engine temp

[fatboy]

hey all,
Its been a while I see I am blue will have to fix that soon.

Here is the story,
I start the sub in the morning and take off to work about a mile down the road the coolant temp gauge goes up over 210 and hangs out for a few and then drops to a normal range of 180 and stays there. I have electric fans with a temp probe in the radiator and they dont come on. So I thought I would change the gauge temp probe down on the head by the headers. Now it is worse. It stays around 240 on the gauge. so I place a little thermomitor in the radiator at the cap and the temp stays between 180 to 190 like it should. any ideas. a bad gauge maybe all of a sudden? a bad ground wire? is what i will look at next. but where to start. Any help will be well lets say,,,,,,,,,, helpfull /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif lol /forums/images/graemlins/burb.gif thanks

 

[k20]

t-stat gettin sticky maybe? I have heard of a test for the gauge, take the little wire off it, (with truck runnin) and the gauge should fall to nothing. Then ground it out on the block, and the gauge should spike all the way to hot. I believe that is the test for the gauge.

If your electric fans arent coming on, I would check the wiring to them, check fuse, and then replace the temp probe for them.

 

[sickquad]

First thing to check in a cooling problem is always the thermostat.

But this sounds like the sender isn't grounding out properly.

 

[fatboy]

the sender needs to be grounded? because i wraped the hell out of it with teflon tape!

I put a new thermostat in it along with the upper radiator hose because it would colapse when i throtled it.

when running I take the cap off and the water level seems to rise and spill out the fill tube in waves about 3 times and then levels out. not sure if that is normal or not? /forums/images/graemlins/burb.gif

 

[k20]

can you see bubbles etc circulating around, and if you rev it up w/ the cap off, does it push more out? Sounds like you may have a blown headgasket. Check your oil, and see if you have any residue (like on bottom of oil cap, or on dipstick tube)from water. Should be kinda milky lookin, screwed up chocolate milk. Also look at your water to see if any oil droplets in it.

The water surging over doesnt sound good, and like I said, sounds like a blown headgasket letting exhaust gasses into the water.

 

[sickquad]

I think that is how the senders work. When you screw them in they ground themselves. They work off of resistance maybe.

You shouldn't need teflon, they are pipe threads. I didn't use teflon on any of my senders and no leaks on my tranny temp, oil pressure or water temp.

Is this an aftermarket gauge and sender? Maybe you could check the manufacturers website for a tech line or FAQ section.

-Chris

 

[fatboy]

Ok i do see bubbles but nothing of oil droplets in water and I have just changed the oil and there wasnt any water in it. ummm btw please dont say head gasket /forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif lmao /forums/images/graemlins/shame.gif will go and check it all over. thanks for the repleys /forums/images/graemlins/burb.gif

 

[k20]

ok, heres from the gm manual.

"To check for exhaust leaks into the cooling system, drain the system until the coolant level stands jst above the top of the cylinder heads, then disconnect the radiator upper hose and remove the thermostat and fan belts. Start the engine and accelerate several time. At the same time not any appreciable coolant rise or the appearance of bubbles which may indicate that exhaust gases are leaking into the cooling system.

Notice: A worn head gasket may allow exhaust gases to leak into the cooling system. This can damage the cooling system as the gases combine with the water to form acids which are harmful to the radiator and engine."

 

[fatboy]

WOW /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
thanks will have to check that tomarrow /forums/images/graemlins/burb.gif

 

[shawndzugas]

As far as your radiator bubbling over, are you sure you don't have a blocked radiator or bad anti-freeze/water mix?

 

[fatboy]

havent had time to look at it in depth yet but that will be something else to look at, thanks /forums/images/graemlins/thinking.gif