Hey guys, I just bought a 92 RS, 305tbi. I did an intake gasket today and had an issue with it running hot. I'm a Chrysler tech but I don't have a lot of experience with these cars. I know the gasket are in right and they're the correct parts. It started fine cold but was running hot, near 240. On restart it started hard. Guy at work was a Chevy tech n has been building Chevy motors for years, so we put a timing light on it and it appears to be timed correctly. We're kinda thinking it may have an air pocket that needs to be worked out. My question is have any of u guys seen these cars get airbound after doing an intake or could the distributor be off a tooth and timed too retarded? The cars sitting overnight and I'm going to see how it starts cold. Any help is much appreciated

 

Went out this morning and checked coolant first, bottle was a little lower n radiator let out some air when I took the cap off. Started fine cold. Drove it around it hit 240 idling at a light, came down 60 degrees when I put the heat on. Stayed round 180 while driving. The coolant isn't boiling at idle even with the gauge saying 240. Shut it down and restarted and it was very hard. Like dying battery hard n then fired. Timing off? Any ideas?

 

The "air pocket" thing is mostly a myth. Ignore it.

Sounds like you need a new radiator; your existing one is probably plugged up and flowing no coolant. If it was anything else, the heater wouldn't cool it off, either. Although, you might want to at least try a new thermostat, as that could be stuck, which would produce roughly the same symptoms.

See my signature for troubleshooting help.

 

When I had a 90 RS tbi, it ran very warm when i first got it. The radiator system was brand new and timing was fine. It ran at about 160 while driving, but as soon as it idled, it shot to 240. What happened was the throttle body wasnt assembled right and had a very slight gap in which air escaped so the engine ran harder to try to get more air in. So maybe check the throttle body and intake system in general. As far as the hard start, when my 350 TPI had a hard start, the fuel pump was going. once I replaced it, it starts great everytime. Hope that helps a little.

 

The radiator is only a month old, was leaking when I bought the car. I fired it up with the caip off n u could see the coolant moving. Was thinking maybe the stat got stuck from manhandling the intake manifold. I was figuring the hard start could be from running too hot. Will try a stat since its cheap. I'm also gonna get a timing light back on it since I've read a lot today bout the timing spec n I'm not sure its set right

 

The fuel pump is less than a yr old, u did remind of another symptom, it idled round 900 before I did the intake, now its around 1200. Egr ports were plugged n I cleaned em, didn't have a new valve tho? Related?

 

Played with the timing tonight, found it was too advanced. I have it at 1* now. Runs cooler and idles lower. Does stall time to time when putting in gear, but the hot restart quality is much better