...with all my worrying and stuff, butI figure it's better to be safe than sorry.

So, on to the situation...My Z has been runnning hotter lately, as in it's not even close to overheating, but it's not in its normal operating range.

Some of you may recall me asking about the car running below 140 no matter what the other conditions were. I was told this is normal, so I stopped worrying. But over the last two or so weeks, the operating temperature has slowly started to climb...it started out by actually getting to 140, and in the last few days it's finally gotten beyond. I'd say it's running around 145, maybe 150. I've been doing some testing, to see if it's a serious issue/something that should be addressed within the next short time frame. I've been doing my best to get the engine to 'overheat' -or at least run hot. So, while driving around I've been forcing it to stay in the gear below what it wants to be in, that way it'll run more rpms, and hopefully make more heat. But I've gotten nothing. 55 in third gear is turning around 2400 rpms. give or take. Doing this for twenty minutes straight actually brought my temperature down! It started at about 145 on the highway doing 70, and then after driving in third for 20 minutes at 55 it was back down to 135ish. I was like 'seriously?'. It seems to defy logic...why would it cool off when I'm going slower, and turning more rpms? Add on the fact that the outside temperature has only been getting lower, I've become quite perplexed.

Summary:
-car normally runs below 140 no matter what.
-over last two weeks, operating temperature has slowly risen to around 145-150
-After purposefully running higher rpms at lower speeds, the temperature went back down below 140
-It's gettign cold outside, which seems to have no effect.

What I want - Possibilities as to why it's running warmer than usual.

Thanks in advance, CF!

 

How in the hell does it stay below 140? What is the temperature outside normally around there?

 

Don't ask me, it's just what the gauge always tells me.

Is it possible that something is screwed up with the gauge itself? And the car never actually stayed that cool? And now something happened that's letting it correct itself? I dunno. I'm confused.

Edit: It's lower michigan, so summers get to 90-100 for about two weeks. Average is upper 70s. The rest of the year though...it gets cold. :P

 

Bump before I go play GTA4, haha.

 

WHO in the heck (I would say hell, but this is a family show ) told you that 140 is normal???
That's nowhere near optimum operating temp., and in these cars ispractically impossible to hold to.Did you already change your thermostat, I thought you did?
Either your gauge or your sending unit is screwy (plus whoever told you 140 is normal).

 

Actually, it was 95slvr. But now that I've gone back to the thread he mentioned it in, I would assume he was referring to the original post.
https://camaroforums.com/m_244032/tm.htm - for what I'm talking about.

No, I haven't replaced anything of the like. And onto the obvious next question: How do I check for a screwed up gauge or sending unit?

 

That must be what I was thinking about the thermostat then, but it wasn't you.
Knowing your actual water temp would be helpful. An infraredthermometer like this: Infrared Thermometerwill help to give you an idea ofwhat your water temp is. If it really is low, look at your thermostat. If it's quite higher than your gauge says, the sending unit would be the first, and easier, thing to look at. Chances are good that it would be the sending unit that's bad, and not the gauge, but that's not a guarantee.

 

Alright, I think I can get some numbers, actually.

But let's play hypothetical for a moment. Let's assume my real temperature really is this low...is there a chance that some sort of damage has been done?

 

I don't think I read that your car never gets above 140 correctly, I think I read it as "above 140" or something along those lines...my bad on that.

Your car will probably run cooler when you're reving it a bit higher because the water pump is not at it's most efficient point at idle. That said, I'm not sure why it won't ever register above 140. Like Camaro 69 said, get us an actual temp reading. Sounds like it could be a faulty sending unit to me...unless your thermostat is stuck open, which would seem weird...

 

I would suspect the sending unit also. My cheapo fail safe thermo from Oriellys is failed open, and combined with me turning the cooling fans on full blast, the temp is still about 160 (which is the lowest number on the gauge). Not sure if some of the other gauges read different numbers. You shouldn't be worried thatthe tempincreased a few degrees, I would be more concerned as to why it is reading that low.