What are normal coolant temps?

Yesterday I decided to take the car to work, on the way home I was in some stop-and-go with an outside temp of 96. The coolant temp got up to 232, which seems like it may be too high.

I've added a bit of fluid to get it to the correct level and changed the overflow tank pressure cap since buying the car, are there other things I should look at doing to help temps out? I worry what will happen when I go to my first track day.

Thanks,
Jason

 

Have you cleaned out thoroughly between the radiator and a/c condensor? Air flow through the radiator to cool the coolant is what determines your temp. Also check to see if your fans are coming on. If you turn on the a/c, both fans should run. Air flow is the key to cooling. Everything that comes up off the road is pulled up into the front of the radiator and sticks there. It needs to be clear, so clean out everything you can and back flush to clear the fins.

 

Lay on the ground in front of the car with your garden hose and spray nozzle and reach up and spray the condenser out real good.

 

Completely normal for stop and go traffic and 96°. However many, myself included, have done things to lower that temperature. Installing a lower temperature thermostat and reprogramming the fans will reduce your temps. A 180° stat and lower fan settings had my car running 190° and at idle it never went over 196° A 160° stat with the same fan settings got me a bit low at 170° Next up is 170° hopefully that will get me to 180° area.

 

Can you explain why a 160 T-Stat would lower your running temp???

Peace
Chip

 

I ran as high as 235 in traffic last summer ( I live in Phoenix area) until I put in a bottle of Royal Purple coolant additive and now I am normally below 200 and only see 212 when I am in traffic and not moving on a hot day, that stuff seems to work pretty good. The stuff is called Royal Purple Ice.

 

I cleaned out the AC condenser with a homemade PVC attachment for my garden hose. It still is not super clean, but has already made a difference. I didn't want to mess with the fans today, since I want the car together for an autox tomorrow, but will do the radiator as well soon.

 

What temp thermostat do they come with from the factory and why. Seems to me if GM wanted the engine to run at 180 they would have built it that way. They put it up there at 213 for a reason but its over my head.

 

Install a Cool It from Sac City Corvettes and you can turn your high speed fan on anytime. Works great!

 

i would think that the fan on/off setting would do more good.
i mean a 160 degree stat and a 180 degree stat are both open at 185 and flowing freely at 185

 

they made the C3s run hotter to burn the N20 off for emissions reasons. i would imagine that the C5 is the same.

 

Bingo

T-Stat has nothing to do with running temps after they open

Peace
Chip

 

Some good advice here. 232* in high outside temps and stop and go traffic is not unusual.

 

Conventional wisdom around here says it's the fan settings that control temps. But if you think about it the fans shut off at speeds over 35mph. So it has the be the thermostat and radiator efficiency not the fans. When I swapped out the 180 for the 160 I never readjusted my fan settings. I can't recall the exact settings but the first fan was set to come on at 179. There's no way the car knows what stat I put in there. Except by the stat operation. The stat opens at approx 160 and closes below that in theory. So assuming its open at 160 it has to be cooling system efficiency that maintains it at 170 and just below. I am running water wetter but with the 180 stat I only saw a 1 degree drop. These are dic numbers. Btw I know I'm running cooler than I'd like. I'd rather be in the 180 -185 range. Which some also argue is too low.

Why am I explaining this to you? You know more about these cars than I do. I assume you don't believe my temps? I'd be happy to jump on I95 and record a 10-15 minute video showing outside temp in the high 80's and my speed and op temps. I can do it cold or already at op temp to keep it honest.

 

I believe your temps



Not trying to bust your chops, sorry if it came off that way.

The T-Stat is open when it opens. After it opens, it does nothing to
regulate the temp. when operating above its open position.
When it opens it allows flow from the block to the
radiator. As stated above, if you have a 160 or 180, at 185, both are fully
open. Only difference being that one opened earlier...

I can tell you that the waterwetter makes a big difference. Especially if
you are 50/50 or more water.


and

in all fairness, there are many tuners that believe that a lower
T-Stat helps, I just can't understand why...


Peace
Chip

 

AND.. the size of the opening!

 

Sounds to me like you might be a prospect for SacCityCorvette's Cool It!! Gets hot here and I noticed my temps going up when idling thru Christmas light displays last December. So I figured I'd get this and resolve the problem before it gets really hot outside. This is a top notch product and is VERY easy to install. SacCityCorvette is a sponsor here on the forum and has numerous good reviews, including mine. Highly recommended! Link here:
http://www.saccitycorvette.com/COOLITv2.html

Cheers !!!

 

do all the preliminary stuff like checking the airflow on the radiator, blowing the fins out and all that stuff. then when it's still the same, go get a replacement stat(stock is fine). they like to close slowly. eventually it will stay shut. 20$ and 20minutes of your time.

 

No problem. Words on a screen hard to judge the tone.

A couple other things. The way the stat works is holding coolant back. The stat opens and closes, as well as partially opens. If you completely removed the stat you overheat. It takes time for the heat transfer to occur. Move the coolant too fast it doesn't let the heat from the block and heads to transfer into the coolant to go to the radiator to transfer the heat to the atmosphere. Then the cooler coolant goes back to go absorb more heat. And so on..

The part I don't understand is why the car runs about 10° over the thermostat rating. I tend to think it would run closer to the rating. After running the stock 195°, a hypertech 180°, and now the Duralast 160° my experience shows about 10° over with all three. Next up is the 170° and I expect temps at 180°. Btw living in Florida the ac runs year round and I bet the fans do what the ac tells them to regardless of what I set them to. That might explain why I didn't see anything adverse by not reprogramming the fans when I changed to the lower stat.

The reason why the tuners want a lower temp stat is it allows them to advance timing and mixtures to more aggressive settings. That causes detonation. (Or predetonation) Pretty much your engine will start lighting the air/fuel mixture from compression and heat before the ignition system can fire. Like a diesel. You'll melt piston tops and other unnice things. So by running the car cooler you can get more aggressive with your tune.

I'm far from an expert but that's pretty much the way it's been explained to me.

 

CHIP why do some tuners require 160 DEGREE thermostat?I wouldn't ask this on the OPs thread but I thought it to be somewhat relevant to the thread.