1996 Running Hot
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 4,197
Likes: 1,321
From: LeClaire Iowa
I do. About every 20 seconds. It is part of my "scan". I don't care or even attempt to deduce the "value" from the analog gauge, I'm only looking for the position of the needle to be what I expect it to be. If I want to know what the actual value is, I take off my polarized sun glasses so I can see the LCD, put on my readers, put the digital on "gauges" because it is normally on TRIP, and look at the temp. Obviously, just looking at the position of the needle is a lot quicker to tell me what I need to know: That coolant temperature is within normal range, and that it is still what it was 20 seconds earlier.
You don't need to know the actual temperature every time it is monitored, just that it is within the normal expected range. The position of the needle tells you that. Cheers.
You don't need to know the actual temperature every time it is monitored, just that it is within the normal expected range. The position of the needle tells you that. Cheers.
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 572
Likes: 21
From: Milford, CT
UPDATE!!! So I did what was suggested. Bear in mind.. my car has never overheated or spit out a drop of coolant in all the years I have been driving it with the temp gauge reading around 220.
I started the car and let it run until it would get up to 229 degrees as suggested but I never got that far. I did check to see if both fans kicked on with the AC on and they both did. In about 15 minutes I notices some steam coming up from the drivers side of the radiator near the upper hose. The side plastic radiator tank looked wet. Temp on the gauge read 198 degrees.
Then coolant started pouring out from the bottom of the radiator. I shut the car off and it continued to spew coolant for about 10 minutes. My guess is the drivers side plastic part of the radiator cracked somehow. The hose right above the tank was fine. At the time it was spewing out coolant the upper radiator hose was soft. The weird thing is for years I have been driving this car with the temp sometimes reaching almost 230. Last weekend we went for a 90 minute drive and the temp gauge was reaching 228 in 53 degree weather driving at a leisurely 35mph. Not a drop of coolant has ever leaked out of this car. Oil... yup.... coolant.. nope.
So... I started taking stuff apart to prepare for a radiator change. I will also do the thermostat.
I am going to get a 2 row aluminum direct fit radiator for it and probably a stock thermostat along with drilling a bleed hole in it. I know lots of Dewitt fans around here. In other Corvettes cars I have owned I have purchased generic direct fit aluminum radiators with excellent results every time so I will probably go that route. Dewitt is double the price. From what I am reading.. taking the radiator out of this car is going to be alot more work than the C3's I have owned in the past. Doesn't appear to be that difficult though.
I started the car and let it run until it would get up to 229 degrees as suggested but I never got that far. I did check to see if both fans kicked on with the AC on and they both did. In about 15 minutes I notices some steam coming up from the drivers side of the radiator near the upper hose. The side plastic radiator tank looked wet. Temp on the gauge read 198 degrees.
Then coolant started pouring out from the bottom of the radiator. I shut the car off and it continued to spew coolant for about 10 minutes. My guess is the drivers side plastic part of the radiator cracked somehow. The hose right above the tank was fine. At the time it was spewing out coolant the upper radiator hose was soft. The weird thing is for years I have been driving this car with the temp sometimes reaching almost 230. Last weekend we went for a 90 minute drive and the temp gauge was reaching 228 in 53 degree weather driving at a leisurely 35mph. Not a drop of coolant has ever leaked out of this car. Oil... yup.... coolant.. nope.
So... I started taking stuff apart to prepare for a radiator change. I will also do the thermostat.
I am going to get a 2 row aluminum direct fit radiator for it and probably a stock thermostat along with drilling a bleed hole in it. I know lots of Dewitt fans around here. In other Corvettes cars I have owned I have purchased generic direct fit aluminum radiators with excellent results every time so I will probably go that route. Dewitt is double the price. From what I am reading.. taking the radiator out of this car is going to be alot more work than the C3's I have owned in the past. Doesn't appear to be that difficult though.
