I put a Be Cool radiator in about three (3) weeks ago. Today it was over 100 degrees where I live. Took the 89 out and was sitting in traffic with the air on. The car slowly crept up to 228 and I shut the air off. I have both fans on a manual switch, and had them going. When I turned the air off, the car cooled down and would stay at 202. When I got home I checked and both fans were running. The high dollar radiator did not seen to make much difference from the new stock one I had, except it took longer to get to 228. As long as I am moving, the temp will stay around 195-200 with the air on.
Everything is new, motor only has around 1100 miles, radiator is burped, etc.
Have to say I am not impressed with the radiator. Am thinking about replacing the aux. fan with a Oh My God size fan to push more air. Dont know what else to do. Hate to leave the car home on hot days and take the Ford so we can use the air. We like to run to Vegas, or San Diego on weekends.

 

228 isn't bad, what were you hoping for?

 

why?

I am getting sick and tired of people wanting their engines to run at some magical 180*... not only is that a dream, it's not good for modern metals. The various metals (iron and aluminum) don't expand at the same rate, and if the engine is too cold, things just won't hold up... pistons will be tight in the bore, causing premature ring wear.

This is my method of keeping my stock LT1 at a nice temp:

1) 70/30, water/coolant
2) Water Wetter

My engine runs at about 195-200 in traffic, with the AC on.

The upside to the be-cool is it's ability to cool things down faster once they get over heated. You have to remember, these engines were designed to run hot - 230 is not fatal - this is also a result of the pressure inside the system.

 

I do fine with the stock radiator and thermostat and the only way I get my secondary fan to come on is to butt the nose up against the wall in the garage on an 85 degree day (I get over a 100 at the condenser that way). That's the way it worked from the factory and yours should be that way too - the secondary fan wasn't designed to handle normal cooling and plenty of Vettes left the Factory with only the single fan. If anything, it drags the alternator down and if you're using the stock alternator, it's probably putting out a measly 30 amps at idle - not enough for both fans, the a/c on high and everthing else. Once the volts go, the fans slow down and the temps go up. Since all is new, I'd verify the dash readout by scanning it and comparing it to the CTS. If it's only occurring when the a/c is on, pressure test the a/c system to make sure it isn't overcharged (in fact in your climate, you could probably get away with a tad less gas - I'd try to keep the high side no greater than 230 - 235 psi if it's 100 degrees or better and the only way you're going to do that is to let some gas out). Finally, check volts and if you're dead set on running both fans, upgrade the alternator.

 

"...not impressed"

Good wording. While I don't think there is a problem, comparing your experience to mine with a DeWitts, I would not be impressed either. Maybe satisfied, but no more.

 

I am not looking for the magical 170 degree temp. I would be content with 220-225 and holding in traffic. At the rate it was climbing when I turned the air off at 228, it would have been to 230 in another 20-30 seconds. At what point do I turn off the a/c. It was not holding! As I stated I have a new motor and it was a lot of work to put it in not to mention the cost.
Bogus, you said your temp holds at 195-200 with a/c in traffic. I don't know if you have a stock radiator or not. I spent almost $600.00 on a radiator and it will not keep me below 228-230 in traffic.
Before I bought the radiator I came to the Forum and heard wonderful things about Be Cool radiator. How vettes in Arizona never got above 210 in traffic. Be Cool radiator said that this is what they are designed for. The radiator is twice as big as the original.
Was I looking for a magical number? Yes, something below 228.

 

whew... someone with realistic expectations. How very refreshing!

I am running a stock radiator... are you getting the 228 in traffic with the AC? The best thing you can do is reprogram your fans to come on sooner.

 

I have the fans on a manual switch, and they both run when I am in traffic. To answer another members question. I have the big alternator so the fans are not a problem.
The temp. climbs with both fans running while sitting in traffic. New everything!!

 

Try a high flow thermostat, Robert Shaw or the like, 228 is a bit high with the fans running.
If you have an auto trans, get an aux cooler for it (this also helps the engine stay cooler). Ifthat fails to help then you may have a restriction in your cooling system somewhere. Also may want to look at some water wetter.

 

Try using Spal fans instead of factory. They are one powerful and efficient fan. May have to fab up a mount or shroud. I.ve been curious to see someone do this with a C4. There has to be an improvement over the old 14 amp fan.

 

How about the a/c pressure thing mentioned by suncr? How does that ck out.

 

When my original '92 radiator needed replaced, I considered a larger radiator.
But, after some consideration and talking to someone at DRM, I changed my mind -- not that I am saying a larger radiator doesn't have a place.

My rules for determining if I need a larger radiator:
1) If it doesn't overheat at speed while pulling hard, the radiator size is capabile of cooling the vehicle under all circumstances.
2) Then, if it overheats at low speed and idle, the problem has to be air-flow through the radiator or not enough "turbulence" of the coolant as it flows through the tubes.
There are two ways to increase turbulence:
1) A **smaller** radiator that increases the speed of the coolant flow.
2) A higher volume water pump that increases the speed of the coolant flow.
More turbulence causes more coolant molecules to come into contact with the inner walls of the coolant tubes in the radiator.

What I did was buy a new OEM radiator and make my own sealing strips to seal the sides of the radiator to the inside of the radiator shrouding all around -- this forces all air to go through the radiator instead of around it. In addition, I used stainless steel tape to cover all the holes in the shrouding -- including the large opening on the right hand side where the AC condenser tubes enter. This dropped my low-speed and idle temps considerably.

The C4 has, at best, marginal air-flow through the radiator at low speeds under the best of conditions, and the AC condenser dumping hot air in front of the radiator doesn't help. A larger radiator doesn't solve that. This is the penalty we pay for having a "bottom breathing" road vacuum cleaner.

DRM could have easily sold me a radiator, but talked me out of it.


Tom Piper

 

Tom, good infos !!

 

This strikes me as just plain wrong to imply that, all other things being equal, a smaller radiator would result in improved cooling..........

maybe you are saying a smaller radiator is more efficient in terms of something like cooling per weight, but IMHO a bigger radiator should result in more overall cooling.....

I like your idea of forcing more air thru the radiator by blocking off "leaks"......I am going to take a look at this....

 

I have had my Be-Cool for 5 years now and have never had a problem one with it. I race my car (no A/C) in the middle of the summer in Central Florida and the water temp has never been over 215 degrees. This is on 100 degree days where the car is constantly pushing 6000 rpm's for 30 minutes at a time.

I have a 160 Thermostat and use 90/10 water/coolant with 2 bottles of Water Wetter.

Mike

 

I am not suggesting someone install a smaller radiator; I am mentioning what increases turbulence.
My suggestion for increasing turbulence is to use a larger volume coolant pump -- but, I have not found one for an LT1/LT4.
And, there may be rare times, a larger radiator could be counter productive if turbulence is a problem.

It is easy to determine if low turbulence is a problem -- if the engine overheats at idle, while in park/neutral increase the rpm of the engne to about 2K for a few minutes. If the engine temperature comes down with a much higher idle speed, you have a turbulence problem. I tried this and my engine temps do not come down.

Like many things for an automobile, there are many compromises.
You compromise on the cam to have decent low and high rpm.
And, when the cooling system is designed, the engineers compromise on the size of the radiator to have low-speed turbulence and high rpm/load cooling capability.

Tom Piper

 

New everything, water pump? If so did you use a high flow one? In some cases a high flow pump can cause the coolant to not stay long enough in the radiator to actually get cool off.

 

Whenever I hear someone make this statement I wonder what proof or test they have run to come to this conclusion, or is it just a "gut feeling" that is being shared with us.

Think about this for a second...if the flow is too fast through the radiator to remove the heat, then why isn't it too fast to pick up the heat from the engine?

 

Good point, Aardv about the pump pulling the water too quickly away from the cooling fins.. And I think Tom's points are good also. Think about it for a minute: while you CAN increase the internal coolng efficiency and size of the radiator, without more air flowing over this improved cooling size or system, it's not fully working. Thus, a larger radiator per se may not help that much, if at all. Tom's work closed up the holes and made more cooler air flow over the fins. Up to a point, there's only so much air you can get to flow over the fins.

 

This is what I was thinking as I read through the posts. I know a good sealing shroud and fans that are properly sized to their housings are very important to make sure the airflow is through the rad and not around it...