devilfish

If the car gets hot to fast, is it the thermostat? My aux fan goes on just after 10min of idle. How can I tell if it is the thermostat, and not something else?

vader86

what are the temps

could be the tstat isnt opening, you may need a new one

bogus

Have you checked the air intake under the bumper? it could be clogged with debris...

jackdaroofer

:cheers:

Three areas come to mind:

1) thermstat faulty...sitting still, warm your car up. As the temps climb to say 190 (depends on your thermo preset temp) you should see temps hold steady and then drop anywhere from five to ten degrees as thermo opens. If you don't see this, even briefly, suspect thermostat

2) if temps drop just briefly, I mean briefly, and then climb quickly again, suspect trash in radiator or, air in coolant system.

3) if temps climb really high and fans don't come on, switch on AC, fans should come on and temps should drop. If not, suspect fans and relays...temp switch too

Hope this helps

Jack

cdnguyred88

Air bubble in coolant system????????? Or t-stat is shot.

mackeyred96

How hot????????????

kawboy5792

My '94 got hot too. i installed a manual fan on/off switch under the dash, and i can turn it on if im in traffic and it starts to heat up. good luck!

93Polo

Happened to me. Try to look though gaps in the shroud at the top of the radiator.

FSTRNU

Mine was the same way cleaned the radiator and shroud yesterday and today and got a 40 temp drop from 230 to 190. I filled up a shop vac wiht all the crap that was in there.

payback1

After reading several of these threads and having the same problem myself, I think I am going to go tackle the debris that I *KNOW* is all up in there. Ive got almost 150k miles, the last 50k being my own and I doubt it has ever been cleaned.

Now I have not worked on cars hardly at all, I figure since its the summer (and schools out, yay), I can start doing some things on it myself, and this would be a good place to start.

I read the tech tips section on taking out the radiator and can follow it, but those instructions are for a 1985 vette. I have a 1990.

Are there any differences that will make a newbie like myself fall on my face halfway through?

Thanks!

devilfish

Well I get to about 230 then the fan start. The probleme is how fast it goes there! About 20 min on idle and i am there... I think its the thermo.
I cant be the waterpump?
How do I drain all the coolant?

payback1

Its the same way on my 1990, takes about 20 minutes at idle and its already at around 230 degrees. If it is 90+ degrees outside the fans coming on do not cause it to move down much.

devilfish

strange... :/ My "old" auto 91 could idel 40min before it hit 230...

jeepie91

I had that problem with my 91 too. If I let it idle it would run right up to 230. This was way too hot for me, so here is what I did
first remove the radiator and clean it, my car has 40k on it and when I took the shroud off there was not much junk in there, but
when I removed the radiator the fins were blocked with beach sand that you could not see unless you held a light behind it.
Make sure you get it all cleaned out. I also installed a 160 Stat. I had my chip programmed to have both fans come on at 180 and
off at 170 (normally only the main comes on first)
I have not had the car out on a hot day yet to really test it but I did have it out yesterday to get inspected and it was about 70
out and my temp gauge never even made to half way.
I think if you do the above you should run nice and cool.

Camvette

20 min. is not fast warm up time. That's normal for my '85 and my wife's Dodge. :yesnod:

payback1

Will a 160 degree t-stat be alright in the Winter? This is a Houston winter we are talking about... :)