this cooling system hates me....

[SASHO91]

or either this texas heat....

i know its not the two above.... but it feels that way...

yesterday i put in my Coolant temp gauge in the location of the stock one(for the dash gauge)
now i know i let air into the system.... which today at school, i THOUGHT i bled it all out... nope..
coming home, on the highway, running alittle warm, about 215 or so... then we hit some traffic... 20mph.... oh great... i look down... hmm... getting close to 230... s***.. i knew it in the back of my head then that i still had air in the system....
so we get back up to highway speeds... thank god!!! but temp wont drop past 230...
im a ways from my house, and luckly its al highway.. so i decided to go on with it, hoping that the air will keep it cool(er)
nope... temps start ramping up.... it gets to about 240.... and i shut her down, pull off to the side of the highway... about 1/4mile from my exit...crap....
i sat there for about 5mins... start her up... get going to about 50mph.. and the temp shoots up past 240.... oh F***.... thankfully i had enough momentum to carry me over the brigde....
i cruise down into the car wash... and sit for about 30mins.... temp wouldnt drop below 230... all that time i was spraying the rad. with water (most of the time) and letting the fan kick on, by doing KOER.... it helped alittle...

so i decided i need to get her home... pop the hood to just latch...
and take off... she stayed right at 230 or so the whole way...

got home shut her off....

anyways... i try putting water in... temps is still up...

so i pull the top rad. hose off... dry..... nothing but steam....
the tstat apparently got stuck closed.... im guessing???

so. what is the deal??? i know i need to replace the t stat, and im going to put in new rad. fluid... and maybe some water wetter... but not sure...

but what would cause this 1-2month old t stat to go out??? IIRC its a 185* t stat... i know the stocker is 192*, but... i live in texas.... it does get hot down here...
When i opened the system, could the air that got in, messed up the T stat???
any suggestions???

sorry for the long story... just need to get it all out....

 

[SHOtimer]

If their is no water in the system it doesn't matter what T-stat is in there, it will get hot. Do you have a coolant leak? Did you top off the system when you opened it to replace the temp sender? I wouldn't make any assumptions about coolant parts untill it is full of coolant...

Doug

 

[DHMag]

agreed with Doug.

also want to mention something about Water Wetter. it recommends using LESS antifreeze and MORE water for effectiveness of the Water Wetter. you need at least 1qt of antifreeze in the system for proper lubrication of bearings. and, always use distilled water. dumping Water Wetter into a 50/50 mix system will only make it run hotter. ask me how i know ?

 

[revhardSHO]

Another thing - The air will bleed itself out of the cooling system on its own. Most of the time when I flush a SHO I fill it, let it idle for 5-10 min, take it for a drive, check pressure in the rad hose, and refill the overflow bottle. Thats usually all it needs.

 

[ohfosho]

let idle with the rad cap off...

 

[SASHO91]

ok... put in a new t stat.... oem 192* and got a new 16lb rad. cap...

she runs fine.. but allittle hotter than im use too... she will run between.. 210-220 on the highway crusin... ( high 80's or low 90 degree weather, at night) and while on the streets she will run up to 230 and stay there...temp will rise to 235ish, and the fan will kick on, drop back to 225-230, and stay there.. when im on it, she will run up to maybe 240, but will not go anypast that... once i let off she drops temp back to 230...
could my gauge be miss reading??

its not that bad... i would just rather have her down at 200-220 tops... cause when she is colder she runs alot harder... 50-70 in a couple seconds... its weird... this is when she would read at the L on the dash gauge.... but who knows how acurate that one was....

i might bleed the system again tomorrow, just to make sure... the T stat did have a jiggle valve... which my last one didnt, so i drilled a tiny hole at the top ( 12:00 so to speak) for the jiggle valve... worked fine... but then again... look were im at now...

do these temps seem high? IMO the are high...
BUT... I have been told that with aluminum heads, you want them to be hot.... if they are too cold, they will just absorb the "power"... this is coming from a buddy that i know... who happens to have a few 7 sec. cars... with aluminum heads... just fyi though,...

what do yall think? bleed again? or????

 

[DHMag]

if youre referring to mechanical aftermarket gauges, then yes, your gauge is miscalibrated.

240 is pushing it before things start to go wrong.

 

[olympic]

Removing the TB coolant lines to allow the air to escape makes filling the system much faster and easier.

 

[SASHO91]

i have it bypassed....

when i went out this morining, to a cold motor.... the temp read like 115 or something like that....

im almost postive that the motor was cold, as i got home at 11 or so... left the hose about 8am today...plenty of time to cool down....

can i recalibrate it?? or do i have to get another gauge... if thats the case.... screw it... i dont want to have to take all the gauges back out....

also.. she ran great today... on the highway with temps about 80 tops, she was running right at 210* ( well whatever that is) then when i got to the streets she went up to 230* and stayed there... other than when she would run to 235ish, and the fans would kick on....
If i had to guess the 230* is 215-220... and the 235-240 is 225-230... but it never gets that hot... knock on wood...

any way to reset that gauge? or can i just take that gauge back and they give me another... it was a set Oil, temp, volts... and im not pulling the temp sender out of the motor... :flame: no sir..... i tried tapping it lightly... but that didnt work.... should i try a hammer???? hehe...

 

[SASHO91]

bump....