The needle's been even higher then that. Seems to happen when the car is idling. Temp goes down pretty quickly once I get moving.

Should I be worried? How can I fix it?

 

Are your fans kicking on? Put a 160 thermostat in it. Mine never goes above the second mark. I thought it ran too cool but I have a 160 t-stat. Try that and see what happens.

 

That third tick that the needle is approaching is 235 degrees, getting a little toasty. You're right around 225 degrees showing in the pic. Check the fans, and if they are working but you want the temps lower while in traffic, then make the fans turn on sooner. You can do that with either a retrofit kit or a manual switch. Putting in a lower stat is futile if the fans still don't go on any sooner, the engine will still keep getting hotter till the fans go on. Also, messing with a 160 stat keeps the thermostat open constantly at those higher temps, and the radiator then is no longer doing it's job correctly (holding in the coolant to cool it back off). If you understand how a cooling system is supposed to work, and what the temperature requirement of your engine is, you'll realize that the stock rated stat is just fine.

 

have u checked the coolant level? when the motor is cold check the radiator and see. like 69 says the fans may not be coming on. if u put the ac on do the fans come on? check your fuses for any bad ones.

 

My t-stat was for the hypertech chip and mine never goes above the second mark. I know it wont stop it sitting but it will keep it cooler on the road and I mentioned the fans. I know enough about cooling systems. I learned the hard way of taking a t-stat out of a 4 cylinder and the water just kept running throug and not getting held up in the radiator to cool. Back in the day we used to always take them out in the old v-8s until winter. Well, if it went bad we took it out and replaced it in the winter.

 

Yep, the things we used to do before we knew better! Another dumb "trick" was to remove the innards of the stat and keep the outer ring in place using it as a restrictor.
The point I was making though is that even with a 192 stat, the engine will run cooler than that if you make the fans turn on sooner. The coolant will have more time to spend in the radiator chilling out, and it's temp would be below the stats rated temp when it opens and transfers the coolant. With a 192 stat, the engines temp being at 192 would only be momentary. And that's not too hot at all.

 

Yeah, your right, It needs to hold in there to cool down. I really dont know why they recommend the 160 with the chip. The fans coming on sooner would definately help a lot. The 93 has a little different guage and I always thought mine ran too cool. It only goes to that first click on the guage pictured above. The 93 has clicks in between all the clicks on that guage.

 

ive got a 180 thermostat in mine and it hangs at the first mark. right at 180. heater works great, rad fan is not on all the time.

 

Because people will buy into that kind of propaganda, and the company just happens to have an expensive "cure all" stat to sell too. Running the engine that cold is not good for it. Cold incoming air is what's more beneficial for performance.

 

Oil and coolant are fine. I do hear the fans when it gets around the 3rd click...prolly why it hasn't blown up yet. lol.

Don't worry about the fans, I'll get them reprogrammed one of these days once I get the ALDL cable.

When I had my 03 Impala it'd blow hot air in about a minute after I turned it on, even the coldest winters of nocal. And no matter how hard I drove it the temp would always hang just below the second click. Later on the heater stopped working like it used to, and the temp (after running it for a bit) would go on the 3rd click. Turned out it was the intake manifold gasket...was one helluva mess.

Now my Z28's been doing exactly that for months. It takes forever for the heater to blow warm air (notice I don't say hot), and the temp goes to 230. Pretty sure it's not the head gasket or manifold gasket because I'd see the signs (coolant loss, creamy oil, smoke, etc). But it's gotta be something, right?