I've been having some serious performance issues with my 305 TBI. It starts out excellent, but once it warms up it becomes a real dog, barely able to keep up w/ my friends n/a probe. I'm beginning to get desperate on probable causes, so I was wondering. I have a 195 degree thermostat, however my gauge when it is warm reads a steady 220 degrees. Which I assume is completely normal as that is right in the middle of my coolant temperature gauge, but I'm hoping that somebody is going to say that it should be lower, like 195 degrees and thats my problem and that I'm a bonehead, and my next step should be getting a new thermostat.

-- Henry

 

I have the stock 195 stat in my stock 350 tpi and i run a normal 220 on my guage also. If u want lower temps u need to get a lower stat like 180. What type of cooling fan u have?

 

Ya, ive got the same problem. Mine runs at 210-220 depends on how hot the day is. Anyway there was a post where they said to run a lower stat 160-180, well i went to by one and the books that you look threw didn't have anything but 195 deg. Can you just pick a 160 deg stat?

 

get a lower temp stat drill a couple holes in it and also get a lower temp fan switch

 

220!!!

Thats a little hot i belive. Mine runs at about 150-160
w/160 degree thermostat. Mine only gets up there if I'm on the freeway for like maybe 20min goin like 100+

^ ......yea right......like you dont have a lead foot to!!:lala:

 

I really doubt that 220 is considered alittle hot. I would call 220 the normal operating temperature and thats why 220 is in the middle of the temp guage on the car. "It's NORMAL"

 

220 Isnt bad at all. I got an 88 IROC w/ a 350 Tune Port, they tend to run that warm. Also, I dont know how much truth there is to this, but I've heard that the tune ports run a bit better hotter. Excluding sloppier shifts in the autos, but the motors run a bit better. Don't know. But running at 220 I wouldnt be worried about. Have fun!

- Tom

 

220 is ok, but it probably isn't quite 220 anyways. The gauges in our cars aren't the most accurate. My gauge reads about 230 degrees when Diacom shows about 205. The CTS which is in the intake (for the ecm) is much more accurate than the one in the head (for the gauge), not to mention that there is a difference between the coolant temp. in the intake vs. on the outside of the heads.

As far as running crappy when the car is warm, when was the last time you did a full tune up? When the car is cold it is in open loop, which may run good, then when it warms up it goes into closed loop it might run bad if your O2 sensor is "lazy". I would do a full tune up (wires, plugs, fuel filter, set timing, etc...) and replace the O2 sensor if it is old.