Overheating
 

I have a 96 z28 lt1 I got a month ago it has been nothing but trouble I have replaced the radiator, water pump, and takin out the thermostat (will replace with 160 thermostat) and it is still over heating the fans where coming on now the are not. My question is there is a three point plug that branches off from a larger group of wires that goes beside the front of the battery the plug was hanging down by the bottom of the radiator passenger side if anyone knows where this is supposed to hook up that would be great. I am going to try a new relay for the fans. The guy at OReilly's said there is only one relay but there is three cooling fan relays in the box do you guys think that it's just the same relay for all three and that's why he said there's only one. Also I went to put coolant in my resevoir and I think it's cracked now cause it just poured out all over the ground will it overheat if the resevoir can't hold fluid or is that just for when you do overheat it pulls from there. Thanks for reading my thread PLEASE help!!!!!

Re: Overheating
 

My car was overheating when I first got it. I changed the Thermostat and Water Pump. Come to find out, there was a small hole in the head gasket. I know usually the oil is milky with a marred up head gasket, but in this case it wasn't true. It may or may not be your problem, but thought I would throw that out there. I don't know if this is any help, but good luck and I feel your pain. I have had my 96 Z going on three months or so and only put about 160 miles on it.

Re: Overheating
 

You want a thermostat in there. The way the LT1 thermostat/water pump works, it needs to be in there to route coolant properly at all times.

If your reservoir cannot hold coolant, that can also cause problems, because coolant that is displaced from the radiator during certain hot situations is pulled back into the radiator during cool down. You will eventually loose coolant without the reservoir intact.

Also make sure you don't have the steam pipe hose and the reservoir hoses swapped with each other. The reservoir hose attaches to the neck of the radiator, the steam pipe hose below it.

Re: Overheating
 

The LT water pump T_stat has a bypass seal, Lt engines have a coolant bypass circuit which allows for the engine to come up to temp, and, as the T-stat opens, it seals the lower bypass hole in the water pump.

The by_pass coolant circuit allows for minimal coolant flow thru the rad core. When the by_pass is sealed, rad core is entered into the coolant loop/ circuit.

I do not run a T-stat and had to mahine a mod for this.
Hope this helps.