Anyone with a stock LT1, factory air intake care to share with me what their typical engine temp runs in the summer time, say, after 20 minutes/20 miles or so of driving?
Gratsi
DisasterDave

 

200-230 depending upon ambient air, traffic, a/c, and right foot.

What do you see in yours?

 

Well, I live on AZ, and the "ambiant" air is roughly 105-115 on any given day. I run at around 220 without the A/C running, and I can spike 230 or higher easilly with the A/C. I can run my heater full blast at 90 deg. and bleed that heat back out to around 208 or so. My fans seem to be coming on about right, I DID notice that my radiator fins on the lower end of my radiator have been flattened out over it's 13 probably by bugs and debris. Does that suprise anyone? hah I'm just trying to get an idea if I need to spend the $ to have it check out or not to worry too much about it and just take it easy till cooler outside temps prevail.
Thanks!

 

Disaster Dave,

Damn hot! Usually we're a little cooler here - about 3 to 5 degrees, than you guys - but sometimes hotter.

I NEVER take mine down on the strip from May until October. When we go on slower cruises, I either pick a route that has no stop lights or I don't go.

Never had her get hot . . . don't want to start now. I do know that the few times I've gotten stuck at the lights, that temp gauge takes off like someone tied a rock on it. And supposedly the former owner put a cooler thermostat in.

Good thing they aren't air cooled.

 

Your temps seem fine. These cars do run in those ranges in summer and everyone is concerned a bit when seeing them at first.

Some people put great stock in water-wetter I think by redline. I've never used it.

I lurked a bit before I bought my car. (back then there wasn't a CF but there was the usenet alt.autos.corvette.) I knew to expect the higher temps. I was still worried about them when I saw them for a while.

Welcome to the forum!

 

hwy about 200 degrees on a 90 degree day.In traffic-it starts to climb till the fans kick in about 228 degrees.95 LT1 with a stock 180 thermostat and a 6 month old radiator stock.
You may need to get a larger rad and reprogram your fans or diff. stat and reprogram fans.
I would first see if your rad is clogged with debris and then after cleaning add new anti freeze and mostly water for your type of climate.

 

Thanx guys. As long as those temps don't seem ridiculously hot, I'll continue to just baby her in this higher temp season and not worry too much about it right now. The guy I bought it from has invited me over to drive his new C6 so I'm outa here. I'll pass along my evaluation when I come back on.
Have a great weekend.
DD

 

i use redline water wetter and it dropped temps 20 degrees!

it rocks dude! and its cheap !!!!!!

 

My car a 93 LT-1 ran Vegas in a 2 hour accident crawl at 210 degress.
Middle of summa, hyper tech chip, fans on early at 180-190 degrees.

The trick is to get the fans to come on earlier.
Water Wetter works by using nore water than the factory specs.
Water is a better conductor of heat than coolant, but you lose some of the anit-corrosive agents in antifreeze, by doing so.

My LT-1 at home rarely saw temps over 195 degress.
Sea level, air temps 85, stop and go 25 mile commute.

My 84 Z28 ran hot, I installed a remote switch to run the fan whenever the traffic stopped. It never saw temps over 200, air temps 90+ stop and go mountain driving, stick shift.

Sure, sure, Corvettes run hot, but Mustangs don't?

Me I never liked temps over 190.

Corvettes run best at 200 degrees. 220 is my max, 230 is pushing it, 240 problems.
The problems with Corvettes is they're right on the edge from new, small safety margin.

 

gtfo. i dont believe it.

 

Newer cars are designed to run with higher coolant temps. This is an emissions deal and typical coolant temps of 195 to 230 are common.

One big issue with C4 cooling systems is a lack of airflow through the radiator due to buildup of dirt and debris. The C4 is a "bottom-breather" in that air for the radiator travels upward from below the front plate and through the A/C condensor and radiator. Blocking the airflow results in higher temps.

Look up into the opening where air flows into the radiator and see what kind of junk is in there. You can also look through a opening in the radiator shroud at the upper right corner to see what is sitting between the condensor and radiator. Use a garden hose to flush out dirt by pointing it at the back side of the radiator. You can even get a vacuum hose in between the two components to suck out leaves and large pieces.

The later C4's have two cooling fans. The primary fan comes on at about 226 degrees and runs until temps drop about 40 degrees. The seconday fan will come on at around 235 degrees or whenever the A/C is turned on. The secondary fan turns off when coolant temps drop about 40 degrees.

Turning the A/C on should drop coolant temps. Have you checked to see if the secondary fan runs when you hit the A/C?

With coolant temps in the 200 to 225 degree range, you will be fine. But keep in mind that the entire cooling system has to be in good shape. The coolant should be relatively fresh with a 50-50 mix of good coolant and water, the pressure cap should be a 15 pound cap and there has to be good airflow through the radiator. Hoses should be in good condition.

IMHO, a lower temp thermostat is not always a solution to a cooling problem. The 'stat temperature value only relates to the point where it opens to allow full coolant flow. Once the coolant reaches that temp and stays above it, the stat will flow just as much coolant as the factory 195 degree stat. If the radiator can't keep temps down, you still have the problem.

When the C4 was developed and tested, the cars were extensivelly ran at the GM testing facilities in the Southwest. They ran the cars in extreme heat and in extreme cold. If extremely high ambient air temps were going to be a problem in the C4, then the engineers would have built the system based on that.

 

The 1st sentence and the last one, are at odds with each other.
It does explain why GM choose to run the Corvette hot. "Emissions", I agree, but they really couldn't run the cars "cooler" for that very same reason.

Hot car better burn, cool car = unburned hydro-carbons.
GM couldn't have it both ways, but Ford did with Mustang.

 

Thanx for the info guys,,,,,lots to digest. I got a little bit of stuff I didn't know form each message. Since I'm a Corvette guy, I will need to make a list, check it twice, evaluate the list to make sure that nothing important was left out, proof-read the list in case someone else finds it and see's that I mis-spelled a word, then take an inventory of my tools to ensure that I will have everything I need to do the job, make a list of tools needed, recheck the list.......

Thanx, I'm sure I'll have more questions as I go along.

DD

 

Each of our cars are set-up a little differentely and therefore run at a diff. temp. Mine runs very cool at 170-174 on the highway and in heavy traffic at 185-200. It has hit 205 in a traffic jam in Miami last month.