OK, last post didn't work. Here's the deal.

Radiator - flushed, I think. Ran bottle of flush+water, 15min. Then bottle of cleaner+water, 40 min. Then straight water, 20 min. Then antifreeze+water, 20 min. Allowed to cool and drain after each item, except final. Ran with heater on hot and high the whole time, and on the water rinse I ran the waterhose into the driver-side top of the radiator, allowing to run out the fill spout and petcock. Did I do this right?

Also, that let me realize why heat has been so ornery - the radiator fan isn't engaging. Where is the sensor to tell the fan to turn on located?

Last, is there an easy way to change the plugs on the 87 Z 305? I can only reach the plugs from underneath, and that is a maybe. I could take off the stock headers as they have no exhaust on, but just wanna see what ya'll have to say.

 

flushing sounds pretty tight. the coolant temp sensor on a V-8 is close to the water neck i do believe and the relay is on the firewall and i change my plugs with a 5/8's wrench from above but, mine don't have all that bullcrap attached to the engine. Sick

 

Yeah, there's no way I can go from above. The exhaust (is it ok to call stock "headers"?) is too tight, and the 5, 7, 4, 6, and 8 cylinders I can't even get my hands too because of all the crap. I'da finally got pics, but the light was too bad on thursday. Maybe tonight, I dunno. Thanks for the info!

 

I know I had to get a u joint and some extension on my ratchet for a few of the plugs, and the number 8 was easiest to get from the right wheel well with the tire out. It's been a long time since I've driven that car though, so I haven't done a tuneup on it in about 2 years.

 

my temp sensor was on the passenger side of the block under the number 6 cylinder i believe. didnt look to difficult to replace, but looks can and ARE decieving when workin on these cars i have found.

 

my 86 z has 2 sensors one on each head about mid way under the exauhst manifolds. now it has 3 i added a manual gauge and a fan switch because i was havin the same issues.

 

I'm thinking of either wiring it up (would I do that from the alternator and the other batter terminal?) permanently or getting a switch and mounting it on my dash. My guess is that with all the plugs that float freely in my engine area that it'll be a pain in the rear to get the sensor out, in, and re-wired. Plus I can barely wire a bathroom light (barely, that is. It took a full afternoon but I got that friggin bathroom lit up. Without the use of drugs, at that.), much less make sense of the dozen or so wires in there... makes me mad, former owners red-necked everything. Only thing I've used Duct-Tape engineering on is to replace my battery mount, so that the car won't die if I have to turn suddenly and the battery flops around and pulls out the cable running to the starter. Anyhoo, yeah, I'll probly get a switch from Advance or just (would it be "hot" or "hard") wire it up.

Hopefully the fan won't be bad as well.

 

that'd be hard wire, and it would be a bad idea.

 

just saw the popular thread on this subject, I'll take a look at it before I do anything big. With winter coming soon, I'm not in a big hurry as the cold air should be enough to keep the car cool. It does ok as long as I keep the heater on, so I can just roll the windows down when needed.