Here's what happened in a nutshell.

Engine is cold, starts up normally.

I let it idle for a few minutes then drive off. I notice the temp is higher than it usually is after only letting it warm up a few minutes.

I keep an eye on it but keep driving. Before I'm three blocks away I'm watching the temp gauge climb up to about 250.

I pull over as soon as I can. By this time it's about to hit redline. I pop the hood, I'm expecting to see coolant all over the place and a nice big hole in hose someplace.

Nothing, everything looked fine. I squeezed the larger hose going into the waterpump expecting it to be rock hard.

Not in the least bit. It felt like it would with had I checked it with the engine cold. I checked the coolant level - a bit high.

By this time I'm pretty close to my house so I start her up again. She starts creeping up to 230 or so. I gave it a little gas and it went back down! I give it a little more gas and it goes back down some more.

From that point on it's running around 190 which is pretty normal. I pulled over, let it idle a few minutes expecting it to jump back up.

Seemed fine. Everything is like normal.

What the heck happened here?

 

I hate when they fake it.

 

well, stock temperature for the second fan kick on is like 248 so are you sure it was above that? If so you may have had a sticky thermostat.

 

I would replace the thermostat, for nothing more than the piece of mind. Real overheating issues can be costly on the LT1.

 

sounds like a thermostat to me. dont forget to protect that opti!!

david

 

piece of crud stuck in a hole or maybe in the radiator...

or in the stat for that matter

i agree with changing the stat...not a bad piece of $15 insurance and peace of mind

 

Ok, thanks guys.

 

You might have air trapped in your cooling system.