Today I finally got my Camaro on the road and with all the excitement drove it to my friend's house 5 minutes away, not even thinking I didn't realize I have to turn the fan on with a toggle switch all the time. The previous owner said it shouldn't run above 190 and put the fan on in traffic or if it starts to heat up, well not paying attention to the autometer water temp gauge i glanced at the one in the dash and i guess it doesn't work so then i pull in hear this noise then open my hood and the antifreeze cap shoots off and it started spraying everywhere while steam was everywhere too. So I realized I was running it way too hot for a few minutes and then i kicked the fan on and it immediately cooled down to 190. I drove it afterwards with the fan on it seemed to be running fine, I hope I didn't do any damage. I feel so bad =[

Wish the guy had told me a little more than a casual "Oh yeah kick the fan on in traffic" I thought it was a backup fan or something.
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Can you guys make me feel better haha, not a good first day >.>

 

did your model come with electric fans, or was the fan mounted on the crank stock? If it didnt have them stock then it is probably your only fan. However, a few minutes running hot wont hurt too much. you cant really get over 216 degrees, that is when the water will start to boil and u may bust the cap off of your resovoir, saw that happen to a guy with an lt1. Prolonged overheating can be a problem, but ur fine

 

I wouldnt worry too much about it. Just dont let it happen too often. Dont forget to refill the radiator.

 

What is the build on the engine? Iron block and iron heads then I wouldn't get to excited if it was for a short period of time. You can accidentally push them to around 260 without damage. The pressurization causes the boiling point to rise. If memory serves I believe for every 1 psi on the cap it's like 2-3 degrees. Boiling point is 212, so with a 16 psi(if that's your cap) cap your raising near the 260 mark.

If you filled it, ran it and it returned to the previous normal temp you did ok. If you start seeing heating problems you may have hurt something.

Wire that fan so it comes on properly. Jegs has temp kits you can slip in and are relay controlled so the fan comes on at a set temp. Not too expensive either compared to a new motor.

 

Yeah the guy has the fan rigged to a toggle switch that you manually turn on. It's a 350 engine.

 

Why don't you just run it off an accessory switch in your fuse box? So this way as soon as you turn the car on the accsessory kicks on and turns on your fan? At least until you get a relay installed. I did that to my 85 Camaro and I never had a problem. I drove the car for five years like that until I sold it.

 

That's what I'll end up doing. The problem isn't really that I can just turn the switch on myself now that I know, but yeah in case I ever forgot that's a good thing to do.