Um, I am confused. He said he leaves the fans on all the time. There is no correct temperature if they are on all the time. If he needs the fans on all the time to keep the engine cool, then turning on the AC will make it run hotter...with the fans still on.

 

Let's stick with pianoman35's original post, and not get sidetracked on someone else's (carlson z28) issues. Things get way too confused when the threads get sidetracked.

 

I can keep my fans on to keep my engine cool which is what i normally do. OR if i have my ac on with my switches to my fans off it also keeps my temp guage way down. Maybe it doesnt make sense, cause it really doesnt to me, but it works. I would still rather just keep my fans on to be safe though. Hope that helps the confusion?

 

Thanks guys for your help. Maybe these cars just run hot? I'm also wondering if my temperature sensor is shot. I let the car run idle in the driveway for about 20 minutes a few days ago and it seemed to stay around the middle on the gauge. I replaced my thermostat with a 160 a couple years ago. If I'm driving my car and then idle at a light, then the temperature is a little higher than that. I'm kind of a noob at cars still but I'm getting better, I think.

I'm starting another thread about a problem I've had since I've had the car. After a few minutes of driving the car will hesitate/buck/misfire the more I press on the gas. I have no idea why it's doing this.. I have replaced the spark plug wires, plugs, fuel filter, radiator, head gaskets (they blew), starter last summer, and just had a short in my wiring harness which got fixed as well.

The other day I took the car for a ride to try and figure out the problem again. The car will not hesitate at all during the first 10-20 minutes of driving, after that it will start. After a while of more driving, it went away. It would probably come back later but I did not drive that long. It seems to not be related to heat because my temperature was not that hot and it still did it.

Any advice is greatly appreciated, I want my car running correctly.

 

LT1's from the factory run HOT for emissions. The 160 stat wont help unless you have a manual switch or have the PCM tuned to have the fans come on earlyer.
As for the hesitatetion problem, when it was hot outside my car would do that also, but with the fans tuned to come on sooner it went away. Goodluck.

 

Thanks a lot for that reply. It's very informative. I just might need to have that PCM tuned. Why would they come out of the factory like that though and have hesitation problems right away? Unless it's something else.

 

They don't hesitate from the factory....there is something wrong. In addition, adding a 1606Fthermostat without adding timing will likely result in less power as well as a lower temperature reading. The tune you get will have to include a more aggressive timing table or you're just wasting money....

 

If it hesitates when hot, it is probably running rich. When starting up the cool engine in the LT1 needs a rich mixture and the opening factory setting are rich. When hot after warming up it does not need as much richness and the motor will hesitate from a slight flooding of the cylinder ...if the ECM does not reduce the fuel flow...

I would replace the temp sensor near the water pump and bleed all air out of the cooling system. If you can keep it in the acceptable temp ramge with these two changes only worry when it goes into the red. Cleaning excess dirt, oil and grime from the engine and radiator may help if it has baked on dirt. The block and heads may have a blockage left over from your bad radiator days, but this is not likely. Also if the air dam under the radiator has been removed or damaged it will overheat.