Sup all,

I recently started re-DD my 82 and running into some problems. The car overheats after a long drive or being stuck in traffic. My gauge inside the car does not work. The only way I can tell is when the Check Engine light starts blinking, which it's misfiring from too much heat. It overheated pretty fast before I did a flush (drained radiator and filled overflow). Now it doesn't overheat as fast, probably air in the system. Any ideas why it's still heating up?

Here's my specs:
Stock rad
No thermostat
New rad cap
Stock coolant temp sensor?
Carbbed 350

I recently replaced the plugs, wires, cap and rotor. It was overheating before that though. It is not timed either, need some help with that too (no timing light). The car surges at lights when cold. Pretty sure I need new O2s. Soo, what do you think is wrong?

 

No Thermostat is why it is heating up. Put a 180 in it.

 

damn that was fast, ahaha.
you sure? i read through that sticky where they had that argument, but didn't come to any conclusions.

 

Yep had an 82 Trans Am with the same problem.

 

Alrighty, I'll take your advice.
Which one of these would you reccommend?

Mr. Gasket "race only"- High performance. Resists variations in coolant. Brass and copper construction. Opens at right temperature. $12

Duralast (AutoZone)- Made of high-grade stainless steel. $8

Failsafe- Locks open in an overheating situation to allow coolant to continue to flow. $13

Hypertech - $12

All are 180*.

 

Any of those should work fine. Just make sure it has a "steam hole" a small hole that allows steam to pass even when the stat is closed. If not drill one.

 

you got it. thanks man. will post updates after i do it.

 

Installed the thermostat the other day. Failsafe 180. Now my upper radiator hose has ballooned/swollened. Any ideas? This is a let down. lol. Should I get my radiator professionally cleaned?

 

Replace the hose obviously, run some flush through it from the Auto parts store following the directions on the can. What I usually do is drain the system, pulling the lower radiator hose works best, flush water through the radiator with the hose off till it runs clear. Then I close it up and use the can of flush in the system. Then open it up again using the drain **** on the radiator and let it all out. Fill it with water, run it till it gets warm again and pull the lower hose to drain the system completely. Reattach and fill with water and run till warm and open the drain **** and let drain. Close and refill with your ethelyne gygol antifreeze mix and you are done. Drive for a couple of days then one morning or anytime it is stone cold open the radiator cap and top it off.

 

The system was flushed when the cap was changed. Wouldn't that have been enough? I got a new hose. The only thing I didn't do was the hole in the t-stat. I thought if I get the failsafe one, it will fail and open from too much pressure. How big would I have to drill the hole and where exactly? Thanks for all your help.

Oh and I heard that ballooning hoses is from a head gasket. I really hope not...

 

radiator cap should bleed off the pressure before the
hose balloons to much...
Does not sound like a head gasket problem-thats very
rare on a chevy small block,and every time i have had
a blown head gasket(imports) the leaking coolant
shorted the plugs and they puffed white exhaust

 

http://www.honda-acura.net/forums/92...ator-hose.html
that's where i read about the headgasket part. you're right, import.
i haven't had any of my sbcs blow the headgasket before. piston rings maybe, but headgaskets no.
i replaced the hose, let's see what happens. still needs a tune-up

 

Did you open and turn the heater to full blast (burp)the system?

 

i had to do that?
i found another leaking hose today. it was a heater hose with a tiny hole in it. funny thing is that it was dripping right onto the exhaust manifold which evaporated the coolant. now i don't know how long thats been going on, only noticed as i was starting to check timing. replaced it today. let's see what happens.
when am i supposed to turn on the heater? with engine cold and rad cap open right?

 

Yea. I would inspect all hoses replace any you dont trust. I think I would flush system again check fins on rad look at weep hole on water pump. Then if everything checks out ok fill with 50/50 mix of water and antifreeze fill rad turn heater on full (leave cap off) start car let run till thermo opens water level goes down refill til full put cap back on.Next day check make sure its full or until its cold that should get air out of system.

 

roger that, minus the flushing part. lol, i'll run the car and check with the heater on. if that doesn't work, i'll flush and go on from there. thanks for the advice. turning on the heater would force it through the heater core. forgot about that.

 

i think it's fixed. it'd usually start heating up on the way to school and blow hot air inside the passenger compartment. doesn't do it anymore. check engine light doesn't blink anymore.

just for reference, i did the following in order:
bled air from the system
flushed coolant
replaced rad cap
added 180* thermostat
replaced upper radiator hose
replaced heater hose
filled coolant
"timed" car and adjusted idle

pretty sure it's good now. it's cold out now so i don't know if that makes a difference.