Overheating AGAIN!!

So I have to commute to work in my personal vehicle again and on my maiden voyage to work, I overheated and had to leave my car in a parking lot. Most of you will recall I recently replaced my T-stat (and sheared a bolt off in the process). That was maybe a month and a few hundred miles ago......

The radiator is holding pressure and the overflow tank, no leaks visible. So either the new t-stat is bad or the waterpump. Guess I'll wait til it cools pop the cap and see if the pump is working.....grrrrr.

Worst part is I'm supposed to go to Miami and look at a wagon tonight, grrrrr.

Sounds like a bad thermostat to me!
Jim

yeah right? but it's a brand new AC/Delco about a month old.....
Probably just take the damn thing out, it's Florida afterall, don't really need it.

Morning John,you havent noticed any changes in the engine?You didnt see any junk in the water
or antifreeze did you?
Jim

You'll get better mileage with the thermostat. Lower emissions, too (not that it matters in FL, of course).

Maybe it still has air in it?

You can check the thermostat easily in a pan of water on the stove.

went a picked it up and drove the last 1.5 miles to the office. temp went from cool to 250 in about a mile. then it dropped to 220 or so and crept back up. think it's not opening all the way or I have a blockage.....or something.

I hope it's a quick fix, I got a sub 1K wagon to go look at tonight.

sounds like a faulty T-stat. Better take it out for now.
Pete

Sprocket wrote:

yeah right? but it's a brand new AC/Delco about a month old.....
Probably just take the damn thing out, it's Florida afterall, don't really need it.

WRONG!! Running without a thermostat is a BAD Idea. A thermostat is used to slow down water/coolant as it travels through the radiator.Without having one installed the water/coolant is not slowed down enough to be properly cooled as it travels through the system resulting in hotter temps, and over heating

I got one of those failsafe t-stats when I got fed up with getting crappy ones from Advance. It was like $13 but worked.

Few extra bucks saves a load of hassle.

I had this prob when I first bought the OCC. Finally figured out it was the rad. Took it out and when I touched the fins...they crumbled to dust. New alum rad from AZone fixed the issue for me.

Stingroo wrote:

I got one of those failsafe t-stats when I got fed up with getting crappy ones from Advance. It was like $13 but worked.

Few extra bucks saves a load of hassle.

I order one at Autozone and put it in last week. Good insurance.

jayoldschool wrote:

You'll get better mileage with the thermostat. Lower emissions, too (not that it matters in FL, of course).

Maybe it still has air in it?

You can check the thermostat easily in a pan of water on the stove.

Why would a cooler running engine decrease gas mileage? I put a 160 stat in my 92 l03 and got 26 on the hwy???

1phastsswagon wrote:

Sprocket wrote:

yeah right? but it's a brand new AC/Delco about a month old.....
Probably just take the damn thing out, it's Florida afterall, don't really need it.

WRONG!! Running without a thermostat is a BAD Idea. A thermostat is used to slow down water/coolant as it travels through the radiator.Without having one installed the water/coolant is not slowed down enough to be properly cooled as it travels through the system resulting in hotter temps, and over heating

I dunno I ran my 70 Blazer for 3 years without and it was NEVER and issue

Then that blazer had a huge rad in it (3 or 4 row) where it took some time for the coolant to run through it.


You NEVER run with out a tstat theses days with as puny a radiator vehicles have in them

for a pressurized system it sure blew out alot of water through the overflow bottle.

Just topped it off at the office, it about a gallon of water! Water pump is running fine, so it's either the brand new Delco t-stat or I got a blockage somewhere.

I will be removing the t-stat this eve and see how she runs for a couple of days....with my eye on the temp gauge

1phastsswagon wrote:

Then that blazer had a huge rad in it (3 or 4 row) where it took some time for the coolant to run through it.


You NEVER run with out a tstat theses days with as puny a radiator vehicles have in them

possibly, it was over 20 years ago....we are going to find out anyway.

Pull out the block plugs, put a hose in the top of the coolant bottle and run the motor. Should help to flush it out.

The rad can still hold pressure and still be bad/blocked...did you check it? Is it the old stock unit? Mine looked fine until I took it out...

Well it ran fine on the way home (35-40mph for 5 miles with some lights - suburban driving)


Temp went up to 190 and the tstat opened and it dropped back to about 180 which is normal.... got home popped hood, no visible leaks, unless I have a pinhole and it's not dripping and over time it goes down to nothing.

After the bad stat, I did find one very small 'pisser' leak in the 1991 only auto climate control metal pipes (since cut completely out of the loop ....no heat or temp control on the AC now), I may have another hard to find one.... Well driving it 5-=60 miles tonight should be a good test ha ha ha.

Just going to bring two gallon jugs of water with me

Always the optimist and there is something wrong somewhere.Your trip will show whats wrong.
Now tell us about this wagon!
Jim

half hour after I'm home and it got up to full temp. No wet spots anywhere??? Weird.

wagon has been in accident but it's white and I have a whole white front clip from the 9c1 I parted.....Girl didn't call me back might be gone already...we shall see.

Actually, Nick found it and threw me the bone, lol.

wet spots,. throwing the bone,.what kinda thread is this anyway???

Nick

Well I drove the car about 75-80 miles last night.

It was fine in rush hour on I-95 stop and go for 25 miles (suuuuuucccccckkkkkkedd).
went to dinner and fine after that. drove 10 miles parked and walked around the Hollywood Broadwalk for an hour (Canadian Watching).

When I got in and started the driving the temp climbed quickly to 240+, I was getting worried, then dropped back to 200 and within 5 minutes was down to 180.
T-stat is coming out after work today.

Never got a call back on the wagon, figure it's gone, but will try again this afternoon....

I love the Hollywood Boardwalk. Great little restaurant called Las Brisas.

Please note that the fat, Speedo-wearing Quebecers that you see do not accurately represent the rest of Canada

Have you ever seen the movie that was shot there? It was a Quebec/Florida co-production. Called La Florida. Very funny.

Is the car really getting hot or is the sending unit/gauge going haywire?

I just replaced the original water pump on my OCC this past weekend because it began leaking from the weep holes. A few times prior to replacement the coolant got low enough to trigger the 'Low Coolant' warning and it still never tried to get hot.

Olds Weighty Eight wrote:

Is the car really getting hot or is the sending unit/gauge going haywire?

For the record, that sensor is TS263 and is on the side of the block. Some auto part stores have an incorrect part number for the gauge sensor. Autozone is one of them.

Cadet57 wrote:

Olds Weighty Eight wrote:

Is the car really getting hot or is the sending unit/gauge going haywire?

For the record, that sensor is TS263 and is on the side of the block. Some auto part stores have an incorrect part number for the gauge sensor. Autozone is one of them.

Dont you know it - They have the temp stuff listed under Temp Switch & or Temp Sensor.

1phastsswagon wrote:

Cadet57 wrote:

Olds Weighty Eight wrote:

Is the car really getting hot or is the sending unit/gauge going haywire?

For the record, that sensor is TS263 and is on the side of the block. Some auto part stores have an incorrect part number for the gauge sensor. Autozone is one of them.

Dont you know it - They have the temp stuff listed under Temp Switch & or Temp Sensor.

Bingo. For about a year I kept buying a returning the sensors as defective until I finally got my FSM, found the two different sensors and found the correct part number. And that TS263 is valid for ALL TBI cars.

I went through the same thing. I replaced the thermostat, that helped a little but still went up and down. Replaced the radiator and it would go longer before it started doing the same thing. I bypassed the heater core and it stopped. I purchased a new heater core and replaced the old one and it started doing it again. The o-rings on one of the quick connects was eaten up really bad. I replaced those and it was running great for about 2 weeks. Now I have a leak from the intake gasket and the drivers side. Replacing it this weekend. Maybe one of the problems I experienced is what you are having. Hope this helps.

Wow thats a lot of problems all at once.Good thing is the isnt too much left to replace.Welcome
to the group and what year is your wagon?Best place to be when you need help with a wagon
problem.
Jim

Thanks for welcoming me. I love this forum and have only been on it a couple of days. I have a 93 Roadmaster Estate Wagon and I love it. This is my 5th wagon. All of the problems occured over about 3-4 months. It just seemed like every time I would get something fixed something else would break. I hope to give and get help here. Thanks again.

Daniel
93 RMW
93 Caprice Wagon

9196RMWNUT wrote:

I went through the same thing. I replaced the thermostat, that helped a little but still went up and down. Replaced the radiator and it would go longer before it started doing the same thing. I bypassed the heater core and it stopped. I purchased a new heater core and replaced the old one and it started doing it again. The o-rings on one of the quick connects was eaten up really bad. I replaced those and it was running great for about 2 weeks. Now I have a leak from the intake gasket and the drivers side. Replacing it this weekend. Maybe one of the problems I experienced is what you are having. Hope this helps.

Not the heater core, I cut that out of the system a month ago when the old T-stat failed and caused a small leak up there.

Water pump is pushing just fine as well. I haven't worked on it yet (only 5 mile drive to work so it just about gets to where the t-stat opens two blocks from my house) as I've been busy all week.
Although in the AM I drive about 10 miles and it's been fine the last 2 mornings...l.

It definitely got hot, cuz it boiled a gallon out and the overflow overflowed all over the pass side fender well.
It has no leaks in the system. I'm guess it's a crappy t-stat.

Should have bought the fail -safe like Nick suggested last time, but that week the extra 10 bucks woulda hurt, now it'll sting a little more....

I had to fix my heater core because it was 27 degrees here this morning and I have a long commute. You must be in a semi warm climate, at least!!

My water pump seems to be ok right now....I guess it's waiting for me to fix the intake gaskets before it dies!! Be grateful it's the thermostat because that's a 10 minute fix tops!!!

Well keep an eye on the intake gaskets. That seems to be a common thing on these babies once they reach a certain point. Good luck.

9196RMWNUT wrote:

You must be in a semi warm climate, at least!!

Well Monday night at 7PM I was working on the car in shorts with no shirt or shoes.....

I was outta town over the weekend, so it sat, but after 4 days of driving around praying the t-stat would open (it always did around 230!), I fixed it.

I went to buy a failsafe and Advance didn't have one, so I pulled the old one out, took out the dremel and cut the spring and pulled the plunger out and put it back in. That's fail safe! I figured I still have the flow restriction to slow the flow.

Car runs great and at full temp it now runs about 150 in low 70 degree weather. I'll take it!

My NEW fail safe is supposed to run at 180* and does on surface roads or when left idleing. On the highway it runs at 140*. This tells me IT IS NOT WORKING RIGHT!!!!! It is letting fluid buy all the time. We will see if they stand behind their $21 thermostat!!!

I've never had good luck with "fail safe" t-stats, they all seem to go into fail safe mode for good with in a few months, or even weeks of installation.

Mike

that's why I made my own, hee hee hee

For me in FL I don't really need one anyway, I'm sure I'd run even cooler if I put the proper coolant percentage back in (I'm probably 80% water at this point).

Be careful running low temps, the system may not go into closed loop if the coolant temperature is not high enough.

drill a 3/8ths hole thru the stat next time,.that helps,. also lets bubbles by if you do have a head gasket just starting to leak,.big diesels have a small rubber line coming off the front of the head by the t-stat usually,. and it's to bleed off steam bubbles from really hard pulling or cavitation bubbles from sonic vibrations on the cylinder liners,..


nick

I got off the phone with Fail Safe (Motorad) out of Niagra Falls, NY earlier. What a bunch of idiots. They had 100 questions about why, how, when trying VERY hard to find a reason not to replace the unit and to blame my car for their failure. I told them either replace it I will do so with another vendor and NEVER use there product again. They are sending me a new one. If it fails I will return it to AutoZone. It supposedly had a lifetime warranty on it.

Fred Kiehl wrote:

Be careful running low temps, the system may not go into closed loop if the coolant temperature is not high enough.

i did some poking around thirdgen.org and I saw anything over 105 F on the coolant temp should kick it closed....

Sprocket it that for an LT1?

it's an L03 and I think Fred called it with it staying in open loop. Seems to be really thirsty, but I need to fill up and verify mileage.....160 tstat here I come.

With my 160 tstat the car stays about 1/4 on the temp gauge at all times. I might get a 180 just to get it warmer. I feel like it's thirstier than normal....

You also do not get the oil up to temp, and the water is not cooked out. This results in poor viscosity, short oil life, and therfore short engine life.

Stingroo wrote:

With my 160 tstat the car stays about 1/4 on the temp gauge at all times. I might get a 180 just to get it warmer. I feel like it's thirstier than normal....

that's just your right foot. I've been running a 160 in RUby for 30K and the fuel economy is the same as it was/is in the other two L03s.
Yes, on the Caprice it stays on 1/4 at 160.

I did notice on the 160 I bought today it has a check valve on the plunger....interesting. It's about 1/8 diameter hole which will be pressed closed by the flow direction.

Wow, that is crazy cold for a Gen 1 small block.

Yea I want mine running at 180 all the time.Oil gets black quick due to contaminents not being
able to get hot enough otherwise.Inside of engine gets that really black coating too.
Jim

My right foot, you say?

No... no.... Not me, never.

Sprocket wrote:

Stingroo wrote:

With my 160 tstat the car stays about 1/4 on the temp gauge at all times. I might get a 180 just to get it warmer. I feel like it's thirstier than normal....

that's just your right foot. I've been running a 160 in RUby for 30K and the fuel economy is the same as it was/is in the other two L03s.
Yes, on the Caprice it stays on 1/4 at 160.

I did notice on the 160 I bought today it has a check valve on the plunger....interesting. It's about 1/8 diameter hole which will be pressed closed by the flow direction.

Is that an air bleeder valve?
If it is one it allows trapped air in the block to pass through the thermostat and be released from the system.
The old school method was to drill about an 1/8" hole in the outer edge of the thermostat, I still do.