jsleeper81

hello guys,
I don't think it is overheating badly yet but it is worrying me so here is what the problem is .
I have a 92 camaro rs with a 305 tbi automatic trans. bought for $1100.00 this was my uncles car and treated him well for years he put new radiator and therm. in it along with a few other things before I bought it.
When I bought it I noticed that it was spraying a little water out of the top of the back of the water pump, which from what I have always been told that is an indication that the pump is bad.
I took the pump off planned to rebuild with new gaskets but the back of the housing was warped so just bought a new one oem style of coarse and as far as I know the pump is for the serpetine belt and flow the correct direction.
after install it ran fine no overheating fan kicked on when the needle would get right below the 220 mark in the center.
and it would go back off when it got down to the 1/4 mark on the gauge which I am assuming is either the 160 or 180 mark not sure no numbers there and the gauge would float in between those quite a bit while sitting idle, all while this you could here the fan kick on till it cooled down to that 1/4 mark then it would turn off till right below 220.
After all that said now what it does is sitting idle it will heat up to just above 220 around 225 then it will cool down to 220 and flucuate back and fourth right there at idle acting like it wants to get hotter but doesn't.
all along the way the fan stay on the whole time.
also what I have notice no matter what speed I am traveling when the rpms get higher it acts like it tries to act like it wants to get above 225 but once I let off the gas it shoots down quickly of coarse this is when I am getting on it I would say anything above 4,000 rpm or so.
Now at cruising speed normal rpm 1500 or so it stays down to right above that 1/4 mark which seems pretty cool.
I have heard that this could be a flow problem as far as belt slippage,or radiator hose collapsing.
air damn is in place just in case any one is woundering also.
I did burp the systme when I replaced water pump.
any advice would be helpful in this situation or am I just being over cautious about this I know over heating is bad and this is my first fbody car and I am enjoying and hate to have it parked since I just got it all legal now.

sorry for such a long winded post just wanted to make sure all the information that was needed was put down for the best diagnose

Flightoficarus

Hmm, well I'm in the middle of trying to figure out an overheating problem myself, lol. But it doesn't sound like you have too much to worry about, at least yet. Fans don't typically come on until around 220-230 I believe, so it's when you're hitting 240+, and your needle keeps going up when you're in trouble. Idling/flooring it are gonna be the times your car are gonna heat up the most.

It's always a good idea to make sure belts and hoses are in good shape, since either of those failing on you is gonna create more problems. I wouldn't suspect a bad radiator cap since you just had that changed. If the temp gauge is acting funny at all, sometimes a faulty coolant temp sensor can be at fault. Also, make sure everything is tuned up if it isn't, especially the timing.

Basically, just check the obvious, and make sure nothing's leaking, and you have sufficient coolant in the system. If everything is running properly and you're getting coolant flow/fan blow, and you're not getting too hot, I'd say you're ok.

novafirebirdguy

If you check all of the above and it's good there is a way to make the car run cooler. You can get an aftermarket fan switch that turns the fan on sooner. I believe hypertech makes them, check on summitracing.com, they've got all kinds of cool stuff.

jsleeper81

thanks for the quick replies, I was not sure if I should worry or not like I said it has not got to 240 or anything it just worried me because it seemed to stay cool during the 110 degree days after all that was done and now that we are having 60 degree days it seems to want to get warmer.
it just worried me to see when I hit the gas at a red light or something to see the temp gauge go from 160/180 to 220 to 225 in a matter of about 10 seconds thats what I was wanting to make sure was normal or not i've never seen a temp gauge flucuate so much so I guess for these cars it's normal.

novafirebirdguy

You might want to check the sensor for the gauge. I doubt your car is actually heating up that fast.

jsleeper81

how do you check the sensor