What temp do your cars run at?

[Berman]

I run about 170-175 on the open highway, 150-180 around town, and it will creep up to 190-195 with the air on in hot traffic. Then immediately go back down to 180 or below as soon as I start moving again.

Is this ok? I don't know when my fans are coming on and I don't know what t-stat I have. Hell I don't even know what chip I have. My guess is a Red Armstrong low-timing chip, because Harper uses him, and supposedly my chip 'came' from Harper. My radiator is new (maybe a year old), I'm running I believe water + royal purple wannabe water wetter.

 

[timothydog]

If you've never changed your thermostat, you might have a 180 in there. I would run a solid 185* around town before I put my 160* thermo in. Now I'm a consistant 170-175* on a humid 90* day. Flushing the radiator may help a bit too.

 

[Berman]

Originally posted by timothydog
If you've never changed your thermostat, you might have a 180 in there. I would run a solid 185* around town before I put my 160* thermo in. Now I'm a consistant 170-175* on a humid 90* day. Flushing the radiator may help a bit too.

Seeing the rest of the stuff on my car (I bought it the way it is) I would assume it has a non-stock thermostat, but who really knows. Don't know who would bother to run better engine grounds, 'hotwire' the computer, etc and not change the damn thermostat, but hey who knows.

 

[striker_29]

Berman where do you live? My temps are about like yours, but I live in the south. I would definately put a 160 therm in it for 5 bucks, but your temps arent that bad unless your in Minnessota or something

 

[Steve Wood]

Sounds good to me.....find something significant to worry about. These cars are great..they will always give you something to be worried about!

Cooling is not on your list at the moment. If I recall correctly, the factory chip did not turn the fan on until the coolant was over 200 degs or the AC was switched on.

 

[Berman]

Originally posted by striker_29
Berman where do you live? My temps are about like yours, but I live in the south. I would definately put a 160 therm in it for 5 bucks, but your temps arent that bad unless your in Minnessota or something

I live in South Florida. At night, when it's 70 or below, it will never get past even 160 or so unless I sit with the air on for quite a while.

 

[Berman]

Originally posted by Steve Wood
Sounds good to me.....find something significant to worry about. These cars are great..they will always give you something to be worried about!

Cooling is not on your list at the moment. If I recall correctly, the factory chip did not turn the fan on until the coolant was over 200 degs or the AC was switched on.

Interesting. Yeah I do have something else to worry about already, but I know about it - my tranny slips like hell between shifts. It can't even bark 1st to 2nd it's slipping so badly, and I have an Art Carr shift kit. It does it even worse between 2-3. I have a whole Art Carr upgrade & rebuild kit, now I just gotta finish the cylinder head job on my Trans Am so I can pull this car apart and have the tranny done. It actually took my stupid ass a while to figure out don't mess with both cars at once Gotta get to work somehow.

 

[striker_29]

As Steve said, sounds like its fine. Might wanna flush the radiator and fill it with distilled water and a couple of doses of RMI-25 for good measure.

 

[timothydog]

How much coolant do you guys put in your water?
Any?

 

[Steve Wood]

Originally posted by Berman


It actually took my stupid ass a while to figure out don't mess with both cars at once Gotta get to work somehow.

LOL

I try to keep four that should run so I will always have two that will for sure.

 

[Steve Wood]

Originally posted by timothydog
How much coolant do you guys put in your water?
Any?

Summertime, I run distilled water and RMI-25....

Winter, I drain and add coolant...a gallon. It does not get very cold down here...I always keep the RMI-25 in there.

 

[salvageV6]

Normal, one car runs 10* warmer than the other on scanmaster. Doesn't bother me at all.

Quite good for Florida I would say.

 

[tc86gn]

May sound stupid but, what is RMI-25?

 

[GNVAIR]

Now you guys are scaring me!!
I have been through the mill with mine over the past year.
On a 75° + day, my car will run between 195° and 205° with the a/c on......even while driving on the high way at 65+ mph for extended periods.
I have done everything trying to get it to run under 185°
Here is what I have......
160° thermostat
recored 3 row radiator
dual Spal fans
ATR front radiator baffle kits
replaced factory tar paper baffles between radiator and bumper
50/50 mix water and antifreeze
removed under drive crank pulley and installed stocker
I have a large air to oil engine oil cooler that I am going to install to see what that does, but I really dont have a lot of confidence in that either.

It is definitely better than last year where it would keep climbing past 215° on the highway to the point where I had to shut the thing off so it wouldnt cook. I am tolerating where it is now, but it is still not right IMHO. I live in New Jersey, so it isnt like I am dealing with heat conditions like Texas, Florida, Arizona, or the Gulf coast states.
I am at my wits end. I am starting to think that my block or heads might be plugged up since everyone agrees, that it shouldnt run as hot as it currently does.....especially with a 160° thermostat.