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I just put the new radiator in last night, so I have not been in heavy traffic or our famous 100 degree weather yet. I'll do a reply post later this week once I have a chance to put it through some traffic and warmer weather.
The IDEAL temperature for longevity is 200deg. Chevy is correct. You see cylinder wall wear and ring wear is near negligable once the motor is at 200 degrees. The amount of cylinder wear on your motor increases exponetially for every degree below 200 you run your motor at.
You can't argue with this, its fact!:yesnod:
Now you will get a slight increase in horsepower for every degree below 200 too. This is why the drag racers run a 160deg thermostat. But, then again most racers I know don't mind changing a motor out every year or two.
If you want more info go read some of the Small Block Books by David Vizard.
:yesnod: :yesnod:
lately mine has been running 194-210. That's moving as the low and sitting still as the high with both fans running (starting at 204). Do some custom programming, it helps!!!
Thanks for all the feedback guys. We are keeping cool in Texas; the new radiator is working great! :) In heavy traffic the temp has not gone over 205 degrees yet. Under normal driving conditions it now averages 175 to 185 degrees. Bring on the 100+ degree weather I am ready!
I just replaced my intake manifold gasket, water pump, radiator, and plug wires this weekend (and what a pain in the wahoohoo to boot). Took it out for a spin last night, put the A/C on max, and the temp only got up to about 186 (outside air temp about 75). This is with a GM stock replacement radiator and GM water pump (which comes with a thermostat already installed, I assume it's a 180 T-stat). If it is supposed to run at 200 by factory design, then I must have inadvertently done something better than the factory did. Now if I could only get rid of that exhaust resonance at light throttle (Borla, what else...)
ideal should be about 170-185 with oil about 15 degrees hotter than that
Then why would the factory install a 195 t-stat? Also read where the oil needs to get to 212 degrees to burn off the moisture that it has picked up.
tom...
The cars with 195 t-stats aren't meant to be lower than 195.
If 212 is meant to "burn off" water in the oil, it's going to turn into water vapor. Where is that water vapor going to go? No where. As soon as your engine cools it will turn back into water and get into your oil again. This is why frequent oil changes are good :). Course you shouldn't have water in your oil in the first place! :eek:
My LT1 (before i did the engine), always ran between 194 and 200. This is what GM intended these engines to run at. I don't agree with GM in them running about this temperature, but as you can see they are lasting a pretty long time otherwise.
If 212 is meant to "burn off" water in the oil, it's going to turn into water vapor. Where is that water vapor going to go? No where. As soon as your engine cools it will turn back into water and get into your oil again. This is why frequent oil changes are good :). Course you shouldn't have water in your oil in the first place!
The moisture will turn to a vapor and be sucked out through the PCV. That is why an engine needs to get up to temp. If you only do short trips and do not get the engine up to temp then it will require frequent oil changes. If all trips are longer and gets everything warmed up right then you can go longer between oil changes.
If 212 is meant to "burn off" water in the oil, it's going to turn into water vapor. Where is that water vapor going to go? No where. As soon as your engine cools it will turn back into water and get into your oil again. This is why frequent oil changes are good :). Course you shouldn't have water in your oil in the first place!
The moisture will turn to a vapor and be sucked out through the PCV. That is why an engine needs to get up to temp. If you only do short trips and do not get the engine up to temp then it will require frequent oil changes. If all trips are longer and gets everything warmed up right then you can go longer between oil changes.
tom...
[Modified by Tom73, 2:25 PM 6/3/2002]
Ah yes, forgot about that darn PCV valve. I hate those things :).