Mishawaka

With the opti replaced on my 92 now, I want to turn my attention to the cooling. Everything operates correctly but just don't like the idea of the temp going over 200 degrees.
1.Should I just keep the climate control on so the fans continuously run.
2.Put a lower temp fan switch in, would probably replace the fans with it since Ive seen some kits.
3.Buy a chip that's programmed to turn the fans on earlier and "maybe" gain a bit of performance.
4.Buy an aftermarket radiator.
5.Have my chip reprogrammed.
Any other options?
I would like to keep the cost low since there is much more I want to do to the car. Thanks!

antfarmer2

6. Leave it alone and clean and flush and let it run as it was designed to.

FASTAZU

I had my fans reprogrammed, never gets over 210.

John A. Marker

I had my fans on the 95 re-programed to come on earlier. Replaced the thermostat with a 160 (it did help). Want to replace the water pump with a FLOW-KOOLER pump. They now make them for the LT1. The FLOW-KOOLER pump worked wonders on my 85.

markKlein

ovrebo1

I agree that the LT1 shouldn't run as hot as they were originally designed to from the factory. From my understanding they were designed to run that hot in order to get a complete fuel burn and emit as low as possible emissions.

There is nothing wrong with wanting it to run cooler. One way, after you have put a cooler thermostat in it is to put a temperature switch into the side of your block. JET makes a kit for that. The better way is to get your fans reprogrammed or a chip made for your PCM. I bought the stuff to make the chip, so I could also increase the timing, I just haven't done it yet, so I can't comment on how easy or hard it is.

Cruisinfanatic

Cruisinfanatic

200 isn't even warm for your car. Everybody wants to play engineer and override the original design of the car because they think they know better.
Leave it alone

Nowhere Man

get your cooling system up to gm specs, flush your cooling system, the includes, the block and radiator. replace any hoses that look suspicious or if they are original just replace all of them, fill with the correct 50/50 of anti freeze and distilled water and leave alone

ovrebo1

There's this little hobby that started in the 20's called "Hot Roding". It'll probably never catch on.....

Nowhere Man

When you do things that hurt the driveablity of the car that proves your dumber then the GM engineers 99.9% of the time they were spot on on making your car the best it could be

ovrebo1

Here's a little light reading for you:

http://www.edmunds.com/recalls/chevrolet.html

Nowhere Man

Bean counters don't help

RollaMo-LT4

Completely stock '96 LT4 with over 120,000 miles.
Still looks and runs like new.

Nothing at all wrong with the factory temps.

With a modern cooling system with the proper coolant and pressure, the boiling point is close 265°F
200°F - 230°F is not causing any harm or damage at all.

Tom400CFI

Oh please....let's not be alarmists here, cool? There are absolutely zero discernible "drivability issues" with the car running UNDER 200* compared to OVER 200*.

In fact, this properly maintained cooling system that everyone is recommending will keep engine temps well below 200* at virtually any speed over 30 mph, in virtually any ambient temp.

So.... who here is experiencing "drivability issues" when driving their stock car w/a stock cooling system, on the highway?? I'm not.


.

Nowhere Man

My comment was not at all directed to "hot rodding" the cooling system. But hot rodding in general. Some people can properly hot rod a car and make it faster and be fine on the street. Some just screw it up. I see it enough where I live. Not sure about you.

With that said my stock 94 LT1 with 16X,K miles never gets above 200*. Unless I'm stuck in traffic on a hot day.

Tom400CFI

Ahhh, got it. In the context of this thread, it sounded as if you were implying that altering the car to get it to run under 200* would cause drivability issues. I guess I misunderstood your post, so my apologies. Thanks for the clarification. You're right that many do mess up a good car when they start modding.

RollaMo-LT4

The above bring up a good point that nobody (including me) mentioned before.

At any speed over 30 mph, your coolant temps should never get over 200°F.
If it does, you very likely have an airflow blockage.

Those 200°F - 230°F temps I mentioned above are only if sitting still stuck in traffic.
In other words, very little to no airflow across the radiator until the fans come on at their factory designed settings.
Then the temp falls back down until the fan off setting is met.
That cycle continues as long as your sitting still.

Once your moving again, the temps will fall below 200°F (usually in the 190°F - 197°f range) and remain there.

Tom400CFI

rfn026

200 is pretty cool. Leave it alone.

Here's an article I wrote on cooling systems a couple of years back.

Richard Newton