First off let me say whatsup to everyone. This is my first post on here. The problem is my car heats up pretty badly. The problem occurs when I get into traffic. My temp goes up to about 230-235 before the fan will finally cut on and go back down. I have a 96 T/A by the way. I can run the **** out of it but as long as it's in the clear and getting air it's fine. It ofcourse runs awful as soon as it gets hot. Is this normal? What could be making it do this? Thanks to all who reply.

 

The gauges are not know to be perfectly accurate and your temps sound about normal. You can read a little about the cooling system here .

 

Ok, 1st welcome to the board. Sorry you live in VA.
Since you're new, I'll give you a heads up.
Just listen to Shoebox. He's almost always dead on.

 

Thanks guys. And shoebox...thank you SOOO much man. I feel very relieved that it is actually normal for it to heat up a little like that. I actually also found an answer to another question about the Low Coolant light taht sometimes comes on. Now I also know that is fairly common. One other question though, would "flushing" out the radiator maybe help keep it running a tad cooler? I'm just shocked how fast it heats up. It takes no time at all..thanks again guys.

 

You have to remember that there is NO air going through the radiator when it is stopped (unless the fans are on), so it is going to heat up. The warmer the ambient temp, the faster it will heat up. Such is the way with cars with temperature controlled electric fans.

Flushing will only make a difference if you have some blockage and it gets removed by flushing. If your coolant is relatively clean, you probably don't have a worry with that.

 

GM even issued a TSB about it, they are pretty off. People have actually gotten readings on what the temp is and its not what the gauges say.

 

When I first got my car I thought the same thing you did...that is was running really hot. I took it in and found out that's normal. My guage was also lying to me when I had it scanned. It said that it was at about 235 or so but it was actually 10-15 degrees lower than that. Your cars stock thermostat I think runs at 240 degrees and you actally want it there. The 240 thermostat keeps the coolant in the engine longer and gives the coolant in the radiator more time to cool off that way when it does open up you have a little a lower temp liquid running into your engine.

 

A lot of bad info here.

The stock t'stat in an LT1 is 180degF. MANY people get better results with a 160deg 'stat, reprogrammed fan on/off temps, and a tweek of the timing.

The stock PCM fan on temps are 225degF for the first fan, and 236degF for the second fan.

 

yes thats what i did, rather a cooler running engine myself, 160 stat, and reprogrammed the fans to come on earlier

 

Stephen, welcome to the board. Glad to have another VA member but the best part if ya live in Roanoke, like I do. Even with a new thermostat and all that, I'd say the best thing for cooling is an electric waterpump. you can run your entire coolant system with the car sitting still, not running. but if you want to take a cheaper rount that is almost as good, try doing a search on the board for the famous fan switch.

sitting in traffic it won't go above 200? if you have $10, you can come to my house one day and we will pick up all the stuff you need. Just about 4/5 foot of wire and a toggle switch. I'll hook it up for your in minutes and you will love the results. It turns both your fans on high and you can watch your temp gauge go from redline to 200 or 210 and stay there. I have it on my car so if you want to see what I did, you can give me a shout.

PM me if you want to do that man, good luck

 

My gauge happens to be pretty accurate.

 

I run a 160 degree thermo and fan reprogram and I rarely see my temps go above 180, even in traffic. Too much heat and your pcm will start dialing in gobs of spark advance, thus killing power.

 

I had the same exact problem with my 97 T/A. Fixed it with a pcm reprogram & a 160 stat.
Also when the run real hot like that watch your oil pressure go down.

 

i'm surprised nobody mentioned taht you may have some air in your coolant system. this causes the temp to rise very fast when not moving.

do a search for "bleeding the coolant system", or just pm shoebox cause i think he has a link to a page describing it in detail.

 

thanks again guys your replys are helping a lot. I do have one question though. How much does it cost to get the 160 thermastat and have the fans reprogrammed and possible timing adjustment. If it is to expensive I will just be getting in touch with White Z to install the switch. I may have seen you running around before man. You have exhaust? I see a white z running around with the altezza's a nice looking body kit that sounds bad ***