While Driving during the day i notice my engine is running at nearly 220.

Seems kinda high to me, what are somethings i can do to get the temperature down?

Can i clean out the coolant and replace it with fresher coolant?

Radiator flush? I heard about this but what all is involved?

Thanks for the help

1991 camaro rs tbi

 

Did it get to 220 in the city or highway?

I would check to see if you have your lower air dam, fan kicking in " air flow", thermostat, then radiator.

If all that is okay, then maybe your timing is off or you are running rich.

 

Nope not highway just city driving, at night it drops a bit but not a lot.

 

Where exactly is the fan? can i view it from up top? or underneath of the engine.

 

When your sitting at a light your not getting any air flow through your radiator. There is a cooling fan that will turn on at 210 or w/e it is to keep your motor cool. I rewired my fan to a switch in my dash. The fan will be right behind the radiator in front of the motor.

That's where radiator cooling fan is.

 

Thanks man im gonna go check that out, il post an update later.

 

While I agree that 220 is hot in my world, it's about normal op temp for your car stock. There are several things yo can do to cool it down, but know that if it's 220, it's NOT overheating - these sytems were designed to run this warm.

You can get aluminum roofing flashing at any home depot type store - comes in a roll of 14in x 10 ft for about $11, use it to make a shroud around the fan. These stock fans sit over an inch away from the rad, and thus suck alot of air from around the fan instead of through the rad. I removed my fan and cut the aluminum to fit around the circular fan housing, then riveted in place on the housing, then placed fan back and cut the straight edge to just be a tad longer than needed, so that when I reinstalled the fan the metal had to be bent a tad and the straight edge is wedged against the edge of the radiator. I think I have pics in my Photobucket - it's kinda hard to take those pics, but look close and you'll see the aluminum shroud I made:

http://s287.photobucket.com/albums/ll121/jw_baum/92RS/

Your car is TBI, so no ECM control of the fan. You can get an aftermarket adjustable fan controller and skip the fan switch in the head. These probe the radiator inbetween the fins to get their temp reading, are fully adjustable, easy to wire, have provisions for dual fans, A/C, and manual on/off switches if you desire. Mine is a Flex-a-lite controller, about $90 from Summit Racing. There are lower temp stock fan switches available, but I hate these things - they never work well if at all, you get a face full of coolant changing them out - they're just a PITA in my book, and not worth it - that's why I always suggest aftermarket controller for cars that don't have ECM interaction with the fan.

Make sure you have a 50/50 mix of coolant/water. You can also add products like Water Wetter - these seem to cool overall about 10-15 degrees - it's an additive just follow the directions.

You can get a lower temp thermostat - think stock is 195 you can go to a 180 but wouldn't go below 180.

Make sure there are no leaves/trash in front of rad - alot collects between the rad and the A/C condensor - remove the top rad mount, gently tilt it towards the engine, and get in there with the shop vac. Watch that you don't loose the little rubber mounts on top of rad.

 

220 is normal average city driving temp!

 

mine does the same thing....i was considering a 180 thermostat

 

Thanks man, lots of useful info for me.

I was not aware that 220 was normal/average temp, but i did a search and saw that some people were running in the 180s range so i figured mine was a bit high.

Im gona try cleaning out the radiator as best as i can just to let it breath a little better, and probably flush all the old coolant and replace it with fresh coolant.