I had a sad occurance this afternoon. On my way from class to fill up the temp guage read a steady 160-180* (est.). After filling up with gas, with the engine off, the temps jumped to 220* and then would slowly increase rather than decrease. Both fans are on, the hoses are not collapsed, the water is full and circulating, the air deflector is in place, the thermostat is probably okay. I would rise to about 230-240* on the stock guage and level off.

Any thoughts as to why the engine runs so hot?

I have Griffin radiator, Edelbrock high flow WP for the serp. belt, 160* thermostat, dual fans coming on at 170*. 50-50 coolant mixture. THe engine is 383 making aroud 450hp and tq.

So far with the Griffin radiator I have never seen any temps above 200* and was very pleased. Now I am upset that the cooling system does not have the ability to cool itself down once it warms up.

My only thoughts so far are that the fans do not pull enough air threw the radiator and/or the engine is running lean. I am hesitant to think it is lean because all my spark plug are showing good burn patterns and colors.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

get a new radiator cap.. maybe a bit higher pressure.. and change ur mixture to like 80-20 or so..

 

Check between your radiator and a/c condenser. You may have picked up some trash.

 

I cleaned all the stuff out of the ac condesor and my cap is 16 pounder.

I talked to one of the tech guys at Griffin today and he was helpful and knowledgable. He gave me some advice which I will look into tomorrow.

Thanks for the replies.

 

yeah try and see if you picked up any debris, if not try a new cap..
cheap things first..