MurderMero84

Hello, i have a 1984 camaro with a swapped small block 350 carbed. Brand new motor and is running perfect. Has all shrouds and larger radiator. No a/c just heat hooked up. brand new flex fan and new fluids. sometimes it runs long and fine, other times after time it starts to overheat and coolant overflow starts to boil over and spill out. i have searched everywhere for any help regarding this issue. brand new 180 thermostat and water pump is pumping as it should and everything works as it should. can not figure out why it overheats and boils, regardless of highway or city.
Any tips or any other info is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advanced.

Lakerman62

iTrader: (3)

Did U Route The Hoses Correctly?, Happened To Me Once....

Scorpner

iTrader: (4)

Is there a spring in bottom radiator hose?

MurderMero84

The bottom hose DOES have a spring and everything is hooked up correctly. When i start the car up and let it idle up to operating temp and when the thermostat opens up, i opened the radiator cap and it seems to be pumping fine. The coolant is deffinently circulating. i just disconnected the hoses to the heater core and bypassed it. going to see if that works out.

Ingram78

Air pocket in your cooling system!!

And ditch the flex fan before it slings apart.

onthedownlow

iTrader: (4)

do you have the air dam installed? Without the air dam you will experience higher temps.

MurderMero84

How do i get the air pocket out? and i have an air dam but it is slightly bent. Did not think that would cause it to overheat.

Ingram78

With engine cool open radiator cap and start engine, may have to squeeze upper radiator hose, when the coolant level drops you know it's gone. Then top off again.

naf

iTrader: (7)

Replace the radiator cap first. It's a wear item and it fails by not holding adequate pressure, allowing the coolant to boil out at lower temps.

Next, if your 'flex' fan is not in a shroud you WILL have cooling problems. Best all around solution is to convert to electric fan. Snag the whole assembly from the JY: relay, wiring and all.

Scorpner

iTrader: (4)

Can rent a coolant system pressure tester for free at a local parts store, if it doesn't hold pressure then you have a leak. A failing air dam would typically cause it to run hot while on the freeway, while the fan would take over at slower speeds and idle. The air dam simply creates higher pressure in front of the radiator to allow for air to pass through. Also check the radiator to see if it (or the AC condenser later) is clogged and not allowing air to pass through. You can back flush the cooling fins on both with a hose if you're careful not to bend the fins. Something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...6bxOH9q68#t=81

Video from Klowny on bleeding system:

You could also maybe check for exhaust in the coolant (in case a head gasket is letting exhaust gas into the cooling system). (Either the method below or with a chemical tester.)

MurderMero84

Decided to flush and clean the whole system again and realize my radiator isnt pumping near what it should, i might have just glanced quick and saw it was pumping. I ordered a brand new one and hopefully that fixes it. Thanks for all the help, i will let you all know if this doesnt work.

RedLeader289

iTrader: (2)

There are TWO water pumps for SBC's, one for the serpentine set up and one for the V-belt set up.

they bolt on the same way, and look the same, but the impellers are made to spin a different direction (due to belt routing).

I had the wrong one on my crate engine and experienced the same problems that you've described, swapped it for a correct one, and no more issues.

As for the flex fan, my experience after having one for 7+ years, is that they work just fine. I've never heard of them slinging apart before, that's news to me.

MurderMero84

Yeah I don't think I'm going to have a problem with the flex fan but my question is. Would the water pump still pump if it's a reverse flow but I have it hooked up with the vbelt? The motor came with the pulley on the water pump and it was a vbelt pulley, not a serpentine belt pulley.

skinny z

If it's a pump meant for a serpentine system (as in reverse flow) and you have it in on an engine that requires a conventional rotation pump, then yes, it will still pump although at a greatly reduced capacity.

RedLeader289

iTrader: (2)

^what he said^ yes, it still pumps but will still cause issues.

BlackTopKing

iTrader: (1)

How would he know which pump he has if the difference is internal...pull off?!

RedLeader289

iTrader: (2)

Run the part numbers, they tell all.

skinny z

There'll be a part number cast into it if it's OEM or stamped into it if it's aftermarket. At least there should be.

Ozz1967

iTrader: (4)

There are actually three water pumps that you guy have talked about here and I think are confusing them. You have...

1. Standard rotation...this is the old V-belt style.
2. Reverse rotaion, found on the 88-92 models. These "flow" the same direction as the old V-belt ones, but the pully spins the other direction.
3. Reverse "flow", which are used on the LT1 motors in the 93+ cars.

You CANNOT put a reverse rotation pump on a V-belt car, it will overheat as you have described. you cannot put a Reverse-flow pump on our cars unless you have an LT1 engine, it's not designed for it and it'll overheat.

MurderMero84

I bought a brand new radiator, and hooked everything up.. started filling up coolant and thermostat opened and everything seemed to be pumping fine. took it for a ride and temp guage would slowly... very slowly but steadily go up. i cannot figure this out. everything seems to be working correctly and properly, yet it still heats up without any stopping. i dont get it.

Ozz1967

iTrader: (4)

Just out of curiosity, can you take a picture of your set up and post it?

dlinger

iTrader: (4)

When is it heating up and boiling over? Freeway driving, driving slower than 45, stop light? How hot is it getting when doing what?

Ingram78

The wrong rotation water pump theory hasn't been confirmed or denied yet!

MurderMero84

Thank you everyone for your help but i think i figured it out. My hood has no vents whatsoever and i know that the motor is a hot running engine to begin with but all of the air inside was just heating up and was unable to escape when driving. I took the hood off and it ran so much cooler. I am either going to install vents or just find a different hood. Again thank you all very much for helping.

RedLeader289

iTrader: (2)

That seems like more of a band-aid than a proper fix. Every car will run crazy cooler with the hood off, because heat rises and there's nothing to insulate it when the hood is off.

I would highly recommend you look into the other things mentioned here, your hood most likely isn't the problem.

jesse.allen

Yea I agree with RedLeader289, if that was the issue they would come from the factory with vents.


I also had a flex fan on my new 350 and had severe heat problems. I did not have it properly shrouded so I think that was a big problem. I ended up putting in an electric fan from the junk yard ($12) and a 160 degree thermostat ($8) and all my heat problems are gone.

There is definitely still a lot of radiant heat in the engine bay but it doesn’t affect my operating temperature.

MurderMero84

i think you guys are correct. i still need to do some investigation. today i moved the car 20 feet and parked it, 20 mins later i looked and i was dripping coolant and what looks to be a little transmission fluid. a decent amount more towards the transmission. i need to actually get under the car and figure this out.

Ingram78

I gotta ask.....is the fan bolted on backwards?

MurderMero84

Ya know lngram78, the flex fan says "this side face engine" then has an arrow for rotation, so i put the rotation arrow the right way but then the wrong side was facing the engine. Didnt really think it was a problem because it seemed to work fine, but the other day i decided to swap out the flexfan for the stock clutch fan. Hey what do ya know, the motor heats up to the correct heat range and stays there! so finally i think i have figured it out and everything seems to be working correctly.