Running HOT in vegas

W

WarlockNV

Registered User
Possibly someone out there has another idea or can help me with this situation. My 1990 sc is burning up out here in the desert heat. It's running above 205 on average. Here is what I have done to help control the cooling problem so far, and nothing has helpped yet.

First I yanked out the t-stat so it would flow non stop. I also flushed the entire system.
Installed a LARGE tranny oil cooler inline, and a small pusher type electric fan in front of condensor.
Changed out the water pump (it was still flowing fine, but it was the stock pump... self defence kind of thing)
Bought a new radiator and installed this past Friday still no help. Brand spankin new from silla 2 row copper core.
I also changed out the stock water temp sensor thinking it to be deffective, the new electronic sunpro still reads 210.

I took compressed air and blew out the stock A/C condensor thinking it might have some road gunk impeading the flow, to no avail.....
Anyone else have any ideas that might help?

by the way, I have checked for a blown head gasket to..... everything is fine there.
 
These cars ordinarily run pretty warm,the fans don't normally come on till temp is around 220*[scary huh].....you can get a chip burned to turn the fans on sooner or you can add a "cool fan" switch...do a search and you'll find threads on this mod......also add some Water Wetter to your rad...it actually does help.
z
 
since you don't ever have winter temps below freezing, you are safe to replace your coolant with pure <B>distilled</B> water. (don't use tap water or you will build up all kinds of scale). That's worth another few degrees. Also, to back up z90sc, water wetter is amazing stuff...
 
i just had the same prob here in albuquerque due to the hotness. i flushed the radiator and put some water wetter in it. the water wetter makes a big difference. it runs way cooler now. i also put a 195 degree t-stat in which i think is what it is stock.
 
Hey WarlockNV,

That's pretty much where it runs at, Here in this heat.. I was a little
nervious when we first moved here and noticed the higher running temp.
But that was 5 years ago and no problems to date.. And we live in an
area about 20degs. hotter than Vegas.. Fort Mohave, AZ.

Stock 90 SC 35th Anniversary
110,000+ miles
 
raideron said:
Hey WarlockNV,

That's pretty much where it runs at, Here in this heat.. I was a little
nervious when we first moved here and noticed the higher running temp.
But that was 5 years ago and no problems to date.. And we live in an
area about 20degs. hotter than Vegas.. Fort Mohave, AZ.

Stock 90 SC 35th Anniversary
110,000+ miles
Click to expand...

Thanks for all of your suggestions! I guess I should have told you guys that I have allready put water wetter in it (bottle of wixcool), and I always use distilled water only. I have my fans wired into the ignition so that it runs whenever the car is turnd on, and have a thermo sensor on the upper radiator outlet that kicks the high speed fan on at 190. 210 and above just seems really hot, and in the desert heat we need our A/C on at all times!
 
Just another thought. Is the front air dam still in place? This is important for directing more air flow through the rad. Some people here have actually installed larger air dams to deflect even more air through the rad. I also recall someone meantioning that they removed the rubber seal between the hood and the plastic molding at the rear of the engine bay, (where the wiper blades are), in order for more air to flow through with less impediment. :)
 
Perhaps rubber seal between the hood and the radiator, at the FRONT of the engine bay could be improved?
 
I would be really interested to see what the outcome is regarding this as I am having the exact same issue. I have replaced the gauge, tempeture sensor, sending unit, relay for the old fan, replaced the old fan with a flexcool fan, manual switch for the pusher fan, flushed, water pump, 180 thermostat (back to a 190 as it cooled ever-so-slightly better) and ran water wetter.... Idle with A/C on max and the car runs cool however, still encountering high temps when driving. Particularly when accelerating and running higher 2200 +RPMs.

Funny thing is that this was not a problem last year so there is definitely something new in the mix. I am currently looking into a new location to add an additional temp gauge however I do feel that my internal is fairly close to acurate (that is without the aid of numbers). In any case, I am begining to believe that there may be something electrical or my vehicle has gremlins.
 
You can all try descaling your blocks by running vineagar through the system for a bit... Make sure the engine reaches operating temperature so the thermostat opens. Then flush it with garden hose water a couple of times and hopefull you'll see chunks of crap in the coolant. (they'll get hung up in the rad where you can remove them/rinse them off)

There are 2 types of thermostat
slow open and pop open
slow open thermostats start opening at their rated temperature
pop open thermostats do just that, they pop open at the rated temp. allowing full flow. This can shock an aluminum block if your rad is particularly efficient and the thermostats break (staying open, usually) sooner, but you don't have an aluminum block, so don't worry about it. Mr. Gasket are all the pop open type as far as I know. I have no clue about others, b/c that's all I use.

Slap a 170 and see if it doesn't improve your temps.

A hotter running engine is more miserly on fuel than a cooler, usually.
 
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