I have a 95 camaro with just over 100k on it. I do not drive it very often, but over the summer, i took it out for about a week. This was during 95 degree weather. I noticed that i could drive the car as long as i wanted down the highway, and it would read around the 180 mark constantly. As soon as i would come to a stop light however, the temp would rise rapidly. It would continue to rise until just below the redline (~260)

When i would get moving again, it would drop right back down, to normal. I put it back into storage for about 2 months, until last night.

I replaced the thermostat and flushed the coolant system.. The coolant was original, i'm sure, as it looked like almost like coffee coming out, although there was no scale or oil that was seen in my catch container.

Started the car back up and it continues to do this. One thing i noticed is that the electric fan does not come on. At what temperature is it supposed to come on at? And how is it triggered to turn on and off? I checked the fuse, it is fine.

Do you think i have a bad elec. fan? or perhaps a bad coolant temp. sensor?

This car is darn near perfect, and although it will get getting a v8 swap when this motor gives up the ghost,i dont want to be doing that anytime soon.

Thanks in advance.

 

acctually in your car the fans should come on right before the red mark... now when you let the car sit does it get to the red mark and then drop a little bit? or does it just keep getting hotter and hotter till it explodes? camaro's are known to heat upVERY fast and cool off very fast because of the lower air dam plastic thing... it directs air up into the radiator.

 

i just came in from looking at it. it got too dark last night to finish the flush, and the car was airlocked. i allowed it to come up to operating temp and let the t-stat open and then filled it full of coolant. The car then took about ten minutes and by that time it came up to the 3/4 line and continued to slowly rise.

That is very odd about the fans, i would think they would come on well before that. I have noticed that if i drive in traffic and the car begins to get near the redline, and then i shut it off to go in a store, when i come back, the fan will be running immediately.

Now, if i take the car down the road on the highway, it will run very cool. but as soon as i hit a light on an exit ramp and am stopped, it seems to run up 80-90 degrees within 30 seconds.

 

thers a bleeder screw by your thermostate to get the air out.
you know theres a kit by SLP that lets you turn the fans on when ever you like....

www.summitracing.com




Turn you car's electric coolant fans on manually.
SLP Performance Parts electric fan control switches are easy to install, and allow you to turn you car's electric coolant fans on manually, yet still retain stock fan operation. Stock cooling fans are set to activate at 215 degrees F, too hot for high-performance use. The easiest way to optimize the performance of your car is to run it at a lower operating temperature. So, if you're sitting in traffic or at the track waiting in the staging lanes between rounds, you can activate your fans early, to keep your engine operating efficiently and producing as much power as possible. Lowering your engine's operating temperature will not only increase performance, it will add reliability and longer engine life, by decreasing the stress caused by heat fatigue.

 

The fan should come on at around 220 deg. If it comes in later, the ECT sensor may have drifted and reporting the wrong temp, or the sending unit for the temp gage maybe acting up.If the fan comes on and the temp continues to rise, the fan may be spinning too slow (old age). Being that the temp stays down a road speeds, it more or lessindicates that the cooling system is OK. You may also check the water pump, as sometimes the impeller erodes away and the pump does not move enough coolant at low speed. Let the engine idle till it gets hot and the fan goes on. With the transmission in neutral, keep the engine revving at about 2500 RPM for a few minutes & see if the temp starts to drop down. If the temp starts to drop you may want to look at the water pump.

 

Thanks for the advice. Can you tell me how much a dealer would charge to check what my computer has thefan temp set at? I dont want to drop 100 dollars on a computer hookup. I will try that with the engine in neutral. I did drive it today after bleeding out all the air, and it did seem to run cooler, however, i did notice it creeping up a little at lights. The fans do come on with the A/C, so at least i know they are operational. Just wondering why they aren't coming on a 220.

 

My 98 3.8 does the same thing but I noice that it does it more with the A/C on. It was raining today and it got up to about 220. Sometimes it does fine then other it build up temp. The only time I have heared my fans is when it over heated. I did the same thing like thermostat, change fluids, and flush out. My has 113000 miles. Also I bought mine back in the spring and the front brakes and rotors were replaced but it seems to be rorring when I come to a stop. Is this normal? I looked at teh brakes and they look good. Thanks

 

just found out today that i have no heat so to speak, it may be warm, but not anywhere near what it should be. i'm assuming this can only mean it has something to do with the overheating. are these cars known to airlock in the heater cores?

 

No heat could mean a plugged heater core -- have you been using stop leak? Sounds like you need to do a flush -- install a Prestone flush kit... Also check your thermostat -- replacement is cheap and easy to do...

 

i just flushed the entire system before learning about the inop heat issue. i replaced the thermostat at that time.