First off...this site is great!

I have read many posts about overheating....I would like to get some advice on my situation.

I have replaced the water pump, temp coolant sensor, thermostat, 2 fuse relays, both of the fan motors, and the 10v fuse for the fans. After replacing the water pump I flushed out the radiator. I bought the thermostat from Autozone. It is a 180 deg therm. I'm afraid from what I have read is that it may be the wrong one for my car. What should the right one it look like?

The car only runs hot when it is idleing, and it climbs pretty fast close to the 260 deg mark. After I start driving it slowly cools down to about the mid mark 200 deg. This keeps happening while driving in stop and go traffic. I know one of the fans come on when I turn the a/c on. I can't see if the other fan kicks on at all.

I read about having to reprogram the pcm. Where could I go to have this checked to see at what temp the fans should be coming on? Could this be the problem? Could I have the wrong thermostat?

 

Time for electric fan switch

 

Thanks for the reply.....

I will try that........

 

Actually, it sounds to me like you have air trapped in the system. Bleed out all the air via the bleed screws and that should solve your problem.

 

I would try bleeding it agian and make sure you have all the plastic shields and such that come on the car new...

 

Thanks for the ideas........I will also try bleeding the system too

 

Pull off the top radiator cover and peek inbetween the radiator and condenser and in front of the condenser with a flashlight and make sure there is no debree there. Mine sucked up a plastic supermarket bag up in there causing me similar problems.

 

The proper thermostat should look like this.

Which temp sensor did you replace? More info about the cooling system here.

 

I have heard that autozone has never given the correct type of thermostat to any LT1 motor b/c they just dont have it. Make sure it is like the one shoebox has. Have you tried going somewhere to professionally flush the system? MOre than just the radiator may become clogged. Also, you may need to bleed the system more than once to get all the air out. Good luck in fixing your car...

 

uhm, well, since ur car isnt programmed for a 180 t-stat, you'll have to repgrogram it.

 

What the hell are you talking about? First of all, stock temp is 180. And if you meant 160, you dont have to reprogram your pcm to use a 160 stat.

I would just make sure the radiator has good airflow, no air in the system, correct thermo, and that the WP is working.

Running hot only when idling sounds like a fan problem to me. Those are the only things that keep the car cool at idle. And everything else is working good obviously if it doesnt overheat any other time.

 

btw, our cars natrualy will run hotter than most cars, especialy coz they dont have an open grill, i wouldnt worry about it TOO much, just do what the above posts stated and get a manual fan switch (you can make it youreself) while in traffic

 

Its a 94 so the radiator is nearly 10 years old......if it hasnt been maintianed properly over the years is most likely gunked up inside. Take it to a radiator shop and have it cleaned out.

 

I had the exact same problem..I actually ran mine too hot and now I have it in the machine shop. All that I found was the AC condensor was clogged @ 75% and this can cause a temp problem. You can`t see this on the outside...remove the shroud and perhaps you may save your engine. What happens is that the road debris gets clooged there and there is not anywhere for it to end up ,but in the condensor...I agree with VEGAS...good luck

 

No this is the problem. Someone mentioned it earlier. Autozone does not carry the proper thermostat for the LT1. I know this because I used to work there. They have a regular SBC thermostat. While it will fit, IT WILL NOT WORK PROPERLY. I always got my LT1 thermostats from NAPA or Murray's. Replace your thermo with the correct one, and it should solve the problem. LT1's run hot naturally, GM did this to lower emissions. So even with the correct thermo, you will notice higher temps in the summer.