Hey guys, I got a quick one for ya. I noticed that my car's temperature goes a lil past 210 degrees when it's at idle for ~5 minutes. It goes past the 210 degrees mark when the car is already warmed up and I'm idling for a lil while. For example, it happens when I get to my friend's house to pick them up and I have to wait outisde for a few minutes for them and then the temp begins to rise to over 210 degrees. I was wondering if that high of a temperature is normal or not. Also, it concerns me because it goes past 210 degrees even when the temperature outside is only around 30 degrees. Any input would greatly be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

~~Wes

 

Thats normal. The car is designed to run real hot from the factory. Although its not good for power and performance, its good for emisson control. Most F-bodys due get real sitting in traffic or at an idle. I might be a little concerned if it reaches 210 on a 30 degree day after only 5 minutes though. Part of the problem is the electric fans. My 88' caprice had a fan that was driven by the engine and although i lost a few horses to to turning it, the car always ran at temperature. You could install a fan switch, either buy one or just wire up the fans to the battery and a switch so you could turn them on when ever you wanted to to cool the car down.

 

I think that is the typical temp range on stock LT1's. I put in a 160 thermo, reprogrammed with hypertech and put in water wetter and now it stay at 180.

 

just turn on your air conditining in traffic...it turns on the fans and keeps your temp down...and gives you some cool air inside

 

That;s easy for you to say. Every time i turn on the ac in my camaro, it overheats. EVERY single time, guranteed.

 

My car was doing the same time thing and i then noticed that my water pump was leaking a little and that the coolent level was kinda low but not low enough for a light to come on. I filled it w/ more coolant and the overheating vanished; however, it still runs hot even w/ the 160 degree therm.

 

you have to program the fans as well or it will still run hot with a 160 thermo either PCM4less or hypertech(crap) It would still work ok with the stock 180 thermo with lower fans temp settings.

 

GM says that it's the normal operation of the LT1. It's a reverse cooled engine, running temps are higher.
I wondered the same thing when I first bought mine. One thing you can do is install a manual fan switch which let you turn your fan in whenver you want (traffic, at the track, etc) and keep your engine compartment cooler.

 

you need a new thermostat i think.. i had mine replaced with the stock 180 one becuase the car was running at 210 and over ALL the time... the thermo was sticking now it doesn't get over 180..

 

my car will sit all day and never get above 170. acorrding to data master.

 

ive read that the fans are not suppose to come on until 242 degrees, thats way to f'ing hot!

 

Mine idles around 165. Never goes above 175 regardless of outside temperature or racing.

 

Change your Thermostat. It might be sticking. I changed mine and it fixed everything. Change it quickly though before you leak coolant and kill the opti like I did. Better to change that $5 thermostat than the $300 opti.

 

Mine acted like all LT1s until I put a dual sensor in the water pump so the gauge saw the water temp there like the computer does. Now the reading never goes over 212 no matter what the condition like it did when it was monitoring the temp in the heads. The temp in the heads really spikes during traffic stops with the ac off.