Thread: Engine Running Temp

Tweet

Hello All - i have a sb 283 and need to know what the running temp should be? I live in Northern MN where the temp is generally 65-75 in the summer and cold as hell in the winter. I won't be driving it in the winter so not too worried about it then. But when it's 65-75 out, what should it be?

How about when it's hot, like 85-100?

Thanks,
James

If I were you I would go with a 180 but a 190 would work too

So running at 240 on a 95 degree day would not be
unusual?

180 - 195 on a 75-80 degree day? I have a 180 degree
stat in there

James

JamesD, 240 is high in my opinion, I have a 79 trans am with a 403 in it, that has never gone over 210 even with the temp in the 100's here lately, I would start looking at your cooling system if you are hitting 240 on a 95* day without being in heavy traffic.

I would make a very strong effort to keep my car under 220 on any warm day. any were from 180-210 I dont worry

On the other side of the coin, ... what's too cold? My T rarely gets over 180 even in 95+ weather.

as long as it runs fine your alright

I had a similar issue with my 350 sbc - it turns out that the first problem was a misread on the gauge. The sensor is screwed into a reducer fitting that is in the head between the number 1 and 3 cylinder. It seems that when they wired my car and installed new gauges, they did not seat the sensor far enough into the reducer; thereby, it was reading head temperature next to the headers and not the water temperature in the water cavity. After I seated it, the temp now reads 190 instead of 230. It still runs hotter than I would like with the air cond on; however, I am going to install a pusher fan out front to help bring down the condenser temp as well as the radiator temp. I don't know much about this whole cooling thing except that sometimes one makes false assumptions about the problem and it turns out that it is a whole different issue.

I agree with the puller fan idea

I drive a '76 GMC with a 350 and an auto. It has a partially rotted 3 row full of stop leak. It has gone above 190 twice in the 2 years since i bought it, and that is with a 180 degree thermostat. The first time was when my heater hose burst and I lost all of my coolant and the second was while going up a moderatly steep grade in 100 degree weather. I sometimes hit 190 while going down the freeway at 65+ in hot weather or idling up a hill. I would check your ignition timing, 12 degrees at 700 rpm is a good place to start for almost any engine. Retarded timing can cause overheating. Also, if you don't mind having to prep your car for smog, remove most or all of your smog equiptment, that dropped my underhood like 50 degrees.