Most of the time when I turn on my car in the morning and warm it up, my temperture gauge will slowly climb up all the way to the red, even though the car has just been turned on, eventually the gauge will sink back down to the correct temperature, almost like the coolant wasnt flowing or something. I have no idea. If somebody has an idea.... PLEASE let me know. Thanks in advance.

 

It sounds to me like you have a bad thermostat, replace it with
a 160* . Mine runs at about 170* at cruise .


Dave B

 

Maybe you have air pockets in the system. LT1's are more prone to this problem due to the reverse flow cooling.

 

yea sounds like u need a new thoermostat, u should check ur fans too...

 

I think you have a bad guage sensor.

 

bad thermo for sure... what's happening is that your thermo isn't working right, so it's taking longer to pop open... usually it will pop open at like 180 or what not... well since it's prolly old, it's taking MORE HEAT to make it pop open, which is why it's getting SOOO HOT and then finally it pops open and your temp goes back down

 

I misunderstood.
I thought his guage was jumping up into the red before the car got warmed up.
My bad.

 

I agree, probably your thermostat. I had the same problem. Take it out and check when it opens it some water in a pot.

 

I have to back this up as being the cause. My radiator recently went out on me and this was one symptom that I was having. When the coolant was low it would shoot up to almost red and then quickly go back down to normal.

Now on another note, the low coolant could have prevented the thermostat from detecting the coolant temperature rising and only when the steam was hot enough it would open.

In other words it is one or another...

 

I agree. There could be an air pocket getting trapped near either the t-stat or near the head temp sensor. I would drain the system, put a new t-stat in, and make sure you bleed it right. And check the thermostsat before installing it. I went through 3 bad ones in a row before I got one that opened anywhere near 180. Go with an AC Delco from the dealer, that is the only one I found that would work

 

Well, In all honesty, I think that he should buy a 160 thermo since he will have it apart. But for reliability and longevity a stock from the dealer thermo is the way to go.

 

Yeah, that wouldn't hurt anything. From all the debates I have read, I decided to go with the stock 180. No reason really, so I'm not saying you are wrong. I guess I just felt I didn't need it since its desinged mostly for a high end setup. Shoebox explains what I mean on his site somewhere.

I think with my next engine build up I will do a 160 though....

 

Hmmm... I had a similar issue but the quite the opposite. I bought a 160 t-stat and installed it last April. The car took longer to heat up but I noticed on the highway the temp would read 140 sometimes even lower than that. My guage wasn't the problem because in the city it would heat up and the fans would kick in at 210 degrees. I asked around and everyone said my t-stat was stuck open always allowing for coolant to flow through.

now recently a couple of days ago my car started oozing coolant through the t-stat housing. I guess it's because of the bad t-stat. It went on the opti and now I'm screwed. I guess it happened because of the defected t-stat. I ordered another 160 t-stat to replace it but now I'm not sure if I should do that or go to back to the stock one? I hope I don't have the same problem again.

 

a defective thermo will not directly cause the housing to leak. You may have other issues involved.

 

I think an open thermostat might make the car run hotter though, since the fluid won't have much time to cool down. And I also don;t see what a bad thermostat would do to make the housing leak. That could be your problem, if air was getting in through there or something.