BurgerMan

Hi, I have a 1987 Vette. It seems to be running in the 200 - 230 degree temperature range, this seems hot to me, is this normal? Thanks.

cv67

Stop and go in the summer, not too out of the norm.
Doesnt hurt to hav ethe system flushed, and water blast from the backside all the fins. If you hold it up to the light youd be surprised at all the little chunks of leaves and pebbles that get lodged in there it does make a difference

BADDUCK

A bit high but not bad. Your fan doesn't even kick in until @ 226*-228*.

btr85vette

I live in Tucson. On the way home from work in my 85, in traffic, it'll get to 225, fans kick on, temp goes down. it will usually never get under about 210 in hot summer traffic. If your car is running that high while driving and not in traffic, then its probably high. Check to see if there's any crap in front of the radiator.

BurgerMan

Thanks folks. I guess I was just nervous. The engine has just been rebuilt and I was just worried. I will take the advice and give the rad a good cleaning.

8valve

I also have a 87. I have had no issues with hot running. In fact my normal road temps are 185 to 195. However, I live near Canada in the Mts where its very cool. I have been reading some past posts about the space between the radiator and AC Condenser collecting leafs and junk. I had time yesterday and pulled the top shroud off the radiator. You can see int he picture what was packed between the radiator and condenser. I put the Pepsie Can there for size of the pile reference. The pile is 3 times the height of the can. If you find this condition, you must remove the radiator to really clean it all out and clean the cores. There is a good write up by Lars in the stickies at the top of the forum.
I bet you have junk lodged in there also.

8Valve

jfb

I had about the same amount of junk in my 87's radiator. An additional bad thing about this debris is that it decays and causes corrosion to the aluminum radiator and eventually your radiator begins to leak and will have to be replaced.

cadwiz_01Z

I was having heating issues for a while. Cleaned the space between the radiator and a/c cooler, still getting hot. Ended up replacing the radiator cap for $5 from A-zone. Problem seems to be gone now.

cv67

Remember a brand new engine can run a little warmer until it breaks in a bit... good tips above to look into

Stealthvette

If everything is stock you have a 195 degree thermostat and the fan doesn't turn on until 230. So, everything sounds normal.

Stealthvette

I have a different problem. If I drive my 86 and use the A/C on a hot day, the temps are fine but when I stop and shut off the engine coolant boils out of the overflow tank. If I don't run the A/C this doesn't happen. Is it time for a new radiator?

frankgtb

YOUR RAD CAP MIGHT NOT BE HOLDING PRESSURE

or coolant is getting too hot

jan-erik

Hi I have an 85 and for me I do not like the engine going that hot. It is a pressure strain on hoses etc.
I had some mods on the engine. Put in an 185 degr thermostat which is about 85C. I had the chip reprogrammed to correlate to the mods I did and in the same process I had the fan go on at 90C and of at 85C This works fine maybe I would have a little less hysterisis on the fan so it switched off at a higher temp.
That the engine gets hotter when there is a 185 degree thermostat indicatesthat the cooling capacity in the radiator is under calculated. If we look at the european cars the radiators are very large in relation to the engine which makes them go at the thermostate temp in all phases of driving.
Have never had any temp issues with the car after modifying the engine goes max to 97C on hot days and stop and go.the auxilary fan ( I have the Z-51 option) never had switched on.

samsonb

230 is normal. Sitting idle. It should go up to 230 for a bit, then go back down some with the fan running.

jfb

I own an 87 and use the stock 195 thermostat. Over about 30 mph the coolant in the summer runs 190-195. At stoplights it rises to about 200-205 and drops when I get underway. The main fan will come on at 228 and the coolant will drop to 210 and the fan will go off. The auxilliary fan if you have one comes on at 238 F. If you remove the top cover holding the ac condenser and engine radiator together, you can get a vacuum cleaner hose and clean out the debris that collects low in between. I would also blast water from a hose backwards through the radiator and vacuum up the debris that is blown out.
If you are concerned about temperature, low 200's cannot hurt anything in your engine! GM says to turn the engine off at 260 F and let it cool down. This is not because of anything being hurt, but because 50% coolant at 15 psi boils at about 265 F and boiling coolant doesn't cool very well and you could receive head damage where most of the heat is transferred out of the engine if you continue driving.