I recently bought a 97 camaro z28. I have noticed that the car according to the gauge very rarely gets over 195 degrees. The heat also will not get hot. So i looked under the hood and noticed that the upper and lower radiator hoses are collapsed when the car is off. Once the car turns on they slowly will open up. I think i have some sort of leak in the "cooling system" that is letting air out. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated because idk what to do.

btw i have tried jacking the car up and letting it run w/ the rad cap off to try and remove a possible air pocket. didnt' work!

 

An air pocket in the coolant would make the car run hotter, not cooler I think.

The reason it may only get to 195 is because it has a cooler then normal thermastat in it, instead of a 180 (corrected) it has something like a 160 thermastat. Also your fans may be programmed to come on quicker.

The heat, you may have a clogged heater core.

It would be a little easier for us to help you if you would add a signature with all your modifications, year, make, model, transmission etc. Mine for an example.

 

I don't have any modifications except for a K & N air filter. I don't understand why my upper and lower radiator hose is collapsed.

 

you probably have air in the system, did you open the bleeder screws, if not you have to open them untill you see coolant come out do it while the car is off first then start it and do it again

http://shbox.com/1/bleeders.jpg

and for heater core
http://shbox.com/1/4th_gen_tech2.html#heaterflush

hope this helps

 

You could have a clog in the pipe to the remote reservior that is not allowing expelled coolant to be drawn back in. That might cause hoses to collapse as it cools. Could be the radiator cap, too. It would be easy to change.
Jacking it up and running it does not remove air from the system.
You may need to flush the heater core, too.

 

In reguards to the bleeder screws
There are two, one on one of the heater hoses and the other on the thermostat housing
i found when i changed my water pump and had to bleed out my system that if u fill with coolent till full with both bleeder screws open till coolent run out then close and start car, let run till opt. temp. is reached u open the bleeder screw on the housing till coolent comes out. during the process u should need to put more coolent in the radiator to account for the air u are letting out.
It took me about 30 min of letting out air and putting in a little more coolent before i got it all out.
hope this helps

 

We installed a new thermostat, seems to get a bit hotter, but i am just curious what does everyones car run at after about 15 minutes of idle? mine got to 185 and then went and stayed @ 175. I rev'd the engine a couple times while it was idling. I have never seen the car get over 195 degrees ever, even during the summer(its winter now about 15 degrees outside). I've checked both the pipes coming in and out of the heater core and they seem to be hot.

Where is the pipe coming from the remote reservoir to the radiator?

Do you want me to open the bleed valves with the car off? thats what we did when we reinstalled the coolant. We didn't do a complete flush just enough to change the thermostat.

 

Yes open the bleeders when the car if off till u see coolant come out, then close, run car till up to temp and with the car still running open the bleeder on the stat housing till coolent come out or there is no more pressure in the hoses. If ur out of pressure and there is on coolent coming out yet you're going to wont to add more coolent to the radiator.
Basiclly u got to let the car build pressure to push out the air.
I forgot to tell u not to open the bleeder on the heater hose while the car is running, if u do u will let more air in the system, only open it if the car is off

 

You are not going to let any air into the system when it is running. Most people that have already filled their cooling system bleed it with it running and pressurized. It will do you no good to open a bleeder with the engine off and the system not under pressure (unless you are doing an initial system fill).
Proper procedures are spelled out on my Tech Page.

 

Are you sure your dash gauge is accurate? Have you scanned the PCM to see what the coolant temp sensor in the water pump housing it telling the PCM the temperature is?

Might also want to check your radiator cap, as Shoebox suggested. The hoses are collapsing when the coolant temperature drops and creates a vacuum. The cap has a vacuum relief valve in it that allows the vacuum to pull coolant out of the reservoir as it cools down, to eliminate the vacuum in the cooling system, and keep the system free of air. Cap may not be working correctly.

Just for the record, the stock LT1 t'stat is 180*F, not 185.

 

I agree with shoebox and injuneer. Your car may also be equiped with an engine oil cooler. it will cause ur car to run cooler. My 96 is equiped with it now and it runs less than 1/4 of the way up on the gauge in the winter.

 

Since people talk about clogged heater cores. My heater only blows hot for about 10 seconds then gets cold. Could that be caused by a clogged heater core?

 

Yup.

 

i have also seem hose collapse because the hose is bad, when you grab the hose it should be pretty hard, if its soft you need to buy viagr...oh wait i mean you need a new hose