the other day my firebird spiked at 230. what's the maximum operating temp? when it hit up there I immediately let up and turned on the heat.
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the other day my firebird spiked at 230. what's the maximum operating temp? when it hit up there I immediately let up and turned on the heat.
you didnt say what kind of car it was. on late model stuff, the fans comes on around 225 and cut off at 215. with the right cap, antifreeze mix, you can do that. on the older cars we thought 210 was about it. i used to run some stuff in my blower motor that wouldnt boil over and on a real hot day i ran the car 260 degrees and it did ok, i took it out because i didnt like ridding around with the temp. gauge on 260. the stuff cost 35.00 a gal. 230 would be to hot for the older car. as long as the water stays in the radiator its ok anyway, when the radiator get low in water is when you get into trouble. use a good recovery tank and cap and you can run a little hotter because you are reuseing the over flow water when you need it.**)Quote:
Originally posted by firebird45331
the other day my firebird spiked at 230. what's the maximum operating temp? when it hit up there I immediately let up and turned on the heat.
it's a 79 350 in an 86 firebird with an iroc radiator 160 degree thermostat and dual electric fans
Hitting 230 shouldn't hurt it..........I wouldn't want to run it there all day.
[QUOTE]Originally posted by firebird45331
it's a 79 350 in an 86 firebird with an iroc radiator 160 degree thermostat and dual electric fans [/QUOTE
I wouldn't try to run it at 230, but if you could get it to stabilize (on a hot day) around 210- 215 would be ok.
on a hot day it doesn't get about 190 unless I'm driving it pretty hard. I believe the radiator was out of an 305 Iroc camaro. Does a pretty decent job cooling it. The guy I got it off of had it in a Z-28 with a 383 in it. I like that dual fan setup. I don't have them coming on sequentially I have them set up to both be on at the same time. I was pondering getting an electric water pump and running them on some sort of a timer in conjunction with the pump. but that seems like a lot of work and running relays for all that would be a pain
Quote:
Originally posted by firebird45331
on a hot day it doesn't get about 190 unless I'm driving it pretty hard. I believe the radiator was out of an 305 Iroc camaro. Does a pretty decent job cooling it. The guy I got it off of had it in a Z-28 with a 383 in it. I like that dual fan setup. I don't have them coming on sequentially I have them set up to both be on at the same time. I was pondering getting an electric water pump and running them on some sort of a timer in conjunction with the pump. but that seems like a lot of work and running relays for all that would be a pain
dont sound like you got enough radiator, dont know about the fans. dont think the elec. water pump will work on the st. you dont wont to run your motor hot to many times you need to be looking at a stabilizing temp. thats as hot as it should get at most any given time. :cool:
on a day where it's only in the 50's or low 60's it will hardly break 160. I have two temperature sensors in it. One in the block and the other right above the thermostat. I don't see how the block sensor is all that accurate since it's sitting right above the exhaust manifolds. It's kind of cool cause I can see exactly when the thermostat opens. Nifty little diagnostic thing. If my block temp raises and my thermostat gauge isn't coming up then the thing's stuck shut. If it's coming up slowly then it's stuck open.
where you got the sensor in the head is the best place for the temp gauge because it is at the exhaust valves which is the hottest spot on the block. :eek:Quote:
Originally posted by firebird45331
on a day where it's only in the 50's or low 60's it will hardly break 160. I have two temperature sensors in it. One in the block and the other right above the thermostat. I don't see how the block sensor is all that accurate since it's sitting right above the exhaust manifolds. It's kind of cool cause I can see exactly when the thermostat opens. Nifty little diagnostic thing. If my block temp raises and my thermostat gauge isn't coming up then the thing's stuck shut. If it's coming up slowly then it's stuck open.
i was gonna say that comp controled chevys program is set to run its best at 210 degrees but your last post reminded me that your not comp controlled but up to 220 is liveable for moderate periods of cruising-- i have a friend with 89 gta having same go around with 160 tstat --only problem i really see with that low tstat is the f- bodies rad is not that big and coolant doesnt stay in rad long enough to cool down to regulate temps----------- also is your lower air dam still in place in front-- its all that directs air up thru the radiator
This may sound stupid, but its worth a look. I have seen a few people run electric fans the wrong way (puller fans on the outboard side of the radiator, or a pusher fan on the inboard side of the radiator) so youd actually be pushing, or pulling hot air onto the radiator. Like I said Its would be a pretty stupid thing to do but Ive seen it happen.
i personally think that you should go to a hotter thermostat a 170 or maybe even a 180... you would be amazed how much cooler your engine will actually run.... plus also changing the sensor driven fan to a switch fan is a good idea.... kicking the fan on earlier than what the sensor is set to do will make it a lot cooler... i know i had a similar problem with my 87 mustang.... the car would get to about 220 before the fan even turned on... the sensor was supposed to be 180... so i bought 3 new ones and none of them would kick in below boiling point
i cant get my car to break 200:LOL: and its a 301:3dSMILE: just thought id stir the pot hehehehe no offense intended........scooter:3dSMILE:
i agree with thesals the longer the coolant is in the radiator the better.
well I had a 180 or a 190 in it and it ran constantly 220
sounds to me like your fans might not be pulling enough air..... or you're timing is retarded too far...
I have the timing set at 8 btdc and it's not over heating now it runs a constant 190 or less
now that sounds more like it!!!
I think that a new rad. or maybe a bigger rad. will cure your prob. I've got rads from junk yards or from other cars and they are clogged and would not come clean even with a acid dip. buy a new rad. with three rows and make sure it is sealed all the way to the grill so no hot air comes back throw from the motor.are you running a reverse flow water pump?? that what your car calls for if you still have a serpentin belt drive!!
I'm not for sure that I'm even having an overheating problem, maybe if a constant 190 is bad. I mean it was overheating when I had the timing advanced at 20degrees, but when I went back to 8 btdc the problem went away. I'm pretty content with that.
if you are ridding around in a computor car with a 180 or cooler thermostate then you should be running to rich. that would be the same as having the choke on all of the time. :HMMM:
it's not computer controlled
i'd try bumping the advance up a little more and see if the heat problem still persists.... thats what i do when advancing the curve, get as far advanced as i can go without pinging on the fuel i can afford and not overheating
Sounds like everyone is right on about cooling. As long as the coolant is staying put and the engine oil doesnt thin out or coke, the heat will help combustion. I dont remember where it is but Smokey Yunick wrote some great articles on engine temp. He was the origiginal one to try reverse flow.
This has been an interesting thread. I've fought temp problems for a while now - the concept of running too cool a thermostat makes sense, and I'd considered it, but never acted on it. Timing does make a difference, too. Too far either way (as we saw here) can be a problem.
Thanks for a good discussion!
212 is boiling i like to try to keep all of my cars below boiling
trying to cool my motor has been like trying to cool hell. my motor is in the back as some of you may know it is a 283 in a 73 porsche 914. well the radiator is in the front of the car with rubber hose running the length of the car i just couldnt get it too cool then my dad came up with a great idea get more narrow hoses. my problem was that i was getting too much water in the motor and it was moving too slow so it just sat in the motor and got hot. i tried restrictor plates and they never seemed to work but the smaller hose has done the trick
thats water boilling point. add antifreeze and a pressure cap to that and the boiling point goes up.:HMMM:Quote:
Originally posted by tyler
212 is boiling i like to try to keep all of my cars below boiling
All computer cars (1981 up) turn the cooling fans on at 226 degrees, So I would say long as you don't run past that your'e probally O.K.... But I personally wouldn't want mine to run past 195 to 200.......
As stated above water boils at 212 degrees, go to a 50/50 mix of antifreeze & water and ya raise the boiling point to 223 degrees, now add 14 pounds of preasure and ya raise the boiling point another 45 degrees......
i dunno 195 is a little high in my opinion... but my ford runs a nice 180 even no matter the condition including idling in traffic on a 90 degree day :LOL:
mine will run 180-195 all day long in traffic bumper to bumper maybe it'll hit 195 on a 100 degree day. also water wetter does seem to help a little. and i only use the electric fan when i turn it off.........:3dSMILE: i do belive there is another type of water wetter stlye stuff on the market its the color of antifreeze waater wetter is pinkish red............ if all else fails take out the thermostat and use a thick washer constant flow with some restiction :LOL:
This has been a real good thread and I think ol' firebird got his problem fixed. You get to learn quite a bit about a lot of things when it comes to cooling systems. I did notice a couple of bits of small misinformation though. All computer controlled cars do not kick the fan a 226, this number will actually vary from maufacturer to manufacturer and from model to model. Some Asian imports kick the fan as low as 212, a good tidbit if you are runnin' a coolant fan swithch and want you fan to come on at a lower temp.
I don't like my cars to run much over 180, but many cars do and will run at these temps. I drive older cars, newer cars designed to run on unleaded can and will run as high as 225. Example, I had an '85 Iroc Camaro, TPI 305. That car would hardly come down from 220 - 225 and it always made me nervous. It never overheated and always ran great, so in reality, no problems. I also had a '79 302 Mustang that ran way up there, right at the tip of overheating, scared me to death, never overheated and always ran great. My Blazer, 2wd, 350/350 really likes it right at 180. I can hardly get it any warmer, even with bigger thermostats. I guess I really don't want it any warmer, but temps can and will vary some within these numbers, depending alot on the car itself.
Water Wetter does work very well, Royal Purple also makes an additive that works very well. I would suggest it to anyone who is having problems with heat.
The assumption to this point is that all circuitry is OK.
I traced an intermittent fan to a bad relay recently.
Wouldn't relay / sensor variations also effect cooling?
SO - if you jump the relay so the fan is cooling constantly, for a short while, you would have a low level baseline to work towards.
Bert