 doesn't have a working temp guage)...the guage would barely move at most lights...even in florida summer heat.

maybe they make them longer where you live

 

LS1 temp guages work just exactly as the General intended. The move to the idiot gauge was brought about by too many morons going to the dealer and complaining that there was something wrong with their car because the temperature guage was fluctuating too much. So to cut down on free service calls to tell the customer that there was nothing wrong GM engineers desinged the 99 and up temp guage. It shows cold when cold and it shows about 200° when the real temp is between 178° and about 210° and when the car over heats it will climb to the limit of the guage. Now the normal idiot is happy as a clam that his coolant temp is stable and we enthusiasts have to deal.

 

There's a couple around here that take 2-3 minutes... and you don't always make it through the first time.

 

I disagree with the temp guage in 99 ups being just idiot guages. They do work, they're just desensitized. My experience is based on my 00.

Stock Mine sat near the 210 range. The needle actually had no black between it and the 210 mark. Now w/the t-stat it sets in what I would guess as the 180-190 range. I can see a strip of black thats wider than the needle between the needle and the 210 line. The one time it began to over heat, it would climb some and hold.

No, my temp won't fluctuate from the few degrees difference from when I stop and then start moving, but it does with larger changes. Doesn't sounds like a dummy guage that only reads cold, warm and hot to me.

 

it is a dummy gauge. It doesn't show accurate readings. Most LS1's run way cooler than 210. Mine never breaks 175 except on very hot days.

If you start overheating in a 99+ car, you have that much less time to act on it and pull over cuz the needle won't move till the temp passes 210 deg. whereas on the 98 you'll see it climb immediately. Mine has never raised temp at a stoplight.

 

W/ the 98's....COuld you some how swap gauges, sending units, or the whole cluster??

 

I'm pretty sure a sending unit can fix our dummy problem..

 

It's all done in the PCM so it can NOT be fixed by simple parts swaps.

 

210 is nowhere near over heated. The coolant is good for 238° before boiling and that is the point at which you can begin to worry and get it off the road. The damage to an over heated motor starts when the coolant boils and causes air pockets allowing the metal of the heads or block to get hot enough to warp and break. If you could keep the coolant from boiling you could run your motor up to 300° + and never hurt it. But there's no coolant like that available.

 

i didn't say that 210 was overheating. I was pointing out that you would have more time to notice the needle climbing in a 98 car, whereas in a 99+ you wouldn't know until the needle moved past 210. Could make a minute or 2 difference.

 

You could raise the pressure in the cooling system and it would work- but I don't think everything could take the increased pressure. I wouldn't recommend it even if you did get it to work though, I'm sure the oems have already figured out what temps are good for efficiency and emissions so there's no point in going higher.

 

OK let me put experience to work on this one. Everyone that says your LS1 runs at 170 or 180 with a 160stat is way wrong. I have a 99 that the guage doesn't do anything but sit at 210 when warm. So what did I do I went out and got an autometer electric gauge and a 160stat. After that I am now looking for a manual fan switch because in traffic or occasionally while crusing MY CAR RUNS AT 230 while that stock gauge reads at just below 210.
That is way to hot. At that temp you risk blowing head gaskets along with loosing power, heak soak which causes retard in timing and unwanted strain on your engine.

Now yes the 160 stat alone will do some good but all it does is open earlier allowing the coolant to flow. It has nothing to do with cooling the collant. You need to either have your fans reprogramed or get a manual fan switch and a working gauge. For all of you who don't believe me go get a working gauge and let me know what you find. Hope this puts an end to this argument.