Cleaned the front of my radiator the...

[Baldie88]

Bubba way.

I thought I'd see how bad the front of my radiator was so I unbolted the top cover but did not take it totally off. I was able to see between it and the a/c condenser enough to verify that it looked pretty clean. No Walmart bag, etc. So I took my air compressor and blew the radiator out from the back to the front. I then took my shop vac and fashioned a narrow tool out of a paper towel core and was able to vac out what junk was in there between the condenser and radiator. Found a Camel pack and a luggage tag as the biggest items. Lots of leaves but all in the bottom. Really wasn't a bad job and only took about 1 1/2 hours. Not bad for an 88 with 46K miles.

I also decided to go back to the regular temperature sensor. I have been running one that turned on the front fan at 185* but after listening to Gordon Killebrew at Eureka Springs talk about heat not being a problem I'm going to try the stock one again.

I don't know why but on my other cars I see the water temp needle go higher in hot weather and not worry about anything but I freak when I see those digital numbers climb over 210*! I may need some of Remo's meds before it's all overwith!

Ron
"Baldie88"

 

[Toms007]

Bubba way.

I thought I'd see how bad the front of my radiator was so I unbolted the top cover but did not take it totally off. I was able to see between it and the a/c condenser enough to verify that it looked pretty clean. No Walmart bag, etc. So I took my air compressor and blew the radiator out from the back to the front. I then took my shop vac and fashioned a narrow tool out of a paper towel core and was able to vac out what junk was in there between the condenser and radiator. Found a Camel pack and a luggage tag as the biggest items. Lots of leaves but all in the bottom. Really wasn't a bad job and only took about 1 1/2 hours. Not bad for an 88 with 46K miles.

I also decided to go back to the regular temperature sensor. I have been running one that turned on the front fan at 185* but after listening to Gordon Killebrew at Eureka Springs talk about heat not being a problem I'm going to try the stock one again.

I don't know why but on my other cars I see the water temp needle go higher in hot weather and not worry about anything but I freak when I see those digital numbers climb over 210*! I may need some of Remo's meds before it's all overwith!

Ron
"Baldie88"

Ron, I know what you mean....when I see those numbers it makes me freak.

 

[jrzvette]

Ron, I know what you mean....when I see those numbers it makes me freak.

I think GM would have done everyone a favor if they just used an analog gauge with the midpoint set at around 230* (which is roughly midway between the primary and secondary fan triggers) rather than the digital readout. I would bet a good percentage of posts on this and other forums take the form of "My temp is running around 220 degrees. How can I get it to run cooler?"

 

[Toms007]

Ron, I know what you mean....when I see those numbers it makes me freak.

I guess I should have written "made me freak", because now I know it's normal and doesn't bother me any more.