Cascade Crew

[jchaussee]

So car is overheating. I installed fog lights so I know bot helping matter. But I did fabicaye a air dam and bent it up at,a sligjt anfle to better scoop air. Now before I had fog lighta I didnt have air damn and I could drive from renton to bothell and back and maybe hit 210. Now within 30 minutes of driving I hit 220. I also added enginekool hoping would lower it enough to be confortable. But now it just gets hot and stays hot and I beloeve that it,is now causing it not to want to turn of wheb I turn key. Kindof stumblea a bit before it ahuts,down. So I am open to suggestions and tips. Eaaieat ans least expensive first. I am curious if a better fan would work. Rigjt now it is,stick single fan. But it is on a switch so it is,constantly running

[aaron_sK]

If it used to be fine and now it is not that is a sign of component failure, not a need for upgraded parts.

Dieseling is indeed a sign of the engine being way too hot.

When it is warm is the upper radiator hose firm?

[jchaussee]

I believe it is firm. I will check next time. I was thinking of just replacing all hoses and thermostat cause they fairly in expensive. I am running a 160 stat now. Should I go to maybe 180? There is also a good chance guage is odf but with ia dieseling it still tells me overheating. Coild bad carb tune contribute? I rebuilt it about 3000 miles ago, but just set it to what it said to on the net

[Twilightoptics]

Shouldn't over heat with a 160 t-stat unless it's stuck closed.


If you have the single fan on all the time, and a 160 t-stat you should never overheat unless something is fubar.

[aaron_sK]

I would put a 180* in there regardless, but I am biased against cold thermostats.

A bad carb tune or a poorly tuned timing curve in the distributor can cause overheating, but as I said before if this is a new problem then it is caused by a part failure, not a poor tune.

If the upper radiator hose is hard I would highly suspect that the thermostat is stuck.

If the lower hose is hard look for a clogged radiator.

[jchaussee]

Ivwill check bothvout tomorow. I just flushed it a month or so ago, but who knows. I also dont think lower hose has spring if its needed.

[jchaussee]

Also, I dont neccesarily no if this a new, new problem. before I could drive for a while with no issues, but if I was in traffic it would get a little warm. I also at the time jad no air dam. But open holes where the fog lighys go. So when I installed fogs I also installed an air dam, hoping one would cancel out thevother. So mybpoint is that I mau have had a small problem before I neber really drove it to muxh. And tjat maybe iys just getting worse amd I am driving it,more . I dont really know, just wod lime to get it figured out before sumer is over. Another thing I should mention ia that,the top of my coolent in radiator also get foamy. But I dont have any smoke and oil looks fine. So coild I have crack in head and thay,is causing it to overheay

[Twilightoptics]

Fog lights are a factory option and usually larger than aftermarket ones.

AKA not a problem.

Need an air dam regardless.

[jchaussee]

Which I know have. Airdam that is. But it seems to clims juat as fast amd high on freeway as it does on surface streets. factory setting also jad a xompiter xontrolling many aspects of engine that I no longer had, so somw of that mayne an issue. But I shall start with hoses and t stat and see how that does. And if it does have to do with heada thwn hopefully when I swap heada problem will be solved

[aaron_sK]

I am having a hell of a time deciphering these messages, man. Please try to take some time on them.

If the head is cracked and blowing compression into the coolant then you need to fix that before you do anything else. Cracks don't ever get smaller.

The ECM didn't control anything in the cooling system except the electric fan.

I deleted the foglights from my IROC and any temp difference at high speed was negligible at best.

The temp rising equally fast at low and high speed is indicative of a stuck thermostat or severely clogged radiator, not an airflow problem.

[jchaussee]

Sorry man about msgs. My phone is my computer and my fat thumbs make it hard to type. But back to the overheating. I am almost now certain t stat. It is full of coolent and not going anywhere. So my question is can I just remove t stat for now. And how important is radiator cap tovthe cooling system and what psi should it be. Right now it is a 13 psi cap .

[jchaussee]

But I do apreciatw the feedback. I wasnt sure if ecm tool care of some of the tuning issues that a fi car has. So I was just thinking out loud if the tuning could cause it to run hotter also, but you already adressed that above.

[Twilightoptics]

Rad cap is important. Too low and it blows coolant out, too high and things rupture. Forget what the stock PSI is.

How are you now convinced it's the t-stat and that coolant isn't going anywhere?

There is still some internal block flow when the engine is running from the water pump.

[aaron_sK]

Stock cap should be 16psi IIRC.

When fluid is pressurized it's boiling temperature rises. That is the point of pressurizing the coolant system. As Paul said the right cap is important.

[jchaussee]

I,am sure,there arw probly other issueswhich attribute to foamy coolent, but I am convinced t stat is bad cuase even at 200 it wasnt opening. I took it out and seems to be within reasonabke temps now, but I havent really gone any where far today.

[aaron_sK]

You can test a thermostat by tying a string onto it and holding it in a pot of water heated on the stove.

However you can buy a brand new one for like eight bucks so it's hardly even worth pissing off the women.

[nonsensekid20]

Not sure if this was mentioned but I remember when we were doing Luke's car his was over heating because he was low on coolant and the coolant level inside the block wasn't high enough to touch the t-stat and heat it up enough to open. Just something else to check. Good luck.

[Twilightoptics]