Craby, After cool down the radiator may have held a pint. Checked the overflow hose and no blockage found, although I may have to do more inspecting. Shouldn't it be pulling coolant back into the radiator when it cools down? I'm not sure what the level in the radiator should look like when it is "quote" full.


torque; I have a 180 thermostat as well and the temp runs third mark or a needle to the right at highway speeds of between 60 and 80 mph. In traffic the temp rises until the fan kicks on and then starts cooling back off immediately. Once I leave home and the car warms up I rarely see the temp needle below the 3/4 mark which I'm assuming by simple math is the 210 mark.


Yes I am positive that I have an air dam and the radiator is clean and looks to be in pretty good shape. You did just made me think though, I have not checked the condenser to see how clean that is. Will get that done.


This is the first automobile I have ever had that ran that much hotter than the thermostat that was in it. The guys I talk to around here all say the ones they have had ran at 210 also.


I don't have a custom tune or anything, as far as I know everything is bone stock.
I have actually been trying to think of a way to add to the air dam to see if that would help.

 

I'd hate to do it but not being there in person, I need to have the scene set for me

At highway speed, what rpm are you spinning? is it 2k-2500 or is it more around 4k ? I don't know the gears in your rear end (the cars' not yours) or if auto, is it in OD.

Next, do you have a restricted exhaust or air intake?

Are you running regular gas thus forcing the engine to retard timing and as a consequence, run hotter?

95 degrees in central FL and at 40mph, my Z runs cool as a cucumber

My other vehicles run hotter as I have 195 thermostats in them

 

yes it should draw coolant back to radiator as it cools. if you have a leak it will suck air in. only takes a little air to make a lt1 boil over. there are hot spots in the heads that cause this. thats why theres a steam pipe at the back of the heads. did you change the thermostat? if so did it get installed right side up?

 

shoot, for troubleshooting purpose you run without one or gut the old one.

As long as he doesn't need heat the next week it's a way to eliminate the thermostat

I've never had any issues bleeding the coolant system. Turn on the car, open a bleeder valve and let the air escape as it heats up until such time as coolant then flows freely.

Every situation is different but given the number of times I've had coolant out, you'd think I would have experienced difficulty at least once.

Ask me about the #6 spark plug (even with headers) and I've had nothing but difficulties

 

torque; The bulk of the trip was spent on 4-lane or interstate at speeds between 60 and 80 mph never turning more than 2k rpm while cruising. I'm assuming it has stock gears and yes it is an automatic and does go into overdrive.


The one thing that I've found not to be stock is the breather (air filter) that is a K-n-N so I don't think the intake is restricted. The exhaust is stock best I can tell and doesn't seem to be restricted but I haven't tested that. Is there a low or no cost way to test that would give me at least an idea if it was restricted?


I am running regular gas, is that a bad thing? With as many of these cars on the road I wouldn't think that I was the only one running regular gas and the only one experiencing hotter highway temps.


Craby; I'll have to check further into the overflow. It isn't blocked but not sure that it doesn't have a hole in the line somewhere. The thermostat is new and when checked on the stove several times opened every time. The thing is once the car gets hot enough for it to open it never cools off enough (by the gauge) to close again.


Am I damaging the car by driving it with the temp being around 210 for the most part all of the time?


As I have said before this car was not running when I bought it and I'm just trying to work out the problems as I go. The car is not spewing coolant or even getting hot enough for the second fan to come on anymore. As of now I'm just trying to get the temp back down to around the thermostat temp which is 180. Is that not possible?

 

Just to be clear, you have an LT1, correct?

The mfr calls for premium fuel given the compression ratio of the engine.

When you try and go cheap and use less octane than is required, modern engiens will compensate by retarding the ignition timing and that in itself is where the problems begin.

Let's review the fallout of what occurs from that

first- the engine makes less power. Not really a huge thing but still something

Shortens the life of spark plugs and given how difficult it is to replace them in these cars, why do that to yourself?

causes combustion to occur within the cylinders itself as opposed to in the combustion chamber. Think more of flame than a boom

that results in a lot more heat, the heads get hotter and even the exhaust is hotter. You might see glowing headers or exhaust manifolds

hotter cylinders are not a friend to piston rings or the coating of the cylinder walls so you shorten the life of your engine

Are you starting to see that there is truth to the old saying of pay me now or pay me later

Sure, you can't buy that extra cup of Starbucks each week by using the correct fuel but is it worth the $2-$3 ?

If you do have a V8, then start using premium and see if that has any affect on your heat issue

Before trying to diagnose problems you must eliminate the basics and the correct fuel is definitely one of the basics


I hope that answers your question as to why you don't use cheap fuel in an LT1



In modern engines like the Coyote five-oh from Ford (a ripoff of Honda Vtec BTW) despite having an 11:1 compression ration, the engineers put a lot of effort in the PCM and knock sensor and with VCT, they made it so the cheeap stuff can be used in the five-ohs and you just lose HP and torque.

I know that this is a Camaro forum but without direct injection, Ford is getting 435HP from 5 liters. Imagine what will happen when they add DI and don't detune it

 

is the air dam (flat plastic piece under the front bumper) in place? its there to force air through the radiator. if missing it will run hot and can overheat at highway speeds. also check radiator fin area for clogging. in any case if radiator air flow is limited it will run hot or overheat.

 

yes me too out of the cap leaking ,was it on there tight ,sounds like missing something too ,when my gasket went that what happen was from on thing to another ,after about 5 minutes geyser try it running the car with the cap off if water goes everywhere before it gets hot theres a problem , ,your sure about the no light smoke from pipes at start up ,

 

I asked earlier and in post #21 he said that all was good and that he checked

this is a head scratcher without being there in person

 

And I asked him that at the very beginning in post #2. He checked and found the bumper cover was hanging down and blocking the dam. Attaching the cover back up didn't help, I knew that would have been too easy.
One of his concerns is the engine getting too hot, 210 degrees. But going to 210, or even a little beyond is perfectly normal with this car. What isn't normal is spewing out coolant. Perhaps it's a faulty radiator cap. What is the psi rating on the cap?