Today was horrible, my Trans Am is running at about 255 F all the time and a while at 220, this started happening yesterday.....I saw a small leak by the E Fans so I put Alumnaseal in the radiator and it didn't work, so now I don't know what to do...it leaks very little, like a drop or so, I don't know but would the thermostat have anything to do with it, and how can I check the water pump, it has new coolant in the radiator too...thanks...AARON


oh P.S. and the fans stay on after the car is off so....twice today my battery was drained.....

 

I hope by "new coolant" you mean more water than coolant, and I also hope you stop driving when your car gets that hot, otherwise it's not going to be drivable for long. If you've got a leak and it's not fixed I think you're just low on coolant. You better get that leak fixed. Have it welded or soldered, or drain the radiator and dry it and shove some cold weld product inside the hole to seal it up. If you suspect the thermostat just change it, a new one costs less than ten dollars to change. Remove your radiator cap and if the coolant is flowing you know that your water pump at least works. Make sure you've got an air dam underneath the car and that your fans are running when it gets above 230.

 

If you are losing coolant you are losing pressure. No amount of water will help if the pressure in the system is bleeding off. You have to properly fix or replace the rad, there is no way around it. Any leak in a pressurized system will reduce the cooling in a big way. Thats the time to replace the stat and do a good system flush. Refill with Dexcool and distilled water and you won't have to do it for five years.

 

why sometimes when i stop my car my resevoir tank is empty and sometimes its full i dont get it?

 

The recovery bottle should never be empty if the cooling system is tight and you fill it to the FULL COLD mark it should bounce between the FULL HOT and FULL COLD areas. This happens when pressure exceeds 15 psi and the radiator cap releases pressurized coolant into the bottle. Generally this happens when you stop the car and it sits after coming up to temp, since there is no circulation thru the rad the coolant will tend to heat up before it starts to cool down. At this time max pressure occurs and the cap opens to vent into the bottle. It also can happen on a hot day especially if the AC is on. When it's completely cold fill the bottle to the bottom mark. With a tight cooling system and fresh coolant you should notice very little change over several months. Any more going away and you have a problem.

 

i just replaced my radiator, it just blew up, i bought a stock replacement from modine for 118 bucks, and i filled it up with some prestone and water (50/50 mix), and i bought a new stant 16lbs cap... i run 220 now...

i am thinking about getting a new thermostat 180..

 

what i dont understand is my car is barely going over 200 degrees but when i goto shutdown the car, my resovoir tank boils/ bubbles quite often when i shutdown and park car why is this?

 

Take a look at the guage when you shut it off, then just turn on the key after 5 min. It's a lot hotter. As I said previously with no circulation the coolant will still continue to absorb heat from the block but without circulation from the water pump it can't be tranferred as efficiently hence it rises in temp. It's a normal function of the cooling system.

 

when I first got my 84 Trans Am the 305 would overheat all the time then I put a air dam under the front of the car and that REALLY makes a huge diff. my car was still running hot so I took the Trans Am grills9the smooth ones) and replaced them with Firebird grills and that helped out by about 20 degrees, no kidding. I still have thoses firebird grills in my front bumper cover and I will prob never go back to the Trans Am ones, they just seem to help alot with cooling and getting more airflow to the rad.

 

what size bolts did you use for that air dam?

 

What happens is when the motor reaches stat temp, more fluid is sucked in , once the engine shuts off some of the fluid returns to the over flow bottle.

 

Yep.