Stupid cooling ???

[77crewcab]

I know I should know this but what is the proper operating temp of our trucks. Mine keeps riding at 210 with the a/c on. And yesterday pulling my camper for the first time it was overheating with the a/c so I had to go with heater on and windows down to keep it at 210 at highway speeds, slower and it would go up. It has a new t-stat, questionable radiator, water pump, and clutch. I have a good 3 core to put in. But before I put money in for the water pump etc I was just wondering what the right temp is supposed to be.

 

[vortec]

for most gm trucks i've seen, from the 70s-present, 210 seems to be the top end of safe temp. neither of mine has ever run that hot, though.

 

[Bent77]

running 210 won't hurt it. some factory elec fans don't kick on until 225

 

[roadnotca]

Put in 180* stat and 4-core rad.

 

[dyeager535]

Throw in the other radiator.

If the one in it is questionable, try the known good one first, change nothing else. I'd recommend running it on straight water first, in case you do need to replace the water pump, etc. If it works out, get the min. amount of antifreeze in it required in your area (per the bottle) and have at it.

Lower temp thermostats are band-aids for poor cooling systems, and don't solve any problems unfortunately.

 

[roadnotca]

Throw in the other radiator.

If the one in it is questionable, try the known good one first, change nothing else. I'd recommend running it on straight water first, in case you do need to replace the water pump, etc. If it works out, get the min. amount of antifreeze in it required in your area (per the bottle) and have at it.

Lower temp thermostats are band-aids for poor cooling systems, and don't solve any problems unfortunately.

195* stats were spec'd with the advent of EGR, and all the SMOG stuff that followed. Nothing wrong with a 180* stat on a carb'd engine, even with EGR and AIR.

 

[77crewcab]

Well been messing with it all day, changed the radiator first, and then the belt on the water pump. Finally realized that the fan was barely turning. The clutch is out. Now when going to the autozone.com website they have several options including one for 3.42 gears which I have currently and then one for 3.73 and one that just says HD. Which should I get??

http://www.autozone.com/N,16300118//shopping/partTypeResultSet.htm

 

[dyeager535]

195* stats were spec'd with the advent of EGR, and all the SMOG stuff that followed. Nothing wrong with a 180* stat on a carb'd engine, even with EGR and AIR.

Not saying anything about whether it's ok or not, if THIS engine can't maintain 195*, it can't maintain 160* either, regardless of the thermostat. Somethings wrong with the cooling system.

 

[big dan]

man I get uncomfortable when my truck hits 190. never goes over but Ive had plenty of problems with blown head gaskets and cracked heads so I get a little nervous. then I look and see most of them came factory with 195 stats.

as far as the clutch goes I say grab the hd fan if you're looking for better cooling. dont for sure know the difference between the 3.42 gear clutch and the 3.73 gear clutch. I think that the clutch is stiffer with the lower gears and I know the hd version is a little stiffer.

you should be fine with the 3.42 gear clutch but the hd version wont slip as much and therefore your fan would be spinning closer to the speed of the engine. It may rob a little more power though.

 

[dyeager535]

TPI Camaros/Firebirds used a secondary fan switch at 240*, and the primary was set to come on at 220*.

I have a feeling that compared to Vortecs, the L98 heads (for instance) are less prone to cracking, so the variation in temp wasn't that big of a deal. Me, I've got Vortecs, think my ECM fan setting is on at 212, off at 200*.

 

[77crewcab]

wound up getting this one. We will see how it does. It was the only one they had instock tonight.

http://www.autozone.com/R,APP236645/vehicleId,1129301/initialAction,partProductDetail/store,3066/partType,00118/shopping/partProductDetail.htm

 

[Blue85]

Lower temp thermostats are band-aids for poor cooling systems, and don't solve any cooling problems unfortunately.

I agree that an engine already running above the T-stat temp will probably not run any cooler with a lower temp 'stat. Something else is the limiting factor. But thermostats do need replacement from time to time.

Lower operating temps can allow more spark advance without pinging, so it can solve that problem.

 

[miniwally]

man I get uncomfortable when my truck hits 190. never goes over but Ive had plenty of problems with blown head gaskets and cracked heads so I get a little nervous. then I look and see most of them came factory with 195 stats.

as far as the clutch goes I say grab the hd fan if you're looking for better cooling. dont for sure know the difference between the 3.42 gear clutch and the 3.73 gear clutch. I think that the clutch is stiffer with the lower gears and I know the hd version is a little stiffer.

you should be fine with the 3.42 gear clutch but the hd version wont slip as much and therefore your fan would be spinning closer to the speed of the engine. It may rob a little more power though.

Wait till you see 270 on the gauge. That gets interesting at 1:00 am in the middle of nowhere on a wheeling trip.


I was fighting a cooling issue in my buggy. Mine is based partly on a radiator that is to small. I went to a higher CFM electric fan setup and due to space limitations a short style AL higher flow water pump.
This cleared up my problems as long as the air temps are lower that 90 or so. Since I live in CO that works for me.

Cooling is based on how fast you can move water through the radiator and the size of the radiator. If you have parts that are questionable I would start systimatically changing things to either better or known good. Don't just replace everything and then say yep it's fixed. You will just throw $$ away by replacing parts that didn't need replacing.

BTW I am a fan of higher flow water pumps so that is one thing I would look at if it were me.