My engine went HOT! After a small burnout?

[Tobben]

I did my second burnout today with my stock 94 Lt1 automatic. After the burnout, which lastet just a couple of seconds, i notice the car became powerless. I then looked at the temperature gauge, the engine were near boiling point :ugh. I parked the car and opened the hood, i could hear noise from the cooling hose's. I had the car running, and the fan was cooling down the engine.
This happened the first time as well, but then i didn't notice the temperature gauge.
This isn't normal is it? During normal speed the temperature is around 205 farenheit degree's.

 

[Paul Higg]

Boiling temp!? Heck, here in Georgia in August, just driving around town mine gets up to 224 sometimes. But then the fans kick in. After a mile or so at 45 mph it'll go back down to 185-190.

As for power loss, that is odd. Any codes?

 

[Tobben]

The temperature went up to 255 degree's. I could hear boiling water noise from the the engine room. This was after a few second burnout. Perhaps i should change the thermostat, as it's not original. It's fine during normal driving speed though. And high speed acceleration.
I figure it lose power because of the heat. It felt effort less. No codes.

 

[Paul Higg]

The engine room. That's a good one.

255, that's pretty high. I dunno, maybe Junk could chime in?

 

[air1jpg]

you may want to check to see if you have any debrie between your radiator and condensor. The debrie will block the air and reduce the radiators capacity to cool the radiator fluid.

 

[Tobben]

Thanks for the tip
I'll order a new thermostat as well. Actually, i have only had bad experience with unoriginal thermostat's. But the vette has been running just fine until the burnout's. So i did just wonder if the vette used to get hot during high rev's. It shouldn't though. So i'll do some troubleshooting ;squint:.

 

[killain]

Thanks for the tip
I'll order a new thermostat as well. Actually, i have only had bad experience with unoriginal thermostat's. But the vette has been running just fine until the burnout's. So i did just wonder if the vette used to get hot during high rev's. It shouldn't though. So i'll do some troubleshooting ;squint:.

OK, Look. Do you have an 'Owners Manual' and can you read it? If so it has a section all about how hot the engine should get and what it all means. If for some reason your car/engine gets overheated , then as others here have mentioned, clean out the radiator, pressure check the cooling system and perhaps install a 160 degree thermostat. The engine should warm up to 215 degrees when fully warmed up, but if your going to continue to beat the crap out of the car I'd be prepared for a lot of troubles down the road !

 

[air1jpg]

OK, Look. Do you have an 'Owners Manual' and can you read it? If so it has a section all about how hot the engine should get and what it all means. If for some reason your car/engine gets overheated , then as others here have mentioned, clean out the radiator, pressure check the coling system and perhaps install a 160 degree thermostat. The engine should warm up to 215 degrees when fully warmed up, but if your going to continue to beat the crap out of the car I'd be prepared for a lot of troubles down the road !

Wow dude, that is pretty harsh, the guy is just asking for help. It is possible his car didn't come with a owners manual, mine didn't. Also, the factory spec thermostat for a LT1 engine is a 180 degree thermostat, not a 160. And yes, it does matter, the LT1 engine is designed to run hot.

To the OP, since you wrote that your car seems to run ok when you are moving, you should check to see if both of your cooling fans are working. When you engine warms up to about 227 degrees, the first fan should kick on. At about 233-236 degrees, the second fan should kick on. You could also turn on the defroster or the A/C to force at least one of the fans to kick on. You should never allow your engine to get to 260 or higher. I believe 260 is the limit without damaging the engine.

 

[Tobben]

Do you have an 'Owners Manual' and can you read it?
-No i don't have an owner's manual beacause it didn't come with the car.
I've been told that my car has been imported from Japan in 1996. So the text in the owner's manual would probably been on japanese.

I haven't been bother to buy one though, not sure how much useful information there is in it. My vette is in really bad condition. So every month i buy part's to the vette, to restore it to it's former self. I only prior replacement part's for the time being.

Earlier this year, when my engine didn't work on all of the sylinder's. I turned the A/C off when i was troubleshhoting the engine. This turned the fan off. After a while i started to sweat. I checked the temperature gauge and the temperature was around 255 degree's! I turned the A/C on and one of the fan's started. This cooled the engine down then. But the hood was open.
I have actually forgoten this, no i've have something to go after.
Thanks for your post air1jpg . You made me remember that time.

 

[John Robinson]

Two things to look at

1 Since you say you got it to 255 degrees without the fans running I would check and see if you have a blown head gasket. One quick check for that is to pull the dip stick or remove the oil filler cap and look for a white foamy substance in the oil or top of the engine.

2. You also say this car is a basket case. Do you know if the radiator has antifreeze in it or just plain water? Plain water will boil faster than a 50 50 mix of water and antifreeze.

As for the lose of power after the burn out I would think it may be related to the overheating problem.

 

[toptechx6]

Do you have an 'Owners Manual' and can you read it?
-No i don't have an owner's manual beacause i didn't come with the car.
I've been told that my car has been imported from Japan in 1996. So the text in the owner's manual would probably been on japanese.

I haven't been bother to buy one though, not sure how much useful information there is in it. My vette is in really bad condition. So every month i buy part's to the vette, to restore it to it's former self. I have only prior replacement part's for the time being.

Earlier this year, when my engine didn't work on all of the sylinder's. I turned the A/C off when i was troubleshhoting the engine. This turned the fan off. After a while i started to sweat. I checked the temperature gauge and the temperature was around 255 degree's! I turned the A/C on and one of the fan's started. This cooled the engine down then. But the hood was open.
I have actually forgoten this, no i've have something to go after.
Thanks for your post air1jpg . You made me remember that time.

Here is a link to an on-line copy of the owners manual in English, PDF format.

http://www.gmpartshouse.com/downloads/manuals/corvette/1996corvette.pdf

 

[Tobben]

1 Since you say you got it to 255 degrees without the fans running I would check and see if you have a blown head gasket. One quick check for that is to pull the dip stick or remove the oil filler cap and look for a white foamy substance in the oil or top of the engine.

2. You also say this car is a basket case. Do you know if the radiator has antifreeze in it or just plain water? Plain water will boil faster than a 50 50 mix of water and antifreeze.

As for the lose of power after the burn out I would think it may be related to the overheating problem.

The head gasket's aren't blown. I reasently changed the oil, i then checked for water. And there are no changes in the coolant fluid level.

And when i changed the optispark cap and rotor early this year, i filled 50/50 coolant fluid after i was done. And i used the air screws on the coolant hose's to get all of the air out.

I'll check the fan's and see if they kick in this weekend. When i have time to troubleshoot. It really isn't a problem yet, as i don't use it much. I don't have habbit's to do burnout's neither :eyerole

 

[Tobben]

Here is a link to an on-line copy of the owners manual in English, PDF format.

http://www.gmpartshouse.com/downloads/manuals/corvette/1996corvette.pdf

Thank you that's kind of you

 

[LVMYVT76]

maybe your coolant level is low, since you have done some work on the engine.

 

[bucket]

I AGREE...A LEAKY HEAD GASKIT WOULD PRODUCE THESE SYMPTOMS...
DO A CHEMICAL TEST AND ALSO A RADIATOR PRESSURE TEST..
IT SEEMS TO BE A COMMON OCCURENCE IN EARLY LT1'S

 

[bucket]

PS..
IT'S A CORVETTE
THEY ARE DESIGNED TO BE DRIVEN...PERIOD..
BURNING RUBBER IS NOT BEATING THE CRAP OUT IT..
IF YOU THINK THAT IT IS..THEN..


YOUR OLD....LOL

 

[John Robinson]

The missed peice of the puzzle

Since you posted about the car getting hot I started to pay attention to mine and discovered it was going to 230 at stop lights or in very slow traffic.

Next I realized I had been adding water to the radiator but not the overflow tank because it was not siphoning back from the overflow tank. The strange part of this was it would sometimes and then not. Today I had the pressure cap tested and sometimes it held pressure and sometimes it did not. I just got back from driving the car to get it up to full operating temperature after putting a new pressure cap on it. With outside temperatures above 85F the temperature settled at 204 on the road and 208 in slow traffic. When I got back home I sat and let it idle as if I were at a stop light and after 4min. the temperature was up to 213 well below the 228 were the extra fans kick in.