Help Diagnose my cooling problem

[dpok69]

I had it with this damn car! I have almost changed every part of the cooling system and my temps still reach temps of 193 with no A/C on 90 degree days.

This is what i have done:
New heater valve (plastic type,two years old)
new heater core (6 months old)
160 thermostat from postens (two years old)
waterpump from pepboys ( one year old)
f-body aluminum radiator (1 month old)
ramchargers fan ( 1 week old)
rmi-25 with distilled water
Factory radiator boxing retained

With these changes i should be seeing temps in the 160-170 range. This is what i noticed after intalling the the dual fans. After temps reach the 190 range at idle there is hot air being expelled by the fan. Then temps drop to 183-185 range and air being expelled is cool. After this temps rise back up again to 190 range and cycle repeats itself.

With the old radiator minus the fans car was running temps maybe only 10 degrees higher. On a 100 degree day, my max temp was like 201 degrees . The old radiator looked clogged up and finally sprung a leak.

My theory is posten sent me the wrong thermostat, or the thermostat is getting stuck. Is this a viable theory?

 

[Quick6'n'-K.C.]

if the t-stat was stuck open it would take along time to warm up, and overheat on the highway, and stay cooler on the streets-


sounds like you have a 180 t-stat in the car and that is why it never stays cool-

i purchase all my t-stats from ATR, they all run 160.
superchips sells a 155 degree t-stat.



do me a favor, when you pull that t-stat out, check to see if it has a nub braise on the bottom of the stat the size of a "certs" right in the middle of the spring-

if it does, it is that same POS a friend of mine bought from postons and not a real 160 t-stat, even thou they advertise it as a 160-
i dont want to bash them, they just dont sell a true 160 t-stat like ATR does.
BW

 

[dpok69]

Okay good looking out, i will post the results

 

[BADINBLACK6]

Try hooking up a fan switch so you can turn it on when you want or get your chip burn so th fan runs all the time.HTH

 

[dpok69]

Once the car is warmed up, the high speed fan runs most of the time. But the car still cycles its temps. i have a thrasher 92 chip installed.

 

[Buick Beginner]

2 more cents

1. What condition is the Temp Gauge in? Old or new? Are you're sure your gettting the right reading?
2. I second the motion on replacing the thermostat AGAIN, you never know when you've got a bad part that's supposedly new.
- BB

 

[national]

I used a thermostat from autozone or advance auto parts that was a 160 & took my die grinder to it & it fit fine..Now I wonder how true of a 160 mine is..I think its a stat brand..anyone wanna guess??
Thanks,Brian

 

[Lhorn]

Took mine to a radiator shop because my new VDO guage keeps reading about 200 degrees. They checked it out with a neat temperature gun and found out that the guage reads 25 degrees higher than the actual temp. Did a search here and found out this is a common problem. Haven't figured out how to fix it yet. Any ideas? I'd make sure your guage is reading right.

 

[dpok69]

I am getting my temp readings from my scanmaster. I will be placing an order with atr soon for there 160 thermostat

 

[FlyinGN]

a quick way to see what temp yur stat is opening is to...
remove the rad cap and start it up and let idle. watch the coolant in the rad. It will be still. When it starts to move violently the stat opened and run in the car and look at the temp gauge (scanmaster) the temp is the point the stat opened.

 

[1owner]

Lhorn

I have VDO guages and they read off a little and are off alot when the lights are on. I worked with VDO and traced it down to bad grounding. Since most guages switch the ground signal this is most important. You might check to see where you are picking up your ground for your temp guage.