dougg01

94 LT1 197,000+

bolts ons, auto, daily driven, hot cam.......

Formerly with cam-driven pump it ran 180 or so with a ht stat unless sitting in traffic with AC during HOT weather.

Cooling system gets regular flushes, burps, etc. It's clean, no bubbles, good compression.

My commute gets the rad and condensor pretty dirty and I normally wash this as best I can once a year or so. It never gets fully clean. I take the rad out for this and leave the condenser in the car for the wash.

Would using air work better...?

Some fins are bent over. Should I get a fin comb and straighten or is this even a factor at this point...?

The electric pump has caused the temps to be a little higher in the past when the AC is on and in traffic during HOT weather.

This year it's worse. 210and a little higher is seen regularly and it takes steady highway cruising to cool it down to 185-190 again.

The other LT1 in our family came with an electric pump and the smaller hose on the driver's-side was blocked off. That car, when it was street driven, never got over 180.

Is it possible that the electric pump circulates the coolant through the rad too fast and when it's HOT outside the heat exchange isn't as effective...? Should I block off this hose as well so the coolant can spend a bit more time in the radiator....?

I know things aren't real bad, but I need to keep this car going a bit longer before I can afford to start the rebuild.

Thanks....

JoeliusZ28

You already have the 160 degree thermo?

SSQATCH

Have you verified both fans are working properly and that the stat is opening when expected??

mrmint69

My air dam was damaged and caused the car to run hot sometimes. The part is easy to check from looking under the car.

96capricemgr

Contrary to what most morons around here will tell you the electrics move LESS water than the mechanical. That is how they manage to free up power. They move more at idle but your finding that by cruise rpm it is already lagging behind the mechanical is normal.

ricehammer

Probably the other way around. I'm running a CSR with a 160 stat and have the same issues when it's really hot out. Not convinced that it's normal .

dougg01

Stat is opening correctly.

Both fans are working normally, though I haven't actually checked RPM.

MY car heats up more at idle than when flying down the road......even with the higher flow the electric provides at or just off-idle.

The air dam is fine.

Others I know of, including our race car which used to be regularly street driven, always ran cool with the electric pump. Even in traffic.

I don't guess the symptoms I'm seeing are 'normal' if everything is working properly, clean, and set up right.

Geezer powered

96capricemgr is 100% correct. Check some posts by the "The_Bishop". He ran into the same problem with my old car. There were other related issues, but the meat of it was the pump.

JoeliusZ28

i agree entirely although it also depends on the flow & draw of the pump you are using. Here is data I collected before choosing to go with a CSR:

I wouldnt recommend switching to electric on a daily driver. I did it because I DONT rely on my car, and because it frees up horsepower and is nice for cool downs at the track.

96capricemgr

People need to understand the electrics are no load rated too, and the SAE data we have on the mechanical is all as restricted in the functional system, and at that it moves 66gpm by about 4800rpms.

Just to be clear I am not saying electrics are bad, what I am saying is that mot of the info passed around about them is bad. They usually are adequate for cooling but are not a cooling performance gain.

96capricemgr

and thanks for the support guys, I usually find that people like to ignore data when they find it disagrees with assumptions they used to make purchases and as such I usually endup being the 1 out of 10 guys in a thread that understands this subject.

JoeliusZ28

its people like you we have been losing too many of around here! I got your back

dougg01

Thanks for the replies. The pump was a gift and the mechanical on the car was heading out so it was meant to be. <90deg w/ AC on it's not a problem.

This is the least capacity pump and the one on the race car is a Mez HD so that by itself could be the difference. I hadn't seen the tested capacities of all the pumps together for comparison purposes. I just don't spend as much time here as I used to.

It will be cheaper for me to either go back mechanical or switch to a Mezeire than to buy a high-dollar radiator (though I'd still like to have one). I'll probably stay electric since I run a non-LT1 timing set. That's why the race car has one too.

Appreciate the time.

BTW. I used air to start cleaning out the junk from the condenser and the radiator and LOTS of junk is coming out. My car really pics up a lot of junk on my commute. Most of the drive is rural. I pick up everything from tobacco leaves to McDonald's wrappers.

JoeliusZ28

I would recommend running a MHD if you need a new pump. Electric water pumps are not unreliable, they just arent the 'best' per say.

All that junk blocking airflow could easily be related to this issue.

For the record I have a CSR and mine will heat up sitting in traffic (until I flip my fan switch). But the stock water pump was the same way, if not worse. I see you have an automatic... I am only assuming here, but I would think that automatics heat up in traffic especially with a stock pump because they idle at a lower RPM and hold a load no matter what.

dougg01

My fans will cool it some if they aren't already on sitting in traffic (AC = fans on at below 40mph per my tuning).

I have a 3,200 stall and it idles around 600rpm. I do not use the factory cooler. I have a LARGE RV cooler in front of the rad and an external filter for the tranny. Tranny temp guage rarely reads over 180 and typically, even with the car at 210, AC on, and sitting in traffic the trans stays at 150ish.

I will probably look to get the Mezeire HD and see if that works better. It should. Unless I get a LTx HD timing set, I will be staying with electric pumps.

This one has over 40K on it now and has no symptoms if weakening. Other stuff....I can't say the same.