Cooling issues

[Jersyboyy]

My car has been overheating bad lately.

I flushed the radiator and even dropped in a 160 t-stat and a thing of water wetter.
Once the car warms up at idle it sits at 200-210. When I begin to drive it it'll take about 20 minutes before it hit 235 and I pull over, doesn't get any cooler while sitting so I shut it off and wait an hour for it to get down to 175 then continue on the last 15 minutes of my ride home from work.

It builds up ALOT of pressure and the passenger side of the motor begins to have oil coming out of the breather gaskets.

When I purge the cap the overflow tank bubbles alot and the steam released is incredible, and it shoots coolant out of the overflow tank too.

No coolant in the oil yet and no smoke from the tail pipes so I sure that it hasnt caused any damage to head gaskets at least yet.

When I got home I let it sit idling and the temp was at 245 so i grabbed the hose and let it flow over the radiator fins from the front and the temp dropped within 2 minutes to 170!

Im getting the air dam and fan shroud as soon as I get some money

Do you guys think its the radiator or the water pump? I cant figure it out.

[WildBillyT]

Has it always done this? Was your car originally a V8 car?

[//<86TA>\\]

is your fan on backwards?
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Marijuana Vaporizer

[Jersyboyy]

Fans on the right way it was origonally I think a 305. Might have been a v6 but im pretty sure it was a 305. It did this to me last summer out of the complete blue. Blew my headgaskets that summer let the car sit for almost a year. I just recently (2 months) had the head gaskets fixed and have been driving it fine for the first month then the warmer weather came and here we are.

[sweetbmxrider]

id pressure test it first to make sure everything is working correctly;mainly the thermostat; and get those body parts on! then go from there. does it run hot no matter the speed or only idling?

[IROCdan330]

on top of the fact that you are missing the air dam, and fan shroud (i know you said you would be getting both), are you positive your fuel mixture is right? if this thing is running lean it can make combustion chamber temps rise which in turn would make the engine run hotter. I know thats a long shot...

Is you water pump brand new? is this a factory radiator on the car?

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by IROCdan330

on top of the fact that you are missing the air dam, and fan shroud (i know you said you would be getting both), are you positive your fuel mixture is right? if this thing is running lean it can make combustion chamber temps rise which in turn would make the engine run hotter. I know thats a long shot...

Is you water pump brand new? is this a factory radiator on the car?

I seem to remember him mentioning that he is running lean...

[Tru2Chevy]

Originally Posted by IROCdan330

on top of the fact that you are missing the air dam, and fan shroud (i know you said you would be getting both), are you positive your fuel mixture is right? if this thing is running lean it can make combustion chamber temps rise which in turn would make the engine run hotter. I know thats a long shot...

Is you water pump brand new? is this a factory radiator on the car?

Yea, he's got a lean condition - hole in the Y-pipe. He's working on getting that replaced as well.

I think the overheating is a combination of everything....no air dam or fan shroud, and running lean.

- Justin

[IROCdan330]

i'm confused? how does a hole in the y-pipe cause the car to run lean?

I understand he was told at dyno day that his car was lean or whatever from a hole in the y-pipe...but that to me would be misleading. yea, a tailpipe wideband would show lean because the exhaust would scavenge more air from that hole and show more oxygen at the tailpipe...that doesnt mean that his actual air/fuel in the combustion chamber is lean...thats why tailpipe widebands are only accurate with a sealed exhaust system and no cat.

I assume there is more info to go along with his lean condition...definitely would have that carb adjustment looked into.

And Justin, I agree, the combination of everything most likely is contributing to the situation...after those 3 things are handled, we can have a more accurate approach to any cooling issue, if one still exists.

[Tru2Chevy]

Originally Posted by IROCdan330

i'm confused? how does a hole in the y-pipe cause the car to run lean?

I understand he was told at dyno day that his car was lean or whatever from a hole in the y-pipe...but that to me would be misleading. yea, a tailpipe wideband would show lean because the exhaust would scavenge more air from that hole and show more oxygen at the tailpipe...that doesnt mean that his actual air/fuel in the combustion chamber is lean...thats why tailpipe widebands are only accurate with a sealed exhaust system and no cat.

I assume there is more info to go along with his lean condition...definitely would have that carb adjustment looked into.

And Justin, I agree, the combination of everything most likely is contributing to the situation...after those 3 things are handled, we can have a more accurate approach to any cooling issue, if one still exists.

My understanding was that the hole was pre-02 sensor....

- Justin

[IROCdan330]

If you are referring to the car's o2 sensor, i didnt see any computer controls on his car for the brief moment i saw under the hood at the epfba meet...and if there were computer controls, a hole pre-o2 sensor would tell the computer lean and it would try to make it fat to compensate...

[Tru2Chevy]

Originally Posted by IROCdan330

If you are referring to the car's o2 sensor, i didnt see any computer controls on his car for the brief moment i saw under the hood at the epfba meet...and if there were computer controls, a hole pre-o2 sensor would tell the computer lean and it would try to make it fat to compensate...

That is very true....I don't know what setup he's got as far as the computer goes.

- Justin

[JSPERFORMANCE]

just put nitrous on the thing, it finds all the weak parts and ejects them for easy replacement

[JSPERFORMANCE]

but you have to scream NOSSSSS when you hit the go baby go button

[IROCdan330]

Where is JersyBoyy with the update

[//<86TA>\\]

Originally Posted by JSPERFORMANCE

but you have to scream NAWSSS when you hit the go baby go button

fixed
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Uhwh warehouse

[Jersyboyy]

Blew the head gaskets again on my way to work sat morning. Im so down on my luck right now and don't know what to do. The air dam and fan shroud would not all of a sudden cause the car to over heat even while just idling, but will cause it to heat up more than usual especially while driving at high way speeds. The water pump doesn't leak but could be an issue but im sure the radiator is bad. At idle the temp increases all the way up to 220, if I run a hose down the radiator fins the temp drop to 160! None of this matters now that the car is blowing white smoke out the tail pipes and I have no ride to work any more!! O and no computer system, the motor is carbed and after dyno day I upgraded the fuel pump and lines, was planning on getting the carb tuned soon but everything is going to be put on hold for god knows how long. O and the new catback was put on welded up alogn with the hole in the ypipe, stopped the back fire too but didnt seem to make it run any better.

[//<86TA>\\]

look,

Your water temp sensor is in the head, driverside between 1 and 3. It reads the temp of the coolant. If its reading 220 degrees, you hose down the radiator and it quickly drops to 160, the liquid end cooling system is working properly, the radiator is flowing and the pump is moving water, its the only way the temp would drop that fast with you just spraying the radiator.

The obvious answer, is that the air dam and shroud, or the lack thereof, IS causing the issue.

The air dam directs air onto and through the radiator when the car is moving, cooling it, it does nothing when its sitting still. These cars are bottom breathers and without the dam they will overheat. The fan pulls air through the radiator when the car is sitting still, and has less effect when the car is moving, thats why, usually, the fan only turns on when the car is in traffic or stopped.

Now the issue here is that with the mechanical fan is lacking its shroud, its just pulling air from in front of the radiator, through the blades and onto the motor, not doing jack for cooling. With a shroud, the fan will pull air through that radiator thus cooling it! TaaDaa!!


You need the dam and the shroud or this will continue. being lean can cause it to run hotter, but not like this.

also, how far form the radiator is the fan? it need to be pretty darn close.

I understand this is you DD, but if you keep overheating it and not fixing the problem, you are going to eventually cause permanent damage to the motor.

When are the air dam parts and shroud coming? after you swap head gaskets, i would not drive the car until they are on.
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Nexium Lawsuit

[Jersyboyy]

I cant afford to replace the head gaskets again, i still owe my brother 1300 since he paid the mechanic for the job. Im thinking about getting copper head gaskets from summit, trying to do it my self and then put the shroud and air dam on it. After that I will get a new radiator and high performance water pump and then get the timing checked out to because Im not 100 percent sure its set properly. Then tune the carb. If all else fails im grabbing some gas and some matches for the car and a 9mm gat for me.

[Tru2Chevy]

Ouch....a head gasket swap isn't too involved.

What kinda tools do you have?

- Justin

[90FormulaWS6]

check coolant temp sensor if your fans arent turning on once it gets hot

[Tru2Chevy]

Originally Posted by 90FormulaWS6

check coolant temp sensor if your fans arent turning on once it gets hot

No electric fans - he's got a mechanical flex fan. No computer controls at all left in the car.

- Justin

[JSPERFORMANCE]

Like I told you at my shop the shroud and air dam may look like cheesy pieces of cheap plastic but they are two of THE most important parts of a cooling system, espically on a third gen.

You may also have other issues but you can not begin to address them until you have the basics intact.

[Jersyboyy]

My neighbor has been kind enough lately to let me use his tools. He has a great amount of tools. Not a mechanics tool box but will do the job. I know the air dam and shroud are important that is why I was talking to a few guys about getting those two items asap but now I have to hold off until I fix the head gaskets. What size head gaskets should I get for a 350 bored .40 over? I will order them next week and attempt to install them the week after. Then ill be saving all my money and taking the car to JS!

[Tru2Chevy]

Maybe Josh or others will chime in, but I would assume that this should work for you: http://www.jegs.com/p/Fel+Pro/758649/10002/-1/10193

- Justin