jcjohnston78

I have a 92 Camaro RS 305TBI
in the summer here in dallas is around 95+ degrees (todays high was 104) my car temp seems to run 230-245 degrees with the ac on in rush hour traffic or stopping at too many stop lights.
- i made sure the fans works and is wired to run all the time.
- air damn is in good shape....and ive checked all other things envolved with it running hot.

any idea on helping the car stay cooler in the HOT weather?
would something like secondary fan installed in the front of the radiator so it will push cold air through radiator
or transmission, oil cooler


check my stats at the bottom of the post for questions about my car

Tom91Bird

iTrader: (5)

replace your stat yet? Maybe try using more water in your coolant mix. Or maybe if it has the original radiator with 196,000 miles, it could be just scaled up and tired.

jcjohnston78

the thermostat was replaced last month with a 160stat
and the radiator is a year old....im not sure of the mixture i think it i did 75% antifreeze and 25% water....earlier in the summer i put water wetter in the radiator and that help some.....

Tom91Bird

iTrader: (5)

you definately need to run alot more water. I would try 60 water and 40 antifreeze. Water absorbs heat much better then antifreeze.

Slade1

I'm running the 75/25 coolant / distilled water mix. With that mix, and a properly pressurized rad system, it actually has a higher boiling point than the normal mixture. I barely see over 190 even in city driving with a/c on. Highway and at speed almost always keeps to my 180 stat temp...

brodyscamaro

flush the system and run 75% water maybe try drilling 2 1/8" holes in the thermostat housing.

jcjohnston78

i saw something about drilling holes....refresh my memory, why do i need to drill holes??

Randy82WS7

for a coupel different reasons presumably, one is to maybe help purge air through to top of radiator after drain and refil of system, and two to maybe help cycle a lil extra fluid in to radiator to go in and ocol off, more thna what a stock type thermostat can do,
may help cool at certain speeds and/or engine RPM
its worth a shot to see if make improvement or not, i am going ot try it on my Z28 305 soon sinc emine is not drilled and is getting damn hot and radiator is not leaking and has no visible calcium crap in it and waterpump is new. temp guage my be crap, it pegs over past H on startup all the tie and jams there so i just unstuck it everytime and the go on my merry way, seems towork otherwise, i may post thread about this.


good luck

jamesbern

Check your radiator cap or just replace it. I see many heat problems where I work that are just lack of preesure on the system.

GKK

Installing a fan in front of the radiator to push the air through is very inefficient. If you don't already have dual fans try installing another fan behind the radiator. Electric fans work best installed as Puller fans. Dual fans cool the radiator a lot better than the Single fan.

GKK

Here's a picture of my dual 12" "Perma Cool" fans installed.

jcjohnston78

so how do u have that setup and whats the stock number
do both fans turn on at the same time or do u have a manual switch for either switch?
on this setup, what did u do with the fan/radiator braket....

Danno

For every 1lb of pressure with a pure water system you raise the boiling point approx 3 deg. With a 15lb system that equates to a boilover of around 257 deg. A 50/50 mix coolant water raises it to 265, 70/30 takes it to 276. As you can see it is pressure that retards boilover, not so much the mix. The freeze point however is very radical. 50/50 mix about -35 deg, 70/30 -85. In Canada you may need the extra freeze protection, but in Texas it's counterproductive. As stated it is the water that provides the maximum heat exchange and in most cases unless extreme low temps are encountered a 70% water mix is probably the most efficient.

GKK

I ordered the fans from www.summitracing.com part #PRM-19008-P3P $82.95 each. I just wired both fans together + to + and - to - and then connected them to the stock wires that went to my original single fan. I had to trim part of the stock shroud for clearance as you can see here.

jcjohnston78

i like your idea, but im not really into cutting up my car.... (trying to keep the car as close to orginal as possible) im gonna go down to the junk yard and try and find a support of an old fbody without an electrical fan.............

one other question.... with the way u set it up...is it safe, its not gonna blow relays or fuses?

o yea i forgot to ask last time, how big is your radiator??

jamesbern

O.K., I am going to go out on a limb here, but have you verified with another guage or something that you are actually running hot? Many times the guage inside the car can be inaccurate. I run a 383 in my car with one electric fan and on 100 degree days it never gets over 185. You shouldn't need dual fans or holes in the thermostat or anything else special to cool a stock or mildly built smallblock. Check a plug to see if you are running lean, possibly the fuel filter is plugged. Check your radiator cap as I stated before, it will cause the car to heat up if it doesn't pressurize the system.

madmanups

My car in 98 degree days runs over 220 eventually. I just put in a 160 stat which I think might actually hurt the car more than 180, is this true? I will run the car like this for a few more days, if it doesn't cool down I guess I'll get the 180 stat. HELP. OH everything else on the the cooling system is in order New radiator, water pump works, cap works, timing right, 2 fans work, but it still manages over 220 in traffic

GKK

220* in traffic on a 98* day is normal. Yes, I would change the 160* thermostat to a 180* because the 160* won't let the coolant absorb enough engine heat before going back to the radiator, and the coolant won't have enough time in the radiator to cool down before returning to the engine.

GKK

Both fans together only draw 15 amps and the stock fuse is a 20 amp so I figured it would be alright. Also, another member here (forgot his user name) had his wired the same way for over 4 years and has no problems with it. The radiator is the stock 31"x 19" aluminum core with the plastic tanks.

Flamingo

GKK
In the pic with the radiator out it shows the fans wired in series. But the way you described it when mounted in the car was parallel (which is the correct way). So did you change the way it was wired between the 2 pics?
I have a dual flexlite set-up with both fans on full time now, but thinking of rewiring them so one fan on all time and the other comes on by thermostat or maybe both fans on by thermostat with manual override.

GKK

I was going to hook the fans up like in the picture but, realized later that the fans would not receive the proper voltage. I wired the fans + to + and - to -. Also, I wanted both fans to come on at the same time to cool my A/C condensor better.

jcjohnston78

Afterdoing everyones suggestions....i couldnt find a problem so i decided to take it to my local mechanic just for grins to see if could find a problem....u know double check everything i look at and have them do a pressure check( i myself checked the bottom hose to see if would calapse and it didnt) and to check my guages to see if they were working properly.

it took them about 2 hours to figure out that there was a small pin hole in the gasket between the tbi and the intake manifold.


there asking $300 +tax+parts

is this reasonable for 3 hours worth of work, or should i just find time sometime SOON to fix the problem....i mean, its so minor, im not loosing that much fluids.
if i were to drive the car around and not let it run to hot for a while, will this hurt my car and what other problems im i looking at due to this pin hole

Flamingo

$100/hr? IF it is only a 3 hr job, that is very high. $65/hr is a lot more reasonable, at least in the areas I have lived in recently.

jcjohnston78

yeah thats what i thought..maybe i should just do it...only prob is that i dont have a clue whats involved....
any suggestions???

jamesbern

For something that small, just buy some of G.M.'s coolant tablets and forget about it. They don't clog anything, but they sure work well.