hey guys. I know the LT1/4 engine run a little bit hot. i have gotten used to that. but my car gets extremely hot at idle when i am in traffic or putting around in a parking lot. my digital guage goes up to 230 a bit quicker than it usually does and my analog guage goes upp really really fast just shy of 260!. when i turn the motor off and pop the hood i can hear a gurgling sound. the last couple times this has happened to me i lossened the cap to the upper doolant resavior. not the plastic one on the bottom but the one up top that says do not open hot. it bubbles over quite a bit of coolant and when it dies down i tighten the cap again and usually i can make it to a road where once i am at speed it causes the coolant temp to drop extremely fast weather i took time to lossen the cap or not. i really think i have a air bubble somewhere. can anyone help me out here?

 

Have you thoroughly flushed the system yet and cleaned all the debris that accumulates in the radiator air intake area? You could also have a problem with your fan system since it's depended on more at low speeds.

 

i need to flush the system i havent done that in a while but this problem JUST started saturday after i overfilled the lower coolant resevior. could i have trapped and air bubble in there? how much does a shop normally charge for a coolant flush?

 

shops here in NJ charge around $100.

 

i guess that leaves me with the choice to put back in a higher stat.(what temp should i got with? what is stock?) or reprogram the fans? doesnt hypertech sell a thing to reprogram the fans? would this work? can anyone post any links to help me
?

 

You need to do the standard cooling system mods, flush the coolant and refill with new, a higher mix of water/coolant will be no problem in Florida. 60/40 should be good.

Remove radiator shroud and clean off the front of the radiator, this should drop you 10-20F.

Stock stat is 180, I would definitely be running a 160 in Florida. You should at least replace the current one.

Long-term fix is a fan switch, wired to the main fan, or a PCM reflash that makes the fans come on earlier

 

i am running a 160 stat. i think im going to order a fan switch and see if that fixes my problem. thanks for the info

 

Easy fix. Check thermostat and fan opperation first. Definatly flush the old fluid and you may want to check for crap clogging the ratiator fins. Many peopel say just cleaning the crap out of the fins loweres the temp quite a bit. There may be trash lodged between the radiator and the ac condenser you'd be surprised how much junk that thing vaccumes up !

 

You've got a problem. Turn the air on and see if the fans are coming on.
Your not getting enough air thru the radiator at low speeds.

260 IS A RED FLAG!
Chk the fans 1st.

 

i had installed the 160 stat almost two months ago and it worked fine till about saturday of last week. i cleaned as much junk out of the radiator as i could without taking the shroud off(and there was quite a bit). that didnt seem to help a whole lot. i just got back from the store and got what the lady told me was a stock stat (180. i thought stock was 195) but i installed that and it still gets really hot but does so slower and once the digital guage reads 230 BOTH fans come on and both guage temps start to come down. all in all it doesnt get all the way to 260 on the analog guage anymore or start to boil. This frusterates me because it was working so well for a while with the 160 stat. i am planning on flushing the system twice really good and seeing if i can bleed everybit of air out i can and then fill it back up. see what it does. and if it works i am going to try plugging the 160 back in just to see if flushing it cured the problem. thanks for all you guys help. i will keep you posted on results

 

YOU HAVE TO REMOVE THE SHROUD to get that crap out and get temps down, there is no half-azz way to get it all.

DO IT

 

:iagree: halfassed jobs get halfassed results. ... most of the time.

 

Just a few thoughts on the matter: its interesting that it just started happening recently especially since our temps here have been rather cool. Another observation is the difference between the analog and digital values, can you verify which is closer to being correct? I realize 230 is hotter than its perhaps cruise temp but that is a normal operating temp. Is it a lot of heavy traffic stop at a light wait several minutes and then go two blocks to another light and wait type of driving? Is it after coming down from speed like off an interstate run then stuck in traffic? If so, those numbers wouldn't surprise me then. I've seen up to like 220 after such conditions here in the sunshine state, but as soon as I can get moving again and get better airflow the temps come back down.

I'd follow several of these suggestions above. Consider a new t-stat, that one could be slow reacting. Lots of opinions on this, but I'd still stay with the stock one. Definitely have a system flush done and have it bleed. I believe that year still has the two bleeds on the throttle body and t-stat housing. Ensure the fans are coming on, you can force it with the AC but in Florida you probably already are. Not sure I understand about this shroud thing, I know the entire system sits in a shroud, but from underneath I believe you can gain access to all the intake areas. So perhaps we can hear more about that shroud.

I think the 'gurgling' sound your hearing is the movement of coolant back into the reservoir. Its very hot at that time and it makes that noise as it migrates back into the plastic tank. As it cools down a few degrees the gurgling probably stops.

How's the water pump? Original, miles, is it driven alot? What about the temp sender?

Over the last year I've done most of all those suggestions, mostly to ensure the state of things, clean it and put in new tstat/pump/hoses/sender and flush. I'm getting normal running temps of 193-196, but stuck in traffic can drive them up to the 212 range.

Also something to consider about opening the surge tank (upper one). As long as there is pressure in the cooling system, the temperature can be considerably higher than the boiling temperature of the solution in the radiator without causing the solution to boild. Removal of the radiator fill cap while the engine is hot and pressure is high will cause the solution to boil instantaneously, with possible explosive force.

Air deflectors (dams) play a role too, damaged or missing pieces can affect the air directed into the inlets.

Good luck. :flag

 

That wont cut it! the radiator is cloged, ether the air flow thru it is blocked, or the coolent flow is diminished due to scale. My guess is the scale has the radiator onthe ropes!