Help! the diary of a lemon

[fumesniff]

so, i got a rear-end put in, gota new engine, put in a tranny from an 88... new dash cluster, pulled the bread loaf out and hooked up the insides with some carbon fiber, yanked the cat, finally got the projection lenses working right, pinned on some borla mufflers, screwed on some KYB shocks, wrapped the rims in some sweet shoes, updated the sound system, replaced every interior screw, got some sill protectors and some new carpet, and even put on a new gas door emblem.... all of this i have done so i can drive up to corvette gold in st. charles.... but guess what...

i can't. the fluid temp gets pegged after about one minute of driving. the fan comes on, i replaced the thermostat, the pump works, i burped it for an hour... WTF. how do i get this thing cooled down!! the thermostat seems stuck open... what next ad

 

[KANE]

so, i got a rear-end put in, gota new engine, put in a tranny from an 88... new dash cluster, pulled the bread loaf out and hooked up the insides with some carbon fiber, yanked the cat, finally got the projection lenses working right, pinned on some borla mufflers, screwed on some KYB shocks, wrapped the rims in some sweet shoes, updated the sound system, replaced every interior screw, got some sill protectors and some new carpet, and even put on a new gas door emblem.... all of this i have done so i can drive up to corvette gold in st. charles.... but guess what...

i can't. the fluid temp gets pegged after about one minute of driving. the fan comes on, i replaced the thermostat, the pump works, i burped it for an hour... WTF. how do i get this thing cooled down!! the thermostat seems stuck open... what next ad

You didn't mention the radiator. Perhaps it isn't flowing enough or it is clogged.

 

[fumesniff]

You didn't mention the radiator. Perhaps it isn't flowing enough or it is clogged.

hi Ron, im glad ur on this morning. from the looks of it the radiator it is flowing great. i guess i could have some blockage of some sort to the outlet to the engine. you suggest a flush? i had it flushed when i put the new engine in. am i doing something wrong when i'm burping it?.. i'm just running it with the cap off.

 

[muddywaters]

My 88 was clean when I bought it. But after reading some posts here I decided to look at the radiator, It looked like a vacum cleaner bag, I had to remove the radiator to clean it properly. Yours seems heat up rapidly though, might be internal blockage or a sum total of both. Good Luck

 

[fumesniff]

My 88 was clean when I bought it. But after reading some posts here I decided to look at the radiator, It looked like a vacum cleaner bag, I had to remove the radiator to clean it properly. Yours seems heat up rapidly though, might be internal blockage or a sum total of both. Good Luck

yeah, when the engine was out i cleaned up the radiator fins.. i checked yesterday to make sure there wasn't a dead raccoon or something stuffed in there : )

 

[G Winter]

Ignition timing ? How does it run? Cam timed correctly?
either one can cause temps to go up real fast.
Is it actually getting hot or is it a gauge problem?
If gauge sender was switched with a light sender it would peg the gauge.

Glenn

 

[minifridge1138]

One minute of driving or 1 minute of idling?

 

[fumesniff]

One minute of driving or 1 minute of idling?

that is a very good question. it seems fine at idle. it actually will stay within limits going easy at town speeds for fifteen mins or so. but definitely pegs on the highway. i just went out and turned it on to see if it stays good at idle for ten mins or so.

if it is good at idle.. what is the problem then?

 

[fumesniff]

btw minifridge, your car is awesome

 

[fumesniff]

oookay

One minute of driving or 1 minute of idling?

here's the deal. i let it idle for ten mins and the fluid temp was still L0. then i started cruzn real light thru the neighborhood. stop go stop go.. all around 20-25 mph. it would heat up pretty fast but stay around 200. but as soon as i would drive with a little rpm (17-20) it would heat up real fast and steadily rise until i slowed down again. actually got up to 250-260 degrees just driving how i would normally drive... with a little bit of rpms. but still around 30 mph.

if i were to do a burnout it would peg i'm sure. on the highway it can peg at 299 within a minute.

also worth noting, when i went out to check how it was doing at idle.. it still said L0 but the fan was on. thought the fan didn't come on til 230?

 

[fumesniff]

Ignition timing ? How does it run? Cam timed correctly?
either one can cause temps to go up real fast.
Is it actually getting hot or is it a gauge problem?
If gauge sender was switched with a light sender it would peg the gauge.

Glenn

it seems to run fine. it sounds real good (imho), low rpm steady idle.. as far as the timing and stuff.. i honestly have no idea. i don't know how to tell.

 

[G Winter]

If it don't lack for power you should be able to rule out cam timing. Still could be ignition timing but should be a little doggy if it is retarded far enough to cause heat that fast.

Glenn

 

[fumesniff]

If it don't lack for power you should be able to rule out cam timing. Still could be ignition timing but should be a little doggy if it is retarded far enough to cause heat that fast.

Glenn

thanks g, .. how do i check ignition timing? would it be expensive for a mechanic to do that or just a quick look?

 

[tmkassin]

thanks g, .. how do i check ignition timing? would it be expensive for a mechanic to do that or just a quick look?

Did you consider the sending unit to the gage might be incorrect?

 

[fumesniff]

Did you consider the sending unit to the gage might be incorrect?

i guess the way to check the sending unit would be to manually check the temp somehow. it would be pretty hard to test the liquid temp with a liquid thermometer with the cap off... i suppose one of those laser-lookin' thermometers that you point at stuff is my best bet eh?.. would i just point it at the block? where would i buy one of those things?

 

[tmkassin]

A factory service manual would help here. The sending unit will change resistance as the motor heats up. I will look in mine tomorrow to see if I can help with that.

 

[fumesniff]

A factory service manual would help here. The sending unit will change resistance as the motor heats up. I will look in mine tomorrow to see if I can help with that.

looking forward to seeing what you find out. i dont have the manual... wouldn't understand it if i did have it...

i'm pretty interested in ignition timing now after reading some replies here. my engine went in first, then the tranny,, then i pulled the cat... seems to me like ignition timing is something that should be looked at... not necessarily the cause of my overheating, but wouldn't it help performance since the load and airflow have changed? or is ignition timing just kind of an "it works" or "it don't work" type of thing?

 

[RocketSled]

When the car is HOT (250 or so) carefully squeeze the top hose. If the thermostat's stuck closed that hose will be drum tight and VERY hot. With a properly operating, pressurized system, you should still be able to squeeze that hose.

What is the age and vintage of the radiator? When my 89 was stock (a loooong time ago), the temps would gradually climb to 250, with both fans on and it'd handle that. I removed the radiator, straightened out the worst of the vanes, squirted the front liberally with K&N air filter cleaner soap, and rinsed it out from the back (to push dirt and grease out the front.)

Long story short, the car ran GREAT. I had a hard time getting it up to 225 and I never COULD get it to see 245.

Unfortunately an errant bolt and an engine swap ended that wonderful moment in time.

With a BIGGER radiator and a bigger motor, I had some serious difficulties in heat management where the water temps were good, but stuff underhood was getting seriously cooked. That turned out to be mis-timed base ignition timing (pull the single brown wire next to the brake booster, set the timing with a light, IIRC, my car liked 6 DBTDC) I had accidentally used the wrong marking on the harmonic balancer to time the car, making it run with a base timing of 4 degrees AFTER TDC.

Not knowing what the motor was _supposed_ to sound like, I thought it was running normally. When I saw (and used) the correct timing mark, it was like the motor _relaxed_. It really was a whole new beast with the correct timing.

So: Check for blockage, clean out the Rad, check your timing.

And if it's any consolation, I feel for you. You're not the first guy to throw caution to the wind and have to be your own design, testing, engineering, and fab. Building your own can be pretty cool, but it can suck sometimes too, like when you show up at NAPA and the guy asks "What year and make?"

 

[fumesniff]

**update**

well thanks everyone for your advice.. just dropped it off at a radiator shop to have it pulled and cleaned will let you know how it goes.hnoes

 

[RocketSled]

well thanks everyone for your advice.. just dropped it off at a radiator shop to have it pulled and cleaned will let you know how it goes.hnoes

If it occurs to you, ask 'em what back-flushing means. Does it mean they blow out the INSIDE of the radiator for corrosion, or do they blow out the OUTSIDE of the radiator removing debris picked up from driving on the road.

I've always wondered and never bothered to ask.