Sorry to hear about your on job injury, I wish you well and I hope all heal wells. Be sure to give it the time it needs heal.

When I said the issue was not a known camaro issue I was talking about the stuck thermostat. Coolant systems age by miles and time. The biggest cause of a older cars that has a lot of issues is the fact the coolant system was not maintained. As coolant ages it becomes a acid. The factory does not really build gaskets and seals to resist this acid because if you follow the maintenance requirements it never gets into the system.

Once the acid starts to do damage it will take years to show up as a failed item even though there is damage though out the system. Items start failing one at a time. Normally the water pump is first but replacing the water pump and putting in new coolant will not fix everything in the system. One by one every seal and gasket in the system will fail in their own time. Once you get the acid in your system it must be flushed with something that will naturalize it. If you put new coolant in a system that has acid in it the new coolant will start the change to acid much faster.

Even when maintained a pressurized coolant system will be the most problematic system in the car. I can remember this discussion from my original training classes. You are trying to seal a system with 16 PSI in it, The engine block, heads, and intake, are all changing sizes as the car warms up and when you stomp on the gas there is 20,000 lbs of forces trying to blow the head off the car. This causes the block to flex. Reality check is that back in the day cars did not last anywhere near as long as they do now. It is predictable that the coolant system would become the biggest issue as cars aged.

You think camaros are bad? I had a side garage back in the day. I got to the point all I did was ford escort head gaskets. I got to the point I could do 2 a day on a Saturday. I had a waiting list cause I only charges $150 per car +parts. I was doing cars with 60,000 miles that where 4-5 years old. Imagine how pissed you would be paying for a head gasket job on a 2013 camaro.

 

Ok thanks once again, Gorn. That's why Toyota logos are everywhere on the streets nowadays it seems. people do the ultimate capitalist thing and buy the best item instead of buying made-in-america items or being patriotic or loyal with their dollar, whether it's buying American cars or having them serviced and buying secondary market autoparts. I don't blame them--people are willing to pay more for peace of mind or buy an ugly generic small, roundish import that is reliable. Anyway, i copied and pasted what u wrote. Thanks, again.

 

Not really sure what the problem is here? The T-stat is **** easy to replace, easier then changing oil IMO.

Just get a random mechanic to fix it, pay an hours labour and be done with it...

 

I think you're former mechanic needs help. I don't care what manufacture builds a car, all vehicles have easy and hard parts to it. I can replace the starter in my Jeep in less than 15 minutes with basic tools. The old Honda Accord we had, we had to cut part of the uni-body to get the starter out because that's how Honda built it. The only other option was tear the engine completely out and being a throw away vehicle, we weren't going through that much effort.

A timing job on my Camaro is a walk in the park compared to most imports.

If you can't do it yourself, take it to a garage. Shouldn't be more than $100 to do it and that's assuming a shop that charges high.

 

I would do it as soon as possible .In fact this is something you should be able to do yourself. It will cause the car to overheat otherwise, Its one of those sayings such as you can pay me now or pay me later'.Which is cheaper to you a thermostat ,gasket and your time .Compared to possibly have to replace the entire engine.And the time and expense that involves.Your choice.,

 

Thank you everyone. I have one person on Ebay selling a T-stat compatible with my 93 Camaro, v6, 3.4 L. base but it states state law prevents him from shipping to California. It's a $10 T-stat which I believe member MK Coconuts, stated was only a $10 part and an hours worth of work. But also there is a $6 to $8 T-stat and one of them kind of looks slightly different than most of the others. A compatibility chart on Ebay for autoparts may be like a size chart for clothes in terms of you need to actually fit the item or be sure. That's one reason I don't buy clothes or sunglasses on-line, they need to be tried on. Well here is the link , can someone verify if it's indeed the right one. I will try to attach a photo here.

*Ok, I was able to attach a pic: There are 2 Camaro T-stat's, they kind of look like if a person removed the fuzzy stuff in front of a radio car stereo speaker. The smaller black one must be an aftermarket racing Engine coolant thermostat---it's made by Mashimoto and it's $26

It may be better to pay $16 more than $10 and get a higher performance racing engine coolant?

Engine Coolant Thermostat-Premium Thermostat STANT 45848 | eBay

 

Engine temperature is important to get the fuel mixture dead on. I believe your car came with a 195 deg thermostat and passed all government testing with a 195 deg thermostat. That is why a lower temp thermostat is not supposes to put into your car.

The low temps with increase emission and lower your MPG (a very small amount) unless the car gets tuned for the lower temp but only in highway use. If you are running around town and your coolant fan is kicking on and off you are around 220 degs it wont matter what stat you have.

Have you checked RockAuto.com, they tend to beat ebay and they tend to have everything,

 

I am in a Smog Test State--CA; I am pretty sure I have to buy the $26 plus one...usu-

ally a higher price is an indicator of good value or better quality

and i stress usually, life is a matter of degrees.

so I probably have to buy a more expensive one, not a racing one.

at least a $30 one compatible with my make model engine size year.

that's why the repair shop is charging me $149 if I do give them the work. It's 30 bucks for a higher priced t-stat and 95 bucks for their labor then tack on sales tax.

it is rough, every 2 years an owner of a car has to 1-2 months add "CrC-2 guaranteed to pass smog" and add some fuel injector

take it to get a 65 dollar regular smog test and if it fails either drop $700 plus $100 to replace the catalytic converter responsible for better emissions

there was an Assembly Bill allowing for cars over a certain age to be exempt if they took a smog test and failed and were over like 25 years in age, sort of like a classic car, but after failing a smog test they would have to show that they spent money to try to remedy the problem then sort of petition the DMV or EPA to be exempt from state smog requirements.

not sure if that's passed into law

there are some who drive elsewhere and register their vehicles in a different jurisdiction that doesn't require smog and drive their car back on a daily basis legally in California

others play an arm and a leg to have others look the other way
the ton of money that they pay to them is worth it.

if u know what i mean, ....

these cars may not mean much but they could and often do have lots of sentimental value that u can't put a price on.

 

The temp gauge Gorn came with a 220 degree line. in fact a few spots before that 220 line is the red zone indicating too close for comfort and possible overheating. which one do u suggest Gorn. Ebay search: "220 temp engine coolant thermostat for 1993 V-6, 3.4 liter Camaro" on Ebay?

 

by the way the thermostat was in an open position by the way or it would have overheated after i drove it for only 30 minutes 2 days ago per the mechanic when I stopped by on route after doing errands. so it was stuck on open.