Jeremy89vette

I was wondering what the easiest way to cool my car down is. It runs at about 195-205 when moving and gets up to 220-230. I understand this is fairly normal for these cars. I know a thermostat would be fairly ineffective without lowering the temperature the fans turn on. So, what is the easiest way to accomplish this? Chip? Fan switch? I'd be happy if I could get it to not get above 215. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Jeremy

PeteL

Here is what I did on my '89. 180* thermostat, Craig Marcho chip (main fan on around 196*), replace aux fan switch (sensor) in drivers side head with 200* unit, remove radiator and clean out stuff between rad and condensor, flush cooling system (many times) and refill with 40% green stuff and 60% distilled (and deionized) H20. Has never gone beyond 205* since (most of any temp beyond 196* has been 'overshoot' from a heat causing event) in some serious bumper to bumper traffic at over 95* with air on or off.

OK, easy way you said. Get the low temp aux sensor from some Corvette rag. Do you have the aux fan? If you have the aux fan just run a wire from the replacement sensor (hook up to the existing wire to the aux fan) to the ground terminal on the main fan relay. Done. Change thermostat to 180* or lower if you want.

If you don't have the aux fan, you have to remove a plug in the drivers side head (hear this can be difficult and requires a square drive or ground down extension) and install the aftermarket sensor (switch) there. Run wire as above, except you have to procure a connector to fit the sensor. Downside to the cheap / simple methods above is fan may run when vehicle is in motion - which will reduce air flow and perhaps shorten fan life somewhat. Lots of folks do this simple mod.

Good Luck with your choice,

Pete

want2drivemy85

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jeremy89vette:
[B]I was wondering what the easiest way to cool my car down is.

put some water wetter(or equivalent product) in it. its good for around a 20 degree drop in temp.

Jeremy89vette

I'm not sure if I have the Aux fan. How can I tell? If I have the Aux fan, will the switch cause this to run while moving? The fan now shuts off after 35 MPH correct?

Thanks!
Jeremy

Togo

Jeremy, crawl under the front of the car and see if there is a fan in front of the radiator. thats where the aux fan is. as far as speed controlling the on and off of the fan, i am gonna say no, the aux fan works just like the regular fan with a temp switch.

Has anyone really seen a temp drop with an equivalent to water wetter? i am using hyper (something or other) lube i think, but not sure, and it doesn't seem to be doing any noticable temp changes. and i have 2 bottles in the water, which is more than the USRDA....(US recommended daily allowance)

cdnguyred88

I always use wetter water and have found at least a 15-20 degree difference.

89vette

Where do you get water wetter? The auto parts store? My 89 runs hot ever since I put in teh 396. With the AC on today in 92 degree heat, It got up to 227. I run a 180 stat and BOTH fans come of at 185. I have them wired together. That's too hot for me. BTW, that was in traffic and at idle. Hiway speeds is 190-210 with the AC on.

Jason

PeteL

Aux fan is in front of the condensor which is the radiator looking thing in front of the radiator. The aux fan is a "pusher" and can be seen if you look in from the cowl on your belly. Other clues you have the aux fan are the relay on the drivers side of the radiator shroud under the hood and a single wire running to the drivers side head between the #1 and #3 plugs (the aux fan switch is there).

Pete

PeteL

On an '89 the ecm controls the main fan and will shut it off when vehicle speed exceeds some point which I belive is 30 to 40 mph.

On an '89 the aux fan is controlled by a separate stand alone temp sensor (switch) in the drivers side head. This will turn the fan on when the sensed coolant temperature exceeds 228* and will turn it back off around 210* (or so).

Personally don't believe WW or any surfacant will add much cooling efficiency to a 50/50 mix of coolant/water which already contains surfacants.

Use of WW makes sense to me when low concentrations of EG (high concentrations of H2O) are desired to increase cooling system efficiency. In this case the anti-corrosive and surfacant properties will provide an advantage over water.

Pete

89_FX3_6-spd

If you really want to cool things down between runs, when I used to race my Big Blocks I used a plant sprayer, the kind you pump up to make pressure and then spray the radiator, this will cool things down to stat temp in short order.\

On my 89 I have a switch to the fan relay I manually control, works great in traffic too.

Togo

Jeremy, also think about maybe a high volume water pump they push 30-40% more coolant than the stock pump according to their specs. FlowKooler.com has them and they have a limited lifetime warranty (unlike the edelbrock, and others which carry 90 days to 1 year!) unfortunately, i did not purchase one when mine went out, as i needed it right away and it was backordered 2 weeks out! you can also order from summit.com

TOEMAN

just curious, evertime i read about water temp, the exact numbers are mentioned, i have a 91 and the temp guage is not calibrated like that, just a big space between the low and high, am i missing something?

GlockLT4

Easy way to cool down a car... No sweat! Live in Alaska or Canada .

Jeremy89vette

Toeman, the 89 vette has a digital dash (for everything, no analog gauges), which gives an exact readout of the temperature.

Jeremy

ham

Toeman, I have the same problem with my 1990. There's nothing between 100 degrees and WAY TO DAMN HOT. I've been looking for a dash replacement that had some numbers in between (also higher tach numbers) but haven't had any luck yet. One thing I did do was while testing my new 383 with the diacom software (rented from TPIS), I made a mental note of where the temp gauge was at certain temps. That way I know that when the guage reads 3/4 the way to TOO DAMN HOT (MAX READING), I know it's at about 215 degrees.

87-ZZ4

Dont start it...lol.

LeadFoot

Make sure both fans are operating. Get a coolant temperature switch that will turn on at 180 or 200 degrees instead of the stock 220. Make sure no debris is in front of the radiator. Get a thermostat rated at 185 degrees. This should cool things down a bit if not take the hood off.

Black86Convertible

have you considered using an ELECTRIC water pump? then you can run the pump and fan with the engine off.. that will cool things down nicely for ya between runs :>

and gain ya a few h.p :>

RtStuf

Bigger radiator.