Alright, if you read some of my past posts, then you will know that my car is heating up past the point I would like for it to, while driving.

I just got in from doing a little exploration outside checking different things, like coolant temp and what not so here goes.

I started the car up without the cap on and let the car warm up.

I turned the car's heater on full blast as soon as the car was started.

I had a meat thermometer with me so I could check the temp of the coolant compared to the guage in my car. They both matched up perfectly.

With the cap off, I revved the engine a little bit, the coolant was swirling like crazy everytime I did it, it was also swirling when at idle, so the water pump is flowing like it should.

When the coolant reached 180*, like the T-Stat is rated at, it started to go down really slow, but only like a cm. in depth, and that was it.
If you look at the coolant while the T-Stat is open, cap off, how far down is the coolant supposed to go with a fully open Stat?

When warmed up, the top radiator hose was very hot and squishy, not hard to squeeze together.

I then turned on the AC from the BI-LVL setting to the MAX setting, the passenger side fan came on and stayed on till I turned off the AC completely, my driver side fan is wired to run all the time.

When the AC was turned on, THIS is when the car jumped degrees to between 190-210, when it was right at 185, then proceeded to reach around 225, all with AC ON, and BOTH fans spinning.

The lower radiator hose is NOT collapsing in on itself when I rev the engine.

The belt on the AC is a little loose I guess because it makes a squealing sound and the belt flops a little.

With the heater on the temp. went back down to right near 190.

The car is running rich I can tell because the exhaust fumes burn my eyes badly when I was right near it.

I bought a new radiator cap for it last night, a 16 lb one.

This should about cover it for all the little details, if there's any more questions ask me and I'll do my best to answer them.

This problem only occours while driving, not at idle.

 

If that was my car I would double check the air dam, check the radiator for outside blockages (paper bag, leaves), recheck the anti-freeze for a good 50/50 mix and proper level, check the tranny fluid level. Go to Checker or Auto-Zone and let them pull your trouble codes (free). Then I would get someone (preferably qualified) to check your timing.

 

Oh yeah, forgot to add, the air dam IS good, i remember getting down and looking at it today.

The radiator/condensor was taken out of the car during the rebuild and was put back in by the mechanic. The car has not been driven long enough for anything to start blocking the radiator/condensor (Only 160 Miles on the Engine)

Coolant is 50/50 mix because the mechanic filled each bottle of antifreeze halfway with water/coolant, I watched him do it, it's green and transparant.

Why would I check the trouble codes? None are being put out.

Why would I check the transmission fluid level?

I have a feeling it will probably be the timing, because it was 12 degrees before the motor was rebuilt, and with all the new mods, (huge cam, bored .30 over, flat topped piston heads etc..) I think the timing can stand to go up more.

 

with ur a/c on and idling, I dont think 225 is too high.
considering the engine is in load caz of the ac..
to lower emissions our generation cars were designed to run warm,
so u want it run cooler then u will need to do some mod like auto fanon at 200
or some manual switch, or maybe a bigger radiator.

 

water cools tons better than the antifreeze does, by far,

the antifreeze is really just to prevent freezing, hence its name

i woulda went with 70/30 water/antifreeze mix for the summer time

good luck

 

During the summer months i run 100% water. When winter gets close i run somewhere around 80/20, it dosent get cold around here (low 30s maby a few times) so i dont need to put alot of antifreeze in it.

Do you have a new water pump. I have seen alot of new ones that are bad.

 

How old is the radiator? Have you ever had it professionally flushed? Older rads are often plugged with corrosion. W\Pumps, as mentioned , also make a difference. Some cheap "jobber' pumps are just garbage.

A clean rad ( inside and out ) and a good w\pump such as an Edelbrock Victor series or Stewart pump should help considerably. If it still over heats, consider getting a 3 core rad.

What is the ignition timing now? Retarded timing will cause overheating.

GTA's don't have as good of air flow through rad as Camaro's. GTA's are " bottom feeders" only, whereas Camaro's feed from bottom and from grille. Hence GTA's ( especially 350's ) tend to be a bit more borderline on cooling.

 

I don't see anything wrong. Your car sounds like it is working EXACTLY as it was designed.

Nothing in there is an indicator of "overheating" in any form or fashion.

What do you think is wrong with it?

 

That's pretty much how mine reacts depending on the outside temperature. It'll hit the 225 area then the 2nd fan kicks in and it drops about 5-10 degrees and does this in a nice cycle. You could try replace the secondary fan sensor/switch with a lower temperature one. I THINK it comes on at like 225 or 230. Maybe get one that comes on at 200 or 190 or something. I know you said you had the radiator out recently, but I will mention that I recently had borderline temperature issues and found a plastic shopping bag had been sucked up BETWEEN the radiator and condensor right in front of the primary fan causing it to heat up super fast. There aren't a whole lot of things you can do that I know of to lower temperatures without going nuts. I believe you can use a larger radiator, replace the fan sensor switches to turn on at lower temps and if you haven't already, you could always do a throttle body coolant bypass to stop all that hot water from passing under the TB. Some people do that and there's a tech article on it I believe.