watafo

Alright fellas, probably this happened to you or is happening to you.........my car reaches operating temp in the city, but on the highway it does not reach it at all, it gets stuck around half way between 220 and the coolest point......how can I get rid of this problem? what is working wrong in there? In my newbie opinion the temperature sender sensor is not working properly, is it? Any suggestion will be very welcome!!!

thirdgen88

If this halfway point between 220 and the coldest (100?) is the quarter mark as it is on firebird gauges, that would represent about 180*... If you have a 180* thermostat, it will stay about right there on the highway...

xlwhellraiser

iTrader: (1)

I dont know man, I had a thread where I asked about the guage, and that half mark (on firebirds should be around 150-160) Also, the 180 thermostat stays around 3notches down from 220. Now, it might be that the guage is bad.
Is your car sluggish when its that cold?? If yes, than you have a problem, if not than its just probably the guage.
P.S. You should be liking that!! Very few firebirds have good cooling!!

xlwhellraiser

iTrader: (1)

Never mind, I just saw that its a camaro. V6 on top of that, so on camaros that halfway mark is 180!!
No worries!!!

sr.bond

whats wrong with those temps?why do you need the hotter temps on the highway?if you really want to rise the temp you could change the t-stat to a higher temp one,or you could remove the airdam,that's the pice that sends airflow to the engine at high speeds,but only do that IF you really need a hot running car

watafo

Got it, I just changed to a 195 C Thermostat and the temperature went up. It had a 180 C thermostat before, that is why it was running cold, the car does not stall or runs bad at all, I was curious about it, so if you guys say that it is fine, it is fine. Thanks for all your help guys!!! take it ez.

xlwhellraiser

iTrader: (1)

For some weird reason Camaros run cooler than firebirds. Probably because they have more vents in front for air to come to the radiator. 180thermo with 305 in firebird will be plenty to heat up the car even when it freezing cold. On the other hand 180 in camaro 305 will not heat up!! Damn, now I wish I had a camaro, or at least the front end. Wait a minute.... I do have the front end, but it does not fit on the firebird. Damn.

tlap

I know I am dredging up an old thread but I just cant find the answer to why my '87 IROC L98 runs so cold while driving on the freeway, It barely even registers on the temp gage.
I have checked the wiring from the sender to the gage and all is well.
The engine will come up to temp while idling and the fan will come on.
I have flushed the cooling system, replaced hoses and 195 thermostat with new parts.
All I can think of is maybe the new thermostat is sticking open??

ex-x-fire

Yes, the t stat is sticking open slightly.
You didn't put a motor rad t stat in it? Those have the safety feature of sticking open when they fail, its just when your trying to get the air out of the cooling system they go to fail safe mode.
I'd get a premuim t stat like a super stat, robert shaw, or even a new old stock ac delco stat. Alot of junk out there now a days.

tlap

Thanks ex-x-fire. I will install a better quality t-stat. I just got the Oreilly's special thats in it.
When I drained some of the coolant I started the engine and noticed that coolant was flowing pretty fast from the heater return just under the rad. cap. The flow didn't change weather the heater was on or off. I removed the vacuum line going into the top of the by-pass valve, nothing changed. In fact there was no vacuum at all at that line.

It didn't matter what position I put the heater controls.
Shouldn't vacuum stop the water flow to the heater?

ex-x-fire

Only when the a/c is on.

tlap

OK.
Thanks