I'm new to the newer gen Camaro's.

Changed Head gaskets (blown).

Filled coling system and fired car up. Temp guage hits 250 and I begin to panic .....and then fans turn on, but temp does not com down.

I notice two unusual fittings that appear to be air bleeds (guessing) One is located on the thermostat housing and the other is on the heater hose.

Any ideas??

 

The unusual fittings are bleed screws, and are used to bleed the air out of the system. Because the LT1 uses a reverse flow coolant system, the air must be bled out using these fittings.

Do a quick search and you'll find all sorts of info on how to remove air from the coolant system. Until the air is removed, it will continue to overheat.

Thomas.

 

The two fittings are bleed valves. Need to run the car, turn the heater on and open these until no more air/bubbles come out. I usually do this in several stages, bleed, close, wait, bleed, close, wait, etc. I usually do it after the cars sits over night also.

Many owners of "other/older" cars have problems getting use to the LT1's as they always seem to be on the verge of over heating. But it is fairly normal for them to be at these temps. in traffic, at slow speeds. Once the fans come on the temps should stop rising. Turning the A/C on also turns both fans on, so unlike most cars turning the A/C on can help keep you from over heating an LT1.

Because of the higher then normal operating temps. Cool system maintainance is more critical for an LT1. Most of us flush and clean the cooling system once a year. Don't know anyone how follows the factory recommendations.

 

When opening the coolant bleeder valves, be sure to protect the Optispark distributor from getting any coolant on it, or you will be back here with a post about "why won't my engine start?".

Just a caution.