all it takes is a little air in the right spot and it boils over so if you have a pin hole in a hose then it would do it when the air gets in the right spot.

 

Ok, pressure test done. After finding a leak at the clamp on the big hose on drivers side got it tightened down and no pressure loss after 20min.


With car cold and on a grade + ramps (radiator cap about mid chest level) I bled system according to Craby's write-up.


Drove the car about 7 mi. out and temp was running between 1/4 and 1/2. As I was turning around temp started rising slowly. Took a different route home where average speed was around 35mph. Got home just in time to see coolant just starting to come out the radiator cap but stopped as the temp started going down at idle.


One thing I noticed, as I am a smoker, was that the one fan that was running (the other had already shut off) pulled the smoke into the fan from under the car. Am I correct in thinking that it should be blowing the smoke towards the engine? If so is it as simple as changing the wires to the plugs on the fan(s) to get them to turn the opposite way? When I bought this car there were no plugs going to the fans, just dangling wires and I might have wired them up wrong. Will putting power to the fan plugs then swapping them to prove direction of rotation damage anything?


I am almost as dumb as a box of rocks when it comes to electrical stuff but with guidance am willing to learn. At least I can thank the previous owner for making me learn better at troubleshooting skills. haha

 

The fan(s) suck air through the radiator and blow towards the engine. When the fan is running, put your hand between it and engine (safely) and feel for air movement against your hand. Turn the A/C on to run the fan instead of waiting for engine to heat up. If a fan is running backwards, that would explain your problem.

 

I do feel air movement toward the engine but it doesn't feel like a lot. Can I reverse the wires on the plug(s) to check air flow or will this damage something?

 

180 - 190 speed gets over limits.

 

Hopefully overheating issues are over with. Fans were wired in backward. Drove around today, open road and in traffic with no issues.


Thanks everybody. On to my next post.

 

cool. lmao, now thats one i never heard.

 

Update !
During the week I probably put 125mi. or so on the Z with what I thought were no problems, no overheating indicated by the gauge and no evidence of coolant loss. I was going on about a 140mi. round trip today and checked radiator before I left, added about a quart to get it topped off and just thought that I might not have gotten it completely full the first time I filled it.


Made the trip there and no problems. The gauge did get to the point the primary fan kicked on a couple times but cooled back down right away. 50 or so miles of the way back the car ran right at 210 (or 3/4 on the gauge maybe a needle above) After driving about 5mi. of in town traffic I stopped at the quick mart for about 5 minutes and when I came out there was a puddle under the car. Raising the hood I found that it came from my radiator cap. The car was no where near hot enough by the gauge to be overheated so I drove the 15mi. home. Popped the hood and no evidence of any more coolant loss.


I checked the overflow bottle at the quick mart and again when I got home and no change there. Best I can tell coolant was just below the bottom of the neck both times I checked it and no indication that it had been overflowing there.


I pressure checked the system as well as the cap the first of the week and both passed.


Anyone have an idea or explanation of what's going on here? Do I have the system to full? Resurrecting this thing after at least a couple years just kinda has me on edge and after all the previous overheating issues maybe a little paranoid.

 

check coolant level in the radiator after it cools. sure sounds like air in the system. when coolant expands with heat any overflow is supposed to go into the overflow tank. make sure that hose between the two is not plugged.

 

I'm missing something here.

In the 95Z I have a 180 thermostat

I can run for 3-4 hours on the highway and the temp never budges from the 180-ish range

the tune I have has the fans kick on at about 195 so when in stop and go traffic or idling, the temp never reaches 200.

what temp thermostat do you have and is the 210-215 degrees happening at constant speeds in excess of 30mph or just in stop and go traffic?

Are you sure that you have an air dam and are all the radiator cooling fins by any chance all mashed down or covered in dead bugs?