The car has about 106,000 miles, and every so often the car gets up to 245 degrees! Clearly too high. The kid I bought it from told me that he had replaced the thermostat with a lower temp one so it kicked on sooner. Reason for a lower temp thermostat was that the car was running hot before. Also the fans are always on he wired them to stay on. I think it may be the radiator? It leaks no fluids and is always full but im thinking about changing the thermostat to the stock one and work from there. Any suggestions? Thanks guys

 

Maybe check the temp at the motor with a temp gun 1st.

 

Great idea thanks

 

My very first question is when does this occur? Is it something that happens if u let it sit there and idle, does it become more noticable at high speed? Basically I'm asking if you still have your factory lower air dam installed, without one you can drive around town from light to light all day and hardly notice a thing, but as soon as u run it down the highway for a while the temp goes up and up until u pull over... if that's your situation you NEED to find and install a factory lower air dam.

 

I notice it when Im driving up to my camp which is 40 minutes away. Im usually at 50 mph and the kid that owned the car before me put a steel fin in for a replacement of the stock plastic one. I guess the original was broken. But could that be enough to cause the car to overheat? Also is it bad to have the fans constantly on?

 

Sounds like you need to replace the airdam and wire your fans so they work properly.

 

As he said, fans don't even need to be running at highway speeds, the airdam delivers enough air through the radiatior that it should never overheat. Replace the homemade peice of junk with a proper airdamn and fix your fan wiring and you should be set, tho having the fans running full time doesnt hurt per se, it does shorten fan life and will make it take longer for the vech to reach opterating temp in colder days..

 

when i bought my 91 z28 it was an hour away and the air dam was split in two and not bent to vacuum air and one fan was wired on constantly, it ran about 240 all the way home and overheated enough to pull over one time. ive replaced air dam 40$ bought fairly used fans 70$ and had my mechanic friend wire them both on a 40 amp toggle switch where the radio is also have autometer temp gauge under middle vents 40$ and i run a lot cooler it stays in the 190-210 range all day no need for fan on freeway.