OK. ill keep it short hope some 1 can help me.... i just installed a crate engine. i proceed to do the camshaft break in and my engine started overheating.... checked the radiator it wasnt full... i let it cool down for 1 hr as recommended by the company that built the engine... added more coolant and water, i made sure it was full this time... began to do the break in process again, and the coolant started boiling again on the reservoir..... what should i do next, i know i gotta break the camshaft in properly or i will end up with a flat cam so im callin out the troops SOS please..... thanx in advance.

 

What do you mean and where was it boiling?

 

it was boiling at reservoir

 

Was it coolant or all air? Air could indicate a bad head gasket. Do you know if there was "boiling" from inside the radiator cap?

 

nope its just colant and vapor coming out...and the engine its new so i doubt its a head gasket.... yes it was at reservoir and rad cap

 

Do you know what the temp was as it was overheating?
Sometimes I hear someone say "overheating" when actually they meant coolant was coming out the cap which might mean the cap is bad. I was a service writer and my mechanics appreciated my "interpretation" skills

Did you bleed all the air out of the coolant system?

 

lol. when i say overheating i mean OVERHEATING the gage went past the 260 mark and wanted to keep on goin haha hoses expanded aloooot i was surprised they didnt gave in..... as far as i know i did bleed the air... when i filled the block with the coolant i topped it off on the thermostat hole before putting it on

 

My vote at this moment is a stuck thermostat. Timing could be a issue. But running a new engine at that temp is a bad, bad thing

 

i know thats why i NEEEEEED SERIOUS HELP!!!! .... i dnt think its timing either cuz starts easily no back fires and idles pretty good.

 

anyone else :2 cents: please help pls help pls help SOS SOS SOS

 

How much air flow do you have going through the radiator? I just had a clutch fan go bad and caused over heating on my truck if it was sitting at idle or revving the motor without driving it. Do you have a clutch type fan or electric? If electric does it flow enough air? I have experienced a lot of electric fans that just don't flow enough cfm compared to a mechanical fan. Also what kind of shape is your radiator in? Blocked coolant passages? Who ever built the motor did they put all the accessories on it? Maybe you have the wrong water pump, they have standard flow and reverse flow pumps depending on what way your belts spin it.

 

i have electric fans... the rad is brand new. i got a long block. i put everything else back together. the water pump its brand new, rotates clockwise as the original and its a high flow waterpump.

 

Question for anyone..........Even though there are standard flow and reverse flow pumps, and Juanillox8 has his spinning clockwise, COULD the perpeller inside the pump be ment to spin counterclockwise???

Juanillox8- Are you SURE your NEW pump is ment to spin CLOCKWISE????? Is it the stock waterpump or is it an aftermarket pump?

 

The OP has a '92 which is iirc the first year of reverse cooling if this is a LT1 engine. Which should still be clockwise rotation but the impeller is different. Maybe the OP has the wrong pump? Even if it's the wrong pump, I wouldn't think it would getting to 260 degrees. But I have been wrong once or twice

 

it is an aftermarket i compared both water pumps oem and the one i got on summitracing and they both rotate clockwise....when i bought the water pump i bought it from jegs and on their application list my car was listed(that was 6 mnths ago) now i went back and their app list show that its for 87 and older cars. now by comparing the oem and this water pump visually, the only difference will be that it has extra holes for other brackets, thats all i could see but i dont know it this would make a difference

 

'87 wasn't reverse cooling...this is assuming you have a '92+ LT1 block.

 

is not an lt1 its l98

 

if the radiator is getting good and hot,the problem is
probably the electric fans are not providing enough
airflow to cool-might be best to drive the car if possible
-just keep the revs below 3000 or so to break in the cam
and rings,a new shortblock might try to run a little hot
until the rings break in. "Late"timing can cause heating
too.

 

Yea but this is A LOT hotter than normal... now about the timing, i dont think i can set it up just yet since the cam is not broken into that means i cant idle the engine just yet, and as far as i know, if the timing was to late or advanced the engine either back fires or is hard to start, please correct me if im wrong

 

What about gaskets? Maybe the wrong head gasket or intake manifold gasket was used and is blocking a coolant passage? Check to make sure you have flow, pull the top hose off the radiator and start the car, when the thermostat opens it should start flowing out the hose.

EDIT: That will also tell if the water pump is pumping in the right direction, if it starts flowing out the radiator instead of the hose it is pumping backwards.

 

i can't idle the car, the cam is not broken into

 

Doesn't the coolant come out the top rad hose and go INTO the engine when the tstat opens?

 

Nope! I always flush my radiators by pulling the top hose and stick a garden hose right in the top radiator opening and start the car and just let it run. It is a real good way to get all dexcool out of a system before switching over to good old green.

 

Nope! Heat always rises to the top. When the stat open, hot coolant comes out of the engine through the stat and out of the top rad hose and into the rad. The lower rad hose takes the cooler coolant from bottom of the rad, through the lower rad hose, up to the water pump and back into the engine when the stat opens. This is how coolant flows through the cooling system.

 

anymore thought i still can get it to stop overheating...

 

1. What grade of oil is in the pan (ex. 5w30)?
2. Did you check the head gaskets for blocked passages?
3. 50/50 water- coolant mix!!!!
4. Is t-stat facing proper flow direction?
5. New t-stat maybe bad out of box.....check it, may need to be replaced w/180 or 195.
6. Is your rad big enough for new engine?

Just a couple of thoughts.... GOOD LUCK!

 

thermostat stuck, or bad bad waterpump not working? and if you have fans are they big enough and pulling enough rpms? alot of air in the line could cause some heat not that much id think. if your using a stock fan set its not enough for the engine you have id say.

 

serp. belt or v belt...

break it in without the thermostat.....should take it a long time to heat up...if it ever does...

 

This still sounds like an incorrect direction of water pump. I remember going thru this when I switched to the aftermarket march system. You will have little or no cooling with the incorrect direction water pump.

 

i guess i'll through all my setup again and im installing my old water pump to c what's up

i'll try the no stat too to see where i get

 

Do you have a high flow water pump? I just replaced 3 thermostats in my Trans Am the other day and thought each one was bad until someone pointed out that with a high flow pump it will create enough pressure to hold the thermostat shut, drilled a few small relief holes in the base of the thermostat and it works like a charm now. I guess they make high flow thermostats with relief holes already in them also.

 

first time i hear something like that ok ill try that too, see what happens Tnx

 

.

 

ok,stop the madness...........some good info but you guys are reaching. i dont know the answer from 500 miles away but the oil isnt going to cook the engine. his radiator is fine if it was cooling before along with the fans(assuming fans working) you need to ook at whats changed vs what was..somewhere somethign cahnged to cause an over heat...what is it...new engine...ok ..are you confortaBLE with the build? head gasket wrong? not sure there were any diffeent chevy head gaskets to effect cooling. all the coolant passages were the same so i dont know why a gasket would f it up. 400 had the steam holes but even if you had 400 gaskkets it would matter. thermo stat..if theres any question pull it out. you dont need it to run an engine. once it reaches 180 its as if there no thermostat anyways. you said a new pump..hmm lets look there. you said its right direction..how do you know? did you pull both of the back covers and see that the impellors are the same? thats the only way. dont go but what the box says or the 16yr old behind the counter at autozone. if its the wrong rotation pump you might as well not even have a pump....you need to lok ove rthe obvious. also do keep firing that sucker up until youre sure its gtg otherwise youre break in will be doing more harm than good...good luck,keep us posted.......

 

lol na i dnt trust autozone on this kinda stuff i bought it and compared it from summit but no i haven't taken it apart, but yea i dont wanna try 1 thing at a time and f it up thats why i wanted to gather all the ideas i could so i can check everything b4 i fire it again.
KEEP THE IDEAS COMMING PLEEEEASE

 

i had the same problem. i have a 77 engine came with a clockwise waterpump with v belt. went to serpentine from a 89-92 or so bird...waterpump is counter clockwise. the clockwise pump had all these extra holes and a slightly diffrent casting, and also a fitting for a heater hose on top, the counter clock wise one i have has no extra bolt holes or a fitting. dont know if this helps , i would think if its a late 80s early 90s its probebly counter clockwise. then again just a guess i would check into that, good luck. by the way.. the reverse pump cools my engine 20 degrees cooler...very nice

 

updates?

 

today i just barely finished the cam break one of the fans was turning the wrong direction so i rewired it and the car barely made it to finish the break in. the needle still went over the 240 mark but it was waaaaaaaayyy better than before, no coolant boiling im thinking still over heating somewhat because the car was stationary and i still need to set the timing but thats just my assumption. im gonna do the engine break in after i do the service to my dif. any ideas if i should get better fans or maybe some other type of rad?? the one i have its new but if i can get better cooling somehow it will be great.

 

Do you have a single or dual fan set up? The Lincon Mark VIII and early 90's Volvo had big single fans that pull alot of air....

 

dual

 

I'm also inclined to believe you have an incorrect water pump. A 1987 water pump is not the same as a 1988+ water pump.

1987 used an individual V-belt drive system; its water pump has many holes for accessories to bolt through(which makes changing the water pump a real PITA); and the water pump is designed to rotate in the "standard" (clockwise) direction.

1988+ used a serpentine drive system; its water pump has no extra holes(because no accessories bolt through it, making changing it very simple); and the water pump is designed to rotate in the "reverse" (counter-clockwise) direction.

So assuming you're using the serpentine drive system from your original engine on your new crate engine, then your new "1987" water pump is rotating backwards from its designed flow direction. Of course, if you're using a V-belt system and not a serpentine drive system, then nevermind lol.

Also, there is some validity to having small holes in the perimeter of the t-stat. "High Flow" stats have these holes to serve as a "bypass" so coolant will flow even if the stat is closed. That won't solve your problem here, though, I'm just saying. But what should solve your problem is changing to a correct water pump.

Something else that might be a good idea is to run a strong fan in front of the engine to help provide extra airflow. When you're working in a confined space, like a garage, air temps can heat-up quickly, so you should do everything you can to try to control your "environment." It'll be more comfortable for you too.

 

Whenever I'm working on my car, in the garage, I use those large boxed-like fans running in front of my car to provide airflow. Without it....high temps. With fan.....normal running temps.....having a fan in front of car makes a big difference!

 

as far as the water pump i already ruled that out because the coolant IS coming out of the upper house so i assume the water is pumping the right direction. and i work on my car outside on my back yard but yea the big fun its a great idea i was considering it for the next time...

 

also get a high flow thermostat can hurt any and its has holes in it.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MRG-4363/

 

I'm not surprised you're getting some coolant movement, even with a wrong-rotation water pump. Coolant is going into the water pump, but it can't and won't stay there, regardless of the impeller's rotational-direction. With the overheated temperatures, the thermostat open, and the internal pressure build-up, I don't doubt that some amount of flow is finding a way. But is it adequate for cooling? I wouldn't trust it.

You have a brand new crate engine that you probably paid thousands of dollars for, you've got a serpentine drive, and you're trying to use (and trusting) a known-incorrect standard-rotation water pump. Compared to an engine, a new water pump costs next-to-nothing, and it's easy to replace on a serpentine configuration. And as simple as it is, it can be the difference between "life" and "death" for any engine. So why would you not replace it with a known-correct reverse-rotation water pump?

The problem you're having is the exact problem that you should be having by trying to run a standard-rotation water pump on a serpentine drive: overheating. I doubt that's merely a coincidental problem being caused by something else.

All research reports: "standard-rotation water pumps are NOT interchangeable with reverse-rotation water pumps," and "the wrong-rotation water pump WILL cause overheating." Nothing supports interchangeability.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I just don't understand your reluctance to change the water pump to the correct one. The first thing I'd have done, immediately upon discovering I had the wrong water pump, would've been to go out and get the right one, without hesitation.

Now is not the time to start pinching pennies and playing guessing games. Do you really want to risk blowing-up your new engine before you ever get to use it? ...or worse, while you're using it? I don't want that to happen to you, and I'm sure nobody else does either.

 

not to be a jerk but he dont need no high flo thermo stat. this isnt some 1000 hp blown big block. standard thermo will work just fine. would a hig flo hurt,no. will it help no.

 

jaja na im not reluctant on changin it in fact i have the og water pump and still working fine the only reason i changed it is b/c supposedly i got a High Flow Aluminum water pump "replacement" for my application and the only reason i didn't changed it right away was because I WAS trusting summit and jegs description and didn't think it was gonna be wrong but after all the suggestions from you guys and you LAFireboyd that say that i can still have right direction flow even with wrong pump then im changing it with no hesitation...

thanx all of you that have posted you thoughts i'll keep you guys updated...

 

Sorry to come into this so late...

I am fairly competent with cooling systems
I had a buddy ask me to build him a bigger rad and in the meantime he put on a hi-flow Carter pump
He started to run hot....with a Bigger rad
I MADE him put a stock rebuilt pump on and proved my point, which is as follows....
GM designed the cooling for many of their systems based on how long the water stays in the tubes
If you put a HI-Flow pump on it, you are pushing the coolant through the tubes too fast and it's not allowing the rad to do it's job
Now, I will not start or be a part of the arguement when people say Hi-flow/Electric pumps are better. I am only stating facts based on my shop experience and I will say that you CAN pump coolant through a Rad Too FAST
It needs to cool off the fluid. It's a balance between Air and Water/Coolant.

So, I would recommend you try the stock Water Pump and at least eliminate it

 

Paul, I am surprised you didn't alert me to this post !!!!!

 

it make sense to me ill do the stock water pump soon as i can