I seem to have nothing but cooling problems on my 89 rs 305 tbi. It seemed to overheat from day one, so far i've replaced the radiator, rad cap, thermostat (twice), and flushed to coolant three times.

It seemed to be working alright for a while, but now it does something pretty strange. Just like all of a sudden, the temperature gauge will literally go off the scale, pointing straight up, then steam will start spraying out of the overflow tank.

There dosnt seem to be any ryme or reason as to when this happens, it will do it in city, and highway. Usually after it happens and it cools down, you can drive it again, and it will run just fine.

I'm at a loss here, no clue what would cause this, my only guess is the air dam, it's cracked in half...but i figured that would cause it to overheat all of the time, rather than just sporadically like it does now. any ideas?

Yo, u might wanna try and replace your sending unit that goes on the driver's side of the head, and while at that replace the sensor that mesures coolant temp on the pass. side of the head.

I own a 89 305 and it is a notorious overheater. I hate it and I replaced a fan motor, radiator, cap, thermo (180) and I am in the process of getting a water pump and stainless stele water hoses. You cant replace anything else, unless the 180 thermo is the culprit...

i also have a 89 tbi but never had that problem. it always runs cool and i have a 180 stat. if your car has been running hot most of the time then you might have a blown head gasket, fan doesnt come on, one of your hoses is calapsing. start your car and rev your engine from under the car and see if your hoses calapses. good luck bro!!! GO 89 TBI!!!!!

Yo how would you know if the hose is colapsing, does it bend down, what does it do???
Anyways, how do you keep your engine cool? 180 thermo seems to give me more problems than the 195, did you change anychips in it or what is the deal I want to know.

when u drive for a bit at a nice speed will the temp gauge go down??

No, it wont. It only seems to go down if i shut the car off and let it cool off.

once i start it up again, it will usually run at a normal temperature.

yeah the hose bends down like closing almost. No i have no chip at all. its all stock. i just have an ss hood and i guess it cools alot better than the factory hood. plus there the hood doesnt have that crap under it and the seal is gone to. i replaced my radiator with a cheap one from napa auto!!!. I think you have a calapsing hose bro. just rev the engine from under the hood and look at your top hose and your bottom hose.

Hey guys ive had overheating problems until last week when i got my air dam. (89 RS 305 TBI) Um but my car still runs a lil hottter than it should...I think, it runs at about 230 degrees,is this right, if not will a lower degree thermo prob help???????

If you have dual electric radiator fans, be sure they are working.

GET AN ALL-ALUMINUM RADIATOR. Everything else needs to work, but your cooling problems will go away.

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...80#post1988580


Maybe you'll find this as interesting as I did?

Tom