slverbullet

okay, after doing an extensive search, i am starting to believe that some of us just got retarded cars. or at least i did. anyways, ive had a problem with my car getting too hot since the first day i bought my "headache" in august of 2000. ive tried a lot of different options as far as cooling is concerned. fan switches, flushes, gimmick "super cooling" additives, etc. now from what ive read, the majority of the people seem to think that the stock radiator/fan setup is completely adequate. ive had friends with f-body's that have stock cooling systems that are more than adequate. especially with a fan switch. i guess my question is is that what else can i do to make my car run cooler with my current stock setup. as of right now my car has no real power adders of any sort. ive got a completely new block as of 2 years/40k miles ago. ive still got my air dam in the front. no plastic bags or garbage in the space between the condensor and radiator. fans seem to work good (i have the switch mod). a brief synopsis of my current problem- on highway the problem is not too severe. i think i average about (according to my temp guage on my dash) ~200*F. (with a 180* thermostat- a 160* thermo didnt improve anything). sitting in traffic i usually end up (with ac on and low speed fan on) bouncing off the high temp mark (by bouncing i mean the high speed fan kicks on and pulls it back down temporarily). my heater core is new, i have wire reinforced coolant hoses... i cant think of anything else to mention. i am not really impressed with the idea of replacing the radiator and fans but will do so if i dont have any other options. does any body have any ideas as to what i could try to make it run any cooler? would an oil cooler help at all? hmm... thanks in advance.
dave

97bowtie

Have you replaced your coolant temperature sensor? Have you tried a mechanical temperature guage to make sure the dash guage is reading accurately?

I assume you have checked for leaks and bled the system thoroughly? Do you have the factory waterpump?

slverbullet

no, i havent replaced my temp sensor. i have used my scan program to check the temp and it actually reads slightly higher than that of my dash guage. if i were to use a mechanical temp guage, how would i go about doing so? checking the temp in the radiator? there are no water leaks and the system is definitely bled right. i am using a stock water pump, however, it was replaced about 40k miles ago with the engine block replacement.

joeSS97

Ever try blowing out your radiator and condensor with some compressed air or a powerwasher?More than likely your radiator is internally blocked.JMO

Guggi97_RA

WEll, Im sure you read my post in your massive searches, so you'll know I am having a similar issue.

My only variable is that the car only runs hot with the new Ed Wright programming, and it seems to run fine with the older OBDI PCM I have been using.

I recently used an air hose to blow all the crap out of the radiator and the condensor which seems to help a little. I have verified that the water pump is working, and the radiator does not have any buildup what so ever.....

I am at a loss other than the PCM programm being my problem...

The Ed Wright folks asked me to tell them what the Long Term Fuel Trim was... How the hell am I supposed to get you that information without buying a scanner or software to do so?

Let me know what you come up with to resolve your issue.

ADam G

97bowtie

The pcm runs off a different temperature sensor than the gauge in the dash. However, since you are getting concurrent readings from both sensors it is most likely a 'real' temperature. A mechanical guage would thread into the block in the same spot as the pcm sensor. However, I wouldn't worry about that since you are seeing the same reading from pcm/gauge. It sounds like your radiator is clogged somewhere or you have a blocked coolant passage somewhere in the motor/head. You say this has been a problem for four years? The problem remained when you got the new motor 2 years ago? Was the motor a shortblock or longblock and did you replace anything else w/the new motor (radiator, etc.)?

slverbullet

the programming doesnt make a lot of sense to me. simply because so many other lt1's run fine with the obdII programming.

as far as coolant passages being blocked, when i ran the engine with a water hose attached to the the top coolant hose the water flowed out freely. radiator is completely original. its hard to say how much progression was made throughout the 4 years. i know it always ran hotter than normal.

as far as the radiator being flushed, ive flushed it myself with some radiator flush stuff i got at advance auto and using a garden hose. never used anything with high pressure.

DugRat

I chased the same problem for 2 years on my T/A, it slowly got worse over 50,000 miles. I finally pulled the fans off after driving till the temp wa about 220 and found about half of the radiator was cool to the touch. Installed a new Modine radiator for $147 and the car runs cooler than the day I bought it, it will actually cool down from highways temps while idling in traffic now. I also blew about 5 lbs of fine sand out of the A/C condensor while the radiator was out.