I’ve used these forums to help me get where my 92 Camaro is at today, and I can’t seem to find the information I’m looking for anywhere so I finally decided to make an account and ask you fine people, what is your coolant temps while idling?
Think I might of fell too deep in the rabbit hole and might be chasing something that isn’t there and would sleep better knowing I’m well within spec

car is a 1992 Camaro v6 to sbc350 86 blockcarb swap
Mild cam, base timing is set to 16 and car is honestly running really good but my coolant temps while idling is kind of getting me worried,
I have installed new upper and lower hoses, aluminum 3 core radiator, 180 thermostat with small holes drilled, heater hoses eliminated and a new 16lb cap 2 puller fans with proper shroud plus one 3000 cfm pusher fan, all the radiator duct work is in place along with the air dam, while driving with ambient air temps of 85 I can for over an hour it’ll stay steady at 170-185 gauge in car is accurate to a degree but still slightly off and I know that’s pretty good but what worries me is while sitting and idling after 20 minutes with the hood closes it’ll creep up to 200 degrees even on a colder night of 65degrees. I should also mention I do have the function hood louvers and can see heat escaping
sorry for the rambling just hoping someone can either point me in the right direction or tell me it’s normal
if there’s something I forgot to mention feel free to ask
yes I have the correct water pump for my setup Confirmed good

 

Hot idle for mine can be as high as 220-230f. I wouldn't worry about 200f if it comes down as soon as you get airspeed.

 

The heat produced as a waste product of combustion engine at idle should be negligible compared to the cooling ability of common oem radiators.

If the temp isn't being kept down its a sign something could be better.
Usually,
Poor airflow through heat exchanger.
-avoid generic electric fans, especially slim, use quality OEM fan styles
-too much water pump under-drive
-air gaps around fans allowing air to slip past radiator without cooling anything, fans need to be sealed, tightly.
-muck in radiator due to age, corrosion, mixed coolants, etc.. inspect for mud and muck

Location also matters. 205*F water coming out of an engine with 194*F thermostat is fine. 205*F water going in is not good.
You want 189 to 194*F minimum water temp at idle for reliability and longevity.
192 to 205*F is great.
High point, for older engines generally avoid going much beyond 212 to 218*F if possible.
should not be an issue at idle in any shape or form.

 

Your temps are fine. 200 while idling is perfect.

 

My L98 with a 180 thermostat and fan temps lowered via tune is in the low 190s if idling a bit.

 

not quite sure where else to go for this build, my worry is getting stuck in New England traffic and overheating, the two puller fans have a pretty good shroud and fits firmly over the entire radiator core I will admit the pusher fan is a generic brand and is off the radiator 1/8 inch for the rubber insulators. While driving in good weather, 70-80 degrees is what it’s been around me lately, while driving spiritly will maintain temp of 180, its when I’m idling for 20 minutes it’ll creep up to 200. Radiator is new within the last year and is still clean meaning the aluminum still looks like the day I bought it. If I attempt to run a lower timing advance I’ll get an off idle stumble nothing serious but enough to **** me off, unsure of what it would actually do to my coolant temps, idle mixture screws are set for highest point of vacuum roughly at 13. Is there something I’m missing here or do these cars just get up in temp? While gauge in car is accurate to a degree, I’ve found myself confirming temps with an ir gun pointed at the same spot from the same location to avoid getting different readings. Some of the readings I’m getting is as follows
just under the coolant neck is 200
water pump is 183
passanger head 205
driver head 203
should also mention my fan switch is set for 145

 

I would not consider those as high temps. Lots of people would beg for those temps and your system is operating normal. GM also ran these cars a little warmer for emissions purposes. New cars run even hotter.

 

Just about perfect for the usual 195° thermostat... since the "water boils at 212°" thing doesn't apply to an engine, it's right where you want to be, just acoupla degrees above the thermostat point

Since the WP handles cooled coolant coming back from the rad to the engine, that's just about perfect

Those are the 2 hottest places in the engine, specifically on top (valve cover flange area) just above the 2 center exh ports. Measured where there's no exhaust heat, such as at the ends, just about perfect

NOT perfect; rather, that's RIDICULOUS

Coolant in an engine is (or at least should be) something in the range of 30 - 50% antifreeze with the rest distilled water. It should be under about 15 psi of pressure. That fluid mixture, under that pressure, boils at somewhere in the neighborhood of 265°F. NOT 212°.

There's nothing wrong with ANY of those temperatures except for the stuuuuupid low fan setting. The only thing that's accomplishing is wearing out your alternator prematurely. Set your fan switch to something REASONABLE, maybe 205° on and 180° off or the like, depending on where the switch is mounted i.e. what it's measuring the temperature OF. Modern factory electric fans with ECM controls also turn the fan COMPLETELY OFF at 35 mph road speed or thereabouts, as the vehicle's motion forces more air over the rad at that speed than the fan would move anyway.