Well my camaro made me feel like a fool again. I've owned the car for six years now and it has overheated since day one. Originally the car would overheat regardless of temp speed ect. Now I was fine for the first week or so after I put the heads on and put the car back on the road. In NJ we went from the coldest week we have had in a while to a 60 degree day in one day. I went out driving with the t-tops off happy as can be that it was nice out, once I got into traffic my temp gauge went from its normal 195* to almost 230* so drove it to my cousins house since hes about 2 or 3 minutes from where it got hot gave it 30 minutes with the fan on (I have an electric fan wired to a switch in the car) and an hour with the fan off. When I started the car it idled for a few minutes and the thermostat opened at 190 as always left the car running and temp made it to 210 in about 10 minutes then climbed when i turned the heat on. I am really kinda stumped on this I have replaced the waterpump the thermostat the hoses I put a new electric fan on it last year when I was reconditioning the heads. Put a new balancer on the car new waterpump new alternator new carb. When I went to drive the car the first time after putting it togeather the heater core filled the cabin completely with white smoke at an idle but the car did not over heat then. The heater core was bypassed for two days until i could put a new heater core in the car new core is in the car and installed the same as the old one is. I figure it might be because the oem heater cores are better then the ones you buy at autozone. I went to a junkyard and pulled apart a 89 gta's dash (without breaking anything It kills me seeing ruined 3rd gens because people dont care what they break to get the part they need) so i spent the time and pulled an oem heater core from that the gta had 53000 on the dash and a 92 inspection sticker so I assume the tbone took it off the road not a faulty heater core... back on subject what in gods name is causing my car to overheat =]

 

Is it actually overheating? Is it dumping boiling water out the cap or overflow? Or is the gauge just showing higher than you think it should be?

 

To answer the questions is it acutally overheating yes i would think so. is it dumping boiling water no not yet but the overflow got to full. and yes the gauge went from the usual 190 to 230+

 

Does it have one of those super thick aftermarket radiators? Does the thermostat have a bleed hole? You can use an infrared thermometer to check the radiator for cold spots.

 

Does not have a thick radiator idk about the bleed hole and i used my hand to check the radiator but yes i have that thermometer but i prefer using my hand

 

Keep in mind that the dash guage is notoriously inaccurate. When checking the temperature with your hand, exactly how hot is it getting?

An actual temp of 230 is not overheating and should be well below the boil over temperature of a properly functioning cooling system. If it's not boiling over, it's not overheating.

If it's indeed overheating at only 230 degrees, I'd replace the radiator cap first. It'll run a few dollars and is a common fail point (especially with age). Still boiling over at 230? Pressure test the system.

 

The factory fan setting in these cars is, it stays off until the temp reaches roughly 235°.

What that means, in the simplest possible terms, is that in the factory's opinion (not of course, that those guys have THE VAGUEST CLUE about how their cars are supposed to work, or anything like that; I'm just sayin) the car DOESN'T EVEN BEGIN to need cooling until it reaches 235°.

Which further means, the gauge reading 230° DOES NOT mean the car is "overheating". It's right in its "comfort" range, and doing EXACTLY WHAT IT WAS DESIGNED TO DO.

I think you need to understand better how the cooling system is supposed to work.

 

agreed with sofa. my trans am runs normal between 200 and 220. with that being said if your car is overheating for real make sure of two things. one (this is what got me) make sure the air dam under the car is in good shape and there. mine wasn't when i bought it. overheated a fresh rebuilt 350. two make sure there are no air bubbles in the cooling system. bleed it if you have too. it's easy to do. just pop the radiator cap and get the special radiator funnel and let the car run till it gets hot. the normal expansion and contraction of fluids will do all the work for you. just make sure you have a bottle of radiator fluid as some may spill out.

 

Thank you sofa, I just get nervous when my temp gauge starts climbing like that. Prior to reconditioning the heads I would boil over out the overflow every 30 minutes of driving so I installed an aftermarket temp gauge and oil pressure gauge, rad cap is brand new all hoses and waterpump are brand new I'll be sure to check the system for air when I get done putting another heater core in the car. But yes on that note I do not pretend to have the slightest clue as to how my cooling system works, I apologize for making a thread that wastes space and time I panicked I suppose. Just put the hood back on so I'll see how it works.