I purchased an 89 camaro rs wrecked and I've been piecing it together for the last two months. I now have a problem with the cooling system. The car runs 180 when its constantly moving and the air is forced up the air dam. But when I sit in traffic, my car runs upwards of 220 and it runs terrible at that temp.

Is this a normal problem with the cooling system or do you have any ideas on what's missing or if this is normal. My GTA never did this.

I want to keep this car relatively stock and I can't afford to put on expensive parts out of catalogs...yet.

 

Its not a problem....those readings sound normal for a stock RS (LO3). There are several ways to solve this problem. Easiest way is to bypass the fan relay switch with a manual one and turn the fan on at will. Or you can get another chip installed which changes the temperature the fan turns on to a lower value.

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92 Camaro RS LO3, 5-spd, T-tops
Mechanics:
Open Air Element w/K&N Filter, Flowmaster 3" Cat-back Exhaust, Z28 Grille w/aftmkt fog lamps
Electronics:
Alpine 8030 Alarm System, Valentine One Radar Detector (How did I ever drive without one?), Pioneer DEH 7450 Head Unit w/6-pack CD changer, Pioneer DEQ 7600 Sound Processor, 2 Kenwood KAC-90 Amps powering 2 12" Pro Red subs and 4 Infiniti speakers.
NEXT UP: SLP 1 3/4" Headers/Y-pipe, Centerforce Dual Friction Clutch kit

 

Yup, sounds pretty normal to me. My car when it was stock ran like that. Try a hypertech fan switch #4226 I belive. Turns the fan on at a lower tempeture then the stock one. Cooling it better, also, try a 170 stat.

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Eric Natzke
91 Firebird 305 TBI

ASCD Ram Air Hood-3" custom exaust-Flowmaster 80 Series-No Cat-Edelbrock TES Headers (coated)-March Pulleys-TBI Spacer-K&N Open ELement-TransGo Shift Kit-B&M Supercooler 28,000 GVW-Hypertech Thermomaster-160 Stat-3:42 GM Gears-Auburn Posi Unit-Edlebrock Strut Tower Brace-MSD Superconducters-MSD Cap & Rotor-MSD Blaster Coil-Rapidfire Plugs-265/50/R15 Tires-Emmison's all Gone-Free TBI mods
http://members.aol.com/j007golden/91firebird.html
For info on certain parts or mods go to the site below
http://members.aol.com/j007golden/modeval.html

 

Thanks for the info on the bypass. I'll do this as soon as the 1.5ft of snow is gone and I can work on my car without freezing.

 

there is an air dam that goes infront of the car. U said it was wreked so it might be missing. If its not inplace it will couse ur car to run hot. If its there and u still want it to run cooler get the fan switch and 160 thermo. I did that and my car never sees n e thing above 170.

BTW the air dam is acctually under the front of the car.

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1989 pontiac firebird
bright red exterior(just repainted)
grey interior
5 spd
305 TBI (stock)
WS.6 formula wheels
3.73 posi rear end
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system: 2 10" MTX thunder 2000 in a Professionally done custom bandpass box.
Blaupunkt CD player
Blaupunkt 4x6 and 6x9
600 watt rockford fosgate 4.6 amp

http://members.aol.com/j007golden/Mikey89.html

 

Yeah I did put an air dam on the car. The three dollar miracle worker is what I call it. It runs a whole helluva lot better with it, but it scraps over everything

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1989 Camaro Convertible
dark silver w/black top
305tbi, auto, all stock
posi w/drum brakes
Check out my site at: http://members.tripod.com/philsriceb...Boy%20Page.htm

 

hey man if you read this, i had the same problem with my LO3 91 rs, the cooling fan comes on automatically with the a/c. we took out the thermostat, and replaced the stock radiator for $130 and the car hasn't run a tick over 180 in the past six months...wether we were sitting or making a half tank road trip on I-10. air dam aint gonna do s*** sitting in traffic

 

Na that sounds right my 89 t-top RS did that before modding with cool fan switch and 160 stat But i know what ya mean it's weird seeing that temp gauge move that far now it even weirder seeing it so low but the car will perform better guarnteed

 

I agree with the other guys. I had the same problem. I corrected it by adding a 160 degree stat and rigged the fan to stay on all the time. I did this by cutting power wire from motor, added inline fuse,(20 amps) and ran directly to fuse box and ran it into fuel injection fuse link. When the car starts up fan comes on. You might want to change fan motor($30 autozone). most 3rd gen. run hot in particular rs models especially. Goodluck

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88 camaro rs convetible 92 rims / flowmaster/ hypertech chip/ 3.73 gears/tbi spacer/open elemnt/hollowed cat/shift kit corvette servo/k&n filters/holley tbi unit/nox squeeze/future mods 350 with 400 crank/sub frame conectors

 

i have an 89' camaro rs and the heats up to 220 degrees then the fan turns on and cools it down (no problem)

 

Hey Maddogg1,

My car goes to that temp, but it runs terrible. Trust me, drop the temp to 160-170 and it runs fantastic, real strong in comparison.

The fan kicks on, but the cooling isn't really there. It only drops to 200 which I believe is still way to high for these cars.

If I were you, I'd do what these guys do or did and the result is great.

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1989 Camaro Convertible
dark silver w/black top
305tbi, auto, all stock
posi w/drum brakes
Check out Phil's Rice Boy Page

 

when my fan turns on it cools the engine down to around 160 degrees, but i might try your suggestion this spring