I have been running no airdam for about two months (Never had
one on the car when i got it) mainly freeway driving.
And today it blew the head gasket,what an IDIOT.
For a $20 dollar part i could have saved myself all this S**T.
So to anybody not running one i would put one on.
One good thing is i can put a 350 in now.



Jeff

 

I am running with no front air dam. The highest my temp gets is 220 but thats with the summer texas heat around here. I need to get one though. But I run fine.

 

Two years ago, I ve encountered the same problem. And in France the weather is not so hot. I ve never read about lower air dam in chilton, haynes nor shop manual. And it cost me a lot of money. On the highways, the fan turned on at 240, and I thought, it s well. But now, with the air dam, the fan never turns on . In France lots of camaro haven't got the air dam. Poor owners. My friends who own a camaro, the first time I saw their car, I ve checked if the air dam was still in place. I've told them, it's the first thing to check.

 

I removed my air dam because it was always scraping. My coolant temp never goes much beyond 160 F. This is partly because I have a low threshold thermostat and fan switch. The thermostat opens and the fan comes on at 160 F and it doesn't go any hotter even on a hot day. Those two pieces are fairly inexpensive and have proved to be very effective.

There are also additives on the market that are supposed to keep the temp down. I have not tried them myself.

 

Do you honestly think that the blown head gasket was just due to having no airdam?

I haven't had one for two years, it has never gone above 195F EVER and I even needed to replace a cracked water pump and cracked radiator.

I honestly don't think that piece of plastic does that much for cooling in high speed situations.

 

it doesnt get hot in WI and CANADA....

if you say it does you dont know what we go thru in AZ,CA,TX,NM


me personally i see 120 degree days in the summer...

 

I see 90-100* in the summer. Don't be so ignorant. My Dad's friend lives just outside of Tuscon AZ so yes I don't know what you guys have to go though. I've been to So Cal so many times I can't even count it on my hands. I had my car down there last summer and it never passed 195F. That was in weather past 100F and with a cracked water pump.

 

is it really possible to blow a head gasket if the coolant temp is too high?

 

Yes, but it wont blow unless you continue to drive it in the red.
According to GM specs "nice to have avalible" were supposed to be running a 195* thermostate that is fully open at 222* so figure 200*- 222* is where our cars are supposed to run.
This allows the emmisions systems to run properly and is supposed to improve fuel economy at this temprature. I'm a 180* guy myself.

 

Yeah that's the whole theory behind it and that's why they did it.

 

Sorry about the rude comment.. i was pissed cant cool my car down and i had a 6 pack in my system sorry...
Shawn

i cant cool this damn car anyone want to buy a 91 RS with minor cooling problems and a cold a/c that cant be used?

 

I had an 85 TA without an airdam and I couldn't go 20 miles without the SOB overheating.

 

It's cool man I just took it a bad way.

 

I hope it was not having an airdam that caused it iroc22? because
before this happened i put in a new GM waterpump,upper + lower
rad hoses,ajustable fan switch,180 degree thermo,flushed engine and block and put new water and coolant in 1 third coolant and 2 thirds water.
the timing was set at 6 degrees new plugs, new leads,new cap new rotor.
Anyway it,s happened now.
The first thing i will be getting 100% when i put the new motor in will be the coolin system.
P.S i still would put one on any third gen i own.
Thanks.



Jeff

 

When I bought my car the owner told me he had cooling problems with it. He had even removed the small inserts from the front facia in order to move more air through there. The air dam was munched pretty badly. I put on a new air dam, put the facia inserts back on, and have never had any problems with overheating.
Rob

 

Do you do a lot of highway driving (ie every day) jeff85?

 

Yeah, you gotta get an air dam. I remember a long time ago, before this car, my friends and I were talking about this car, I think a Stang. We were like what's that black thing down there, one of them said probably to let you know when you get near the curb, and should take it off. I guess most don't realize what it's for.

 

I do 55 miles a day all freeway driving 6 days a week.
That's why i think it was the airdam that did it because it never
overheated in traffic then as soon as i got on the freeway the temp started to rise.
Maybe the radiator had a blockage somewere.I havn't checked
anything yet.
Still thinking about which route to take.



Jeff

 

Yep thats why. I think someone mentioned it but dosesnt hurt to get it out a couple of times. The air dam forces/redirects air to the radiator when your over 40 MPH. In city driving it does nothing except scrape on the ground so pedestrians and other drivers can give you dirty looks.

 

I removed the airdams on my previous Z28s and on my RS, because they scraped the ground, and have never had a problem. My '85 Z28 never got above 210 - 230 degrees in the summer. I have an adjustable fan switch on the RS, so it never gets above around 190.

 

Okay Lets Clear up the BS.

Car is a mild 305, SC.

With the front Airdamn Intact, Car would never ever creep above the first hashmark on the gauge.

This is with 180 Stat installed, stock everything else with single electric fan.

Fan Is on a mnaual switch, And Unless I Was sitting in traffic, I didnt need it on. Even creeping along at 20 mph was enough to keep the temp right above the Tstat Level.

And Im talking about Driving through the central valley, CA. 115* isnt uncommon....


So I hit a Curb, Bye bye Airdamn.

Immidiately I noticed a Differance. Now the Car would start to creep Up past the first hash mark at low speeds ( > 40 mph ) Without the Fan On, Regardless of outside temps. it woul dkeep going up and up and up. Had a few close calls because I was used to the old setup.

Car still behaved fine at speeds higher htan 40 mph, didnt need the Fan.

So I decided to install Foglights in the stock Location. Car did not have foglights previously.

Huge Differance. Now the Car needed the Fan to be run at ALL times. On the freeway In 90* temps The Gauge would reach 220. Would not overheat, But ran Noticely Warmer. Even With The Fan On.

There was a few times climing hills at speed in the Summer heat out here I got worried.

Pulled the Foglights out, And Im back to the previous Condition.

So, Moral of the story is, If you have Foglights, You need the Airdamn.

If You don't have foglights, and Don't mind running your fan at non freway speeds, You don't need the Airdamn.

If your like me and like to preserve things, Like Fan Motor Life. Then You want the airdamn.


If that is enough before and after testimonial For you, Then You need to be Socked Upside the Head.

 

I don't know man, I'm still running the stock single electric fan with no air damn and it never overheated even on the freeway during the summer.

 

You obviously need to read a little More Carefully.

Mine never overheated either, but Running at 240* Is not acceptable in my book.

 

Mine has never ever seen 240*. It's never seen over 200* on the freeway.

I read your post clearly, and my car doesn't even run warmer on the freeway.

 

Now the way i know it and from experiance is that the lower airdam is to help push more air up into the radiator at lower speeds. Now if you think about it...the faster you go..the more air gets pushed into the rad..kinda common sense. I have owned 2 camaro's and neither has overheated on the highway ever. City driving now is different, your runnin slower..but from stoplight to stoplight your still reving your engine but not gettin the airflow you would on the highway. So if you run mainly on the highway you could remove the lower airdam(though i wouldn't) but for city driving its a gotta have...unless ya wanna run your fans all the time and don't mind seein your temp over 200 alot( btw that kills your performance as your air charge is much hotter)...anyway thats my 2 cents

 

I don't have an airdam and if I go anywhere far on the highway I have heating troubles.
even with my stock 305.

with my 350, which making a bit more power, it's become a concern for me.
I'm ripping out my engine driven fan and putting in a big electric fan, getting an airdam and if that don't fix it, a bigger rad is goin in.

 

22, the airdam is the PRIMARY source of air to the radiator when you are moving. Why do you think that the ECM turns off the fan at speeds over 35 MPH. You run one of these things without the dam in place and all you will do is constantly cycle the fans shortening thier life. For the $25 bucks or so I can't understand why anyone would even entertain that idea.

 

Because it's a hassle to always have a piece of plastic/rubber composite always rubbing on curbs, driveways etc. when my car has never seen above 195F EVER in the two years it has been off. And that does include highway and city driving and temps up to 90F. From personal experience, my car does not require an air dam. More air probably comes to the radiator through the front fascia between the foglights than coming from a flat piece of flexible composite.

 

I just dropped a ZZ4 into mine. We worked so late that I did not remount the airdam. I was more concerned about the battery than I was about cooling. What part about this don't you get? Your argument is moot, do you really think the engineer would put that simple piece of plastic there if it did not matter-Come On Guy. If you leave the airdam off you are depriving the engine of it's primary source of outside air. WhenI drove my TG home that night without the dam mounted all it did was cycle the fans.

 

First off, I don't even know what moot means. Maybe you can elaborate.

Well I wonder why Engineers put a lot of things on our car. The AIR pump for example. I passed smog tests that resemble California's with flying colors.....

Well I don't hear the fan running when I drive. When I removed the air damn, I also removed that plastic piece that goes from the nose to the rad when you open your hood. Must have lost 10hp from that.

 

I took mine off for a week, first highway drive i overheated and had my buddy drive out and bring it to me. But puttting an air damn on on the side of a busy hiway is not fun

 

Sorry, poor choice of words on my part. Probably from a long week and sleep deprivation. What I was trying to say is that the dam is a critical part of the cooling system and discussing it's relative importance should not even be an issue. I would not encourage anyone to operate without one. The time to cool down after you sit for a while is faster with the dam. If you look at the surface area of the dam it is hard to imagine you can get as much airflow through the front as what the dam provides. It also helps to keep the fan cycling to a minimum, something that I think is much more important. With all due respect, the engineers that design cars don't waste a penny or a pound and they know a heck of a lot more than most of us. As far as the AIS in concerened it is a pretty benign device and it does serve a useful purpose for emission control. Remember, most of us here are very dedicated to taking care of our vehicles. The average Joe isn't. The engineers take this into account when they design. They know that very few people will perform the scheduled maint. on thier cars. I passed a sniff test without a cat. Also the emission systems work together for long term compliance with EPA requirements.

 

"When you change *anything* on your car, YOU become the design engineer."
Pretty powerful words when you think how much GM invests in engineering...
I'll run the air dam - my car needs it the way GM designed it!
Rob

 

Amen!

 

FWIW, I bought my car new in Stuttgart, Germany through the PX system. The first time I had it on the A'bahn above 80mph the temp went up dangerously high. That's where I first noticed that the airdam was missing. It is necessary at "high" speeds. On small roads and putt-putting at 60mph or so it didn't really make much difference. Of course, Germany was normally a lot cooler than here so that didn't hurt, either.

Hope this helps.

 

what exactly is the air dam? where is it. anyone have a picture of it?
Thanks
Matt

 

To steal a picture from another thread...

 

Another thing you may want to look into is accumulation of leaves and such between your radiator and a/c coil. I had a problem with overheating last year. Somehow there was a build up of leaves in between mine.

Just an idea.

 

Hiya.
2 Head jobs, a new fan, new water pump, new t-stat, fan switch, radiator and a new motor didn't correct the overheating problem in my 1986 T/A. I finally brought it to an intelligent mechanic who diagnosed it properly - need an air dam. Got one for $30. Fixed the problem. I spent THOUSANDS because of that damn dam. Some cars just run hot. I live in New England.

 

I still can't see how that 90* piece of composite can direct so much air onto the rad that it's an absolute necessity to have or your car overheats.

 

Yes. At least the Chevys have some holes on the nose. We Poncho drivers have nothing 'cept that vacuum cleaner effect from the void under teh front of the car, definitely need the full set of deflectors - all the pieces.

BTW - It only peaks out at about 100-105° in Cheese Land, too, but at 95% RH and with mosquitoes that will carry away small children and dogs smaller than Labs. Makes me long for those cooler January mornings of -42° and only 45 MPH winds. No skeeters... I know that the southwest gets some pretty wide swings, too, and you don't wanna **** off and sidewinders or scorpions.

Maybe the 6-pack wasn't such a bad idea after all.