Well, it turns out that the coolant pump on the TTA is going south. Weep hole is leaking, and that's where my coolant has been going. The bearing doesn't sound very heathly (I think) so I'm not totally surprised at this, just miffed that ALL THREE of my cars have had coolant problems in the last three months.

Is it me? Do I have this negative energy field around me that kills vehicular cooling systems? Can I reverse the polarity somehow? Can I count on the theory that bad stuff only happens in threes? 'Cuz I'm all done once this is over...!

I'll go get a NEW pump (belt, hoses and thermostat also) from somewhere and have fun throwing that all onto the TTA. I'll snap some pictures while I'm at it, too, so you all can see the carnage. Would anyone like to help out? Not sure if I'd do it this weekend or not.

 

I know exactly how you feel! And so goes the saying, "When it rains, it pours!". When things break with one of my cars, normally everything thing else goes wrong with all of my other cars all at once right after also! Good luck & I hope you get all the problems fixed with all of your cars.

 

Yup, when it rains, it pours. Coolant, that is.... It still runs really cool, despite the pump leaking, so I'm going to keep it topped off in the meantime until I can get it replaced. Unless, of course, the pump simply quits totally before that time, and then I'm pretty screwed.

 

3rd Gens were produced with inferior AC and engine cooling systems. All Camaro and Firebird owners KNOW this.

Poor air flow caused by the lack of fan shrouding, a little 2-core radiator and high temps to reduce emissions combine to make it unavoidable that system failures in those areas will surface when the cars get 80-100K miles.

If I had a nickle for every post I've read on TGO about "it's overheating," I'd have retired a long time ago.

Good news is coolent pumps take only about 1/2 hour to change. Four little bolts, teflon sealer, flush the system and you're done.

Do your car a favor and get a good aftermarket aluminum high-flow with nice impeller and big bearings like the Edelbrock, etc ... don't cheap-out with a brand-x iron refurb, 'cause other than not weeping it's not an improvement. Oh, since the system will be drained, install a 170-180 degree fan switch and 160-degree thermostat.

Be glad you're not in Phoenix or Tucson, heh.

All we have to worry about on the rock is traffic jams and nowhere to go...[and yes, the 87 IROC got stuck in the tremendous 3-hour traffic jam leaving downtown today -- good thing the AC works].

 

Yep, we can have a radiator swap party.. So Ed, that aluminum one at checkers is an improvement?

Well i'd love to have both my A/C and my cooling system in tip top shape... my damn A/C is weak, and on top of that using it kills gas mileage, car's just out of tune...

 

The Go/Dan 433918 for $149 is a stock replacement with lifetime warranty. It's an improvement over a broken or old corroded radiator, but doesn't have enough thermal capacity to handle extremely hot demanding situations, like accelerating up a Texas mountain road in summer 120-degree temps with the AC on. Those conditions require at least a 3-core big-tube radiator with shrouded Spal or Flexlite fans and a separate trans cooler. Road racers, drifters, or rum-runners should also upgrade to the Big Stuff.

But here on Oahu, the Go/Dan replacement is just fine for normal or spirited driving and lowering the system temps to around 180 will also encourage the AC to run cooler too due to less heating of everything around it ... but to get it cold will require a new compressor, drier cannister. For two years I lived with a bypassed blown-out heater core, but after properly fixing the AC and changing to R134 I had to install a new heater core and mix heat in to avoid freezing. Yeah, doing the AC cost about $600, sigh, but it's good for another ten years. Hmmm, the 87 has 160K miles on the clock, so that should be getting on to 300K!

 

Honestly, im impressed with them.

even with the total lack of frontal area, the later alum core radiator cars (even single fan RSs) stay under 235.. even at a dead stop in texas heat... and aslong as the airdam is there, it cools off in minutes going down the hwy...
once you accept that the 220 something avg stopped temp wont hurt your car, its not bad...



and the stock AC... well once you get over the fact that its HUGE underhood and takes up way too much space... and its constantly in the way..... its nice.

all i did to my slightly low charged AC was toss in a can of 134a/oil, and didnt do anything else..... and it blew cold for months. later i did the proper thing and did the Orings on it, and it was really cold for awhile too.... they're huge, but pretty bulletproof.. for the O-rings, seals, compressor, ect to last 15 years without any maintenance and work, thats a accomplishment.



im not one to go "yay thirdgen" just because i own one, but the AC and cooling systems of the later thirdgens arnt bad at all.

 

I'll go see about ordering a higher quality pump then OEM. Better bearings = longer operating life, and better impeller = improved cooling flow. Can't go wrong there, can we?

I think the thermostat is a cooler one already, the temp gauge doesn't get much above 160 when I'm driving - that is, when the coolant hasn't leaked all out of the pump. Even stopped at Lights of Eternity, the TTA doesn't get warm much at all. My ealier post about it going up once before must have been due to the as-of-yet undiscovered weeping out of hte pump, reducing my coolant levels to marginal amounts. Now that the car runs a bit warmer now them it did before, I can hear a fan kick in at about 190 or so, leading me to believe that someone already replaced the fan switch.

I'll change the thermostat anyway while I'm at it.

 

When my radiator exploded at the track I got a new one locally for around $130. It was advertised as an aluminum performance radiator. I forget the name of the shop, I'll find out and post back. Turns out its not totally aluminum, so still has the plastic end-tanks, but it is physically bigger than stock. It barely fits under the stock radiator shroud, and those rubber sleeves on the end are bent to hell to get it to fit. I'm really happy with it!! 180 stat and fan switch (stock fans) and it dosnt go over 180 deg, even through 5 hours of drift session in the hot hawaii sun. I'll try to find out the specs (number of cores and thickness).

 

well, i just spend my afternoon *maybe 45 min installing a new Radiator from NAPA autoparts, some aluminum two core modine thing.. only was 120 bucks... and now the car runs much better.. well much cooler at least.(hasnt gone above 160 degrees yet) The job in itself was not that difficult, so look on the bright side there ian hehe.