After driving my car it seems to head of into the redline of the temp guage.... Now it could be because its like 85+ for a while, and 90+ today.

A while back i had the thermostat replaced and i still had the same temp readings...

I hear 160* thermostats, run the engine cooler? giving some more power? Would this also reduce my engine temp?

I am going to a shop tomorrow who will be ordering my SLP headers, and all otehr exhaust stuff, and i figure they can add in a thermostat if it really helps out, i just need more information on them.

For those of you who have em, please let me know what the deal is, and where i can get a good one.

 

I just looked through thunderracing, and saw that for a 160* thermostat, i will need their hypertech chip and fan switch...

Has anyone done this? I need all the info i can get before i go to the shop tomorrow.

Thanks

 

 

Use a 185 or 195 thermostat. Check the front of the condenser,
it may be clogged with crap or have the fins smashed flat. Also
pull the radiator hold down and look between the radiator and
condenser for crap. Make sure you have good air flow through
the radiator and that the fans are working properly.

It is also possible that someone used alot of stop-leak before or
got crazy with silicone on a water pump job and has the radiator
plugged up. It's not hard to do and I have seen it happen before.

 

thx for replying... i guess i am just gonna have to research a little more

 

Dont order one... just go to your local auto parts store and get any thermostat of your choice. Cross refrence the origonal one, the look for the same one, whith a lower temp rating. I believe theyre either 52 or 54 mm t-stats. (o dont remember exactly)

 

I personally recommend a 180° thermostat with 2-4 holes drilled in it around the outside of the spring to help with trapped air/steam. It will keep a small flow going, you need to stay above 160° due to the stock proms closed loop settings.

 

Your car runs that hot because thats when the fans turn on. A thermostat isn't going to help that. You could have other cooling system problems as well, but in the end, your car will still want to live on the far side of the temp guage because thats where the fans turn on.

For about the same money (or even less) as you'd WASTE on a hyperjunk chip and fan switch you can buy the stuff to burn your own chips and set the fans to come on whenever you want.

 

had the same problem with my 92, started off changing temp send unit, helped some, computer was not showing actual temp of engine,still not good enought for me, to hot still, cahnged hoses, flushed system, added new anti freeze, still not much help, then did the thermostat dance, bought em all from 160 to origanal stock 195, finally ended up with the 175 degree one, changed out gauges, was jumping around, new fan switch helped some, still not happy with temp, bought new rad cap, figured what the heck, cheap enough, next on list is new radiator, and new water pump. camaros have really sad radiator when it comes to cooling, stock single core with plastic ends!must have been a GM brain fart!
cooling much better, but still not 100% happy.was told by relieble gm mech that 92 91 z were made to run "HOT" to pass emisions test, something about hot engine does better burn during test, another gm brain fart?i dont know.sorry about the long post , just my experience so far..

 

I have a 160 stat and often I run cooler than 160. Can you explain what "closed loop settings" means please? I'm kinda new to proms etc Thanks.

 

Closed loop is the ECM's usage of the 02 sensor, when your engine is under the threshold it doesn't use the 02, which can sacrafice power and economy, the engine will run its fuel curve on table settings, not on the 02's input.

 

If Amrish lives in NY....with those strict emissions wouldn't he want to stick with the stock thermostat to keep his engine hotter to pass emissions?

And how would you test the temperature sending unit? Could you mix the antifreeze/water so that the boiling temp would be around 220*? And then see if it boils over at that temp? or would this be bad pratice?

 

I just want to clear up a couple misconceptions in here briefly...

1- Closed loop occurs at a termperature much lower than 160'. IIRC it's more like 110'. In other words, a cold t-stat will 99 out of 100 times not keep you out of closed loop. It can cause driveability issues, like IAC learn temp threshholds that don't get reached, etc, but it won't kill you. Even though i'm not fan of 160 t-statt, just wanted to debunk this one before some jackknob starts posting about he's ran a 160 for years with no issues.

2- The stock temperature guage is extremely non-linear, and also misleading. As verified on a scan tool, 160' corresponds to the temp that the needle JUST begins to move. The center mark between '100' and 220 is actually just under 190'.
In other words, if your temp guage moves at all, you are not running colder than 160', as my guage is representative of my experience with these cars

3- if you want to calibrate your guage or CTS, get yourself a portable stove, take the sensor out of the head/intake, put it in a pot of water and throw it on your stove (yes, still hooked up). Use a cooking thermometer to verify temp on the guage/scan tool. There also used to be a table of the CTS/MAT/guage sender resistances @ temperatures around on these boards to give you a ballpark idea. This is also how you verify t-stat functionality

 

I would like to also mention the accuracy of the 02 sensor, which is about nill, and your only real chance with it is getting it up to its operating temperature, if you run to low no matter what the loop mode is, the 02 will produce skewed readings. Granted I have no data as to what temperatures prove to be *most* accurate, but I do know a non heated 02 is inaccurate at lower temperatures.