i think mines going out, shes overheating, and when she gets hot theres alllot of boiling water in the overflow tank.

What Brands are recommended?
And ANY info On install,


THANX!!!
its a pont firebird, 305 TBI

------------------
91 FireBird 305 V-8
Edelbrock Catback, Fourth Gen Console. i have six cupholders. all for starbucks!
ghetto rigged cold air intake,
GheTTo Riggers INC.
We Make Mcgyver look Like Crap
God Created The Earth, And Then Turned Up The Bass
F-Body Meeting, Naperville IL, Chicago Ave and Washington. July 27, 8:00ish.

Part Search, I NEED A Harness For A Radiator fan, THANX

 

Your symptoms are NOT that of abad water pump. a bad water pump will leak at the bearing area and/or make horrible noises and/or show TONS of bearing slop if you remove the belt(s) and shake the fan around. Sounds to me like you need a radiator cleaning, new clean coolant, new thermostat, a mix of any of the above OR you blew a head gasket, which would not be cool.


this is what I would do:

Check the level of coolant with engine COLD by removing the RADIATOR cap, not the catch tank cap. If rad level ok/full and you are still overheating, I would suspect the thermostat next. (if rad level very low and have to add coolant, that could have been your prob). Replace the thermo (cheap) and see what happens. If still overheats, proabable radiator core plug problem OR head gasket problem. You'll need to find out which it is at this point, but if it is the radiator, it should be disassembled, hot tanked, brazed back together and painted. Professional work is fairly inexpensive. Use your local yellow pages to find a Radiator Shop or call the local speed shop for a referral.


Let us know how it works out.

[This message has been edited by FastBroker (edited July 19, 2001).]

 

i posted that question five minutes ago....
FAST. thnx man,

well... i replaced the coolant couple days ago, did a flush, replaced thermo. engines strong 70,000 miles, only prob is when AC is on she over heats, Has NO power, like, NILL... and it chugs, sloppy idle, a long time ago kept getting repeated SES o bad fuel pump relay/fuel pump. i replaced relay so must be fuel pump, im trying to find out what fuel pump to get but no ones helped.

i woulda thought it was pump because if its soo hot that the overflow has all the fluid, nothings going thru....
thnx again,

 

Check imbetween the ac plate and radiator. A lot of times grass clippings and crap gets built up and will overheat. It still doesn't sound like the waterpump, did you do 50:50 mixure of coolant or pure coolant? That could also be something to look at. If you are going to get a thermo, get a robertshaw/stewart unit which breaks (if it ever does) in the open flow position. to check if your waterpump is working, take off the belt and turn the pump yourself, watch the level in the radiator with the cap off. If it flows and feels solid then....check everything twice over and look at the spark plugs, if you're running lean you'll build up extra heat. Look at all your options before jumping and saying need a new waterpump. If you do go with a new pump then definatly go with a Stewart unit. I am convinced they are the best company to deal with. They specialize in cooling (NASCAR specific) and are seen often on the professional level, more so than edelbrock and they have better flow ratings with tighter tolerances. The prices are the same and you get to pick a stage. Stage 2 and up have their own castings!

------------------
, Jon (350 TBI!)
91 Red My website

 

Did it overheat BEFORE you changed the coolant/thermostat??? If not, you did something wrong... Intalled thermostat upsdie down??? Installed a non-fully-opening thermostat? Install a too-high-temp thermostat??? Just guessing...

H2O pump will probably be a band-aid fix. Also, if you have any electric cooling fans, make sure they are operating (do they even go "on"?) and operating at the proper temps.

I've never needed aftermarket water pumps on less than 350hp SBC motors, EVER... IMO.

[This message has been edited by FastBroker (edited July 19, 2001).]

 

ill test the water pump trick when i go outside,
i did like a 70-30 mix, more water.
hmm.... i would feel QUITE stupid asking this but it never occured to me, the spring Goes Down Into The manifold? on the thermostat?

Yea Fan 1 operates, fan two is going on a switch, i orig had only one fan.


no grass, no garbage, shes clean,
it cant be running that lean that it heats up so fast....


yea it did overheat before the change..

my Temp Gauge in the car isnt working so that doesnt help me any...

 

dmn double post


Thanx guys..


[This message has been edited by FiReBReTHa (edited July 19, 2001).]

 

Spring goes down.

Gotta get a temp gage, man. How do you even know tat you are overheating????

It might not be getting hot, just overflowing for some reason. Could be your radiator cap, actually!!! Take it off and look at the rubber seals on the bottom. If they look bad AT ALL buy a new cap. Heck, buy a new cap anyhow as insuarance/maintenanace item... A bad cap would allow overflow into the overflow tank prematurely and under cool/normal operating temps. A bad/weak/cracked-rubber cap can't hold any pressure and the fluid just blows by it and into the overflow tank via the tank hose.


[This message has been edited by FastBroker (edited July 19, 2001).]

 

hmmm.... yea, that i will do. and then.


i can tell its overheating cause she idles for 10min and its TOASTY...

and when the ac goes on for a couple min, she goes into overflow tank, and is BOILING.
and i moved the cap of that once, and VOLCANO.... it tasted like burning

 

This is very strange. AC on, high temp stat, and more water than coolant will cause boiling at idle. My car even with the fan always on, will get up to 220-230 and I have a 160 thermo, stewart stage 2 pump and 50:50 mix. That is only in 90+, no wind, AC on high, and car sitting in traffic. I think it's time for either a larger fan or a better radiator. The AC is definatly a killer on engine temp. When I turn off the AC it drops to 200 in just a couple minutes.
Definatly get that other fan working!

------------------
, Jon (350 TBI!)
91 Red My website

 

I installed an electric fan from Summit (in front of the radiator), and mine has run cool ever since. I live in Texas, so it's almost always hot. This brought the temp down below 220 at idle with the A/C on. I put a switch on it so I could turn it of for the couple months of winter we get. I wouldn't recomend this for anyone living up north, but it worked great for me.

 

My nephew's cavalier did something like that. It was the cap.



------------------
1989 Pontiac Firebird Formula LO3 Auto
-180 degree stat
-Hooker Cat-Back
-velcro t-top bag
-Wonder Bar from my IROC
Waiting for install: Open element 14x3, 95 vette lt1 cam

*****Possible future mods*****
4th gen seats, fiberglass spoiler, rear disc, 3.42, torsen(posi), Edlebrock Performer TBI intake, headers, y-pipe and cat, afpr

1985 IROC-Z, TPI Auto
-Accel Super Coil
engine and tranny overhauls coming this summer


http://www.geocities.com/krt80/