my car is acting really strange. it only over heats during the day or a warm night in stop and go traffic (residential) but it stays at 160-180 on the freeway. i have longtubes and have tried everything to keep it from overheating for ex. additional fan. low temp stat.new radiator and water pump. and it's not my temp sensor cause when it over heats that coolant is boiling up!. so would wraps on my headers keep the heat away?

 

Not really.

 

you sure you still got your air dam right below the radiator ? i never had one on my Z for bout 6 yrs then finally put one and made a hell of a difference. I thought 220 was normal temp

 

yes i have my air dam. so if the wraps don't work then whats te problem with my car why is it overheating?

 

could be tons of reasons.... have you done any other mods.... is your coolant topped off... w/ water or coolant. is there crap in front of the radiator. are your fans working... is the A/C on.. if it is is the 2 fan turning on

 

I have my hedman's wrapped and i noticed that my underhood temps. dropped alot. I did it mostly to protect my T5 slave cylinder from getting too hot, but i can actually touch the wrap after the engine is at running temp, and not get burned. Downfall isd the wrap is like insulation and makes you really, really itchy.

 

I dont know if that stuff you add to the coolant might help.. its supposed to lower your temp 10 degrees or something. IF it gots 2 fans...check your fan relay this happened to my tpi and helped solve my overheating problem.

 

On my friends corvette with a 427 he had overheating problems all the time. We looked at it one day and the ignition was over advanced the symptoms were exactly like yours, freeway driving it acted great for the most part. He had the timing set to stock specs btw. maybe his timing tabs were off or something. Just could be something to think about for you.

 

usually retarded timing runs really hot. I run my iron headed 383 pretty advanced, and it actually helps it run alot cooler, then say if I ran it at 0-6 degrees intial timing. So i cutiomed the curve to run 38 total, and I have about 12-15 initial timing, and I never, ever go above 185.

The coolant additive, Water Wetter, does really work. the thing is, all the prestone we use in our system is used to stop from freezing, but it actually has a lower boiling point then water. The best is to run pure water, and when under pressure, has a much higher boiling point. With water wetter, you drain all of the prestone out of the system, and run pure water, and then 1 bottle of Water Wetter, and you should run 10-20 degrees cooler. Partly due to the glycol in the Water wetter, and partly due to the pure water factor being used now.

 

yes all the fans are on and evrything. i'll check the timing.

 

timing should be obvious if its off.... your car would run like a fat kid

 

nah my isn't running like a fat kid.....just heating up like a hot tub.
i'm ordering some wraps i hope this works. even though being 90 degrees outside doesn't help either.

 

Header wraps effect underhood temperatures, not the internal temperature of the engine. Coolant absorbs heat from the combustion chambers, not the exhaust headers.

I would verify proper air flow over the radiator (nothing blocking the radiator), check coolant level and quality, and perhaps try a flush, if you haven't done that in a while.

 

those wraps will also make your headers rust out much much quicker than leaving them unwrapped, it's going to trap moisture inside and rot them out

 

yeah, it will do that. I wouldn't run them on a daily driver.

 

well wraps look like the answer though to my problem.
i tested everything it doens't over heat if the hood is open. but it does when i close it.