Ok...to add to my hell-a-hesitiation problems my car got really hot yesterday. It went way past 210 to the third line almost. I'm pretty sure the fans are working too. With all the other water pumps I've worked on they have always given me a hint they were going out. LIke the notorious grinding/ whiring sound, or leaking. Could this just be the thermo or is it the pump on it's way out? I am thinking of replacing the Opti-spark using this as a guide http://www.corvettefever.com/howto/16758/ , kind of as a hope it will fix my problems with hesitiation. Any help will be much appreciated, thanks.

 

is your coolant blocked or anything? have you looked at that?

 

check the thermostat first, you might be lucky and that may be all it is. Mine was stuck and when I swapped thermostats, the temps dropped right down. Also check the WP weephole.

Be careful not to run the car though! I overheated it, and my heads warped. It didn't warp badly enough for coolant/oil to mix, or smoke out the tailpipe, but it did warp bad enough to leak compression from a couple cylinders.

good luck!

 

Thanks for the info guys! I haven't checked to see if it is blocked yet. After I got home I just put the car up since I was so frustrated. Isn't there a cooler thermo I can use that doesn't require any changes?

 

Yes, you can go with a hypertech 160 degree T-stat. They go for around 20 bucks or so. Anyone of our sponsors will carry them. Make sure that you don't get one from your local parts store though. Yes, the ones that they carrry are for a 350 SBC, but they are not the right one.

 

Im fixing to go take out the old one. Isn't there a test to see if it is good or not?

 

The thermo was stuck in the housing part connected to the hose. Is this normal?

 

Everytime I've taken mine out to swap them for the winter/summer months, mine has never been stuck in the top of the housing. It's always stayed in the waterpump. I'd say that this could be your problem.

 

I didn't think it was normal. I will be taking out the one in the Blazer to install the Hypertech and I'll see if it is but I doubt it. Also I checked the dis cap out closer while I was under the car a while ago and I beleive it is the original one. It is very GUNKED up. If it and the opti have never been changed then that could be my hesitation problem. But would think there would be more problems in idle than I'm having.

 

I wish I could help you out. Im having the same problems. I am positive my opti is on its way out as well. I have hesitation when the car gets warm. And more often then not, it keeps running hot. I dont know why either... I've got a new pump and thermostat on there. I'll have to keep an eye on this thread, and i'll let ya know if I figure something out.

-Cam

 

Yeah Im going to start pulling everything off tomorrow after work. I know I will need a new intake gasket as well. No mechanic I talk to here can give me a straight answer on it so I guess I will try to fix it this way since it's the best shot I got.

 

ive overheated many many times i finally stopped overheating but i run pretty hot even at night, the only thing i havent looked at was my timing i changed everything in the cooling system, i heard if your timing is sh*tty or fouled up it will cause it to run hot, this was the case in my boss' 52 hot rod with an LT1 soon as that was fixed dropped to a constant 175*

 

How do I fix a timing problem?

 

lol see now if i knew that technical part i would be outta this prob too hopefully, i dunno ill ask the boss how he fixed it, i know with the older SBCs you use a timing gun (looks like an old gun from duckhunt member that game?) and u shoot it an it lights up an marks the timing an u can toggle the distributer etc but as u know we dont have a conventional type one....we got the god awefule opti spark....yay ill look into it for ya an maybe shoebox or someone could shed some light on this

 

Timing is all controlled by the pcm and programming. Nothing you can do with a timing light, except strobe it at your friends.

If you have not had your pcm programming altered, there should be no reason to suspect any timing problems (in relation to too much advance and that sort of thing).