Got a 87 Monte Carlo ss chevy 350 small block first of all I brought the car pretty much how it is 350 with edelbrock torker 2 intake i believe edelbrock 600 carb got hooker headers and I believe thats only performance mods done to it now the motor runs hot not just sometime but everytime i drive the car now when i got it it had no thermostat in it (back in the summer) so i put new one in 195 degree failsafe with the reusuable gasket soon as I installed thermostat car starts running hot and yes its installed correctly and is functional been tested my coolant in radiator was a orange looking color but mostly green so i drained it 3 or 4 times checked it and no water in oil or anything somebody told me i maybe have bad water pump or intake gasket leak but i dont really think its either those im thinking heads are messed up they are the 882 heads so im ready to pull them anyway just figured id throw this out there see if anyone can help me fix this overheating please everyone chime in...thanks
87 mc ss chevy 350 overheating
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If you start it up and pop the rad cap after a bit you should be able to see the coolant circulating if the pump is good. What radiator is in it? does the fan clutch work right? Check timing, and mixture too, to make sure those are in line. Also could be an air pocket.
87ssdotricks said:
it that temp based on your temperature gauge? Why are you using a 195º thermostat?
ill see in the morning ..my mechanic just advanced my timing and all that but that was after i noticed it overheating soo i dnt think its that ..not sure bout fan clutch how can u tell ..ill check n start it up in the morningcrotchss said:
yea temp gauge...went to autozone said i needed thermostat ..guy said the failsafes are the best this the one he gave me ..also i got the re-usuble performance gasketpontiacgp said:
You need to check a few things. Air trapped in the cooling passages prevents proper flow. Orange and green do not mix well, often leads to sludgy issues and serious problems. If you have no air trapped, you should flush the crap out of this rad with a good flush chemical for three days I think the bottle reads. Then flush it again. The fail safe thermostats are a good product, you should probably use a 185 degree or less, but start at 185 first.
I run the orange stuff because of aluminum heads and radiator, I hate that stuff and may change over in the spring.
I run the orange stuff because of aluminum heads and radiator, I hate that stuff and may change over in the spring.
Usually when the clutch on the fan goes out, they're generally noisy or you can move the fan blades back & forth against the clutch by hand. This has been my experience anyway. Like said above, you should be able to see coolant circulating in the rad if the pump is ok. A bad fan clutch will certainly cause overheating, it's happened to me. I wouldnt run a 195 t-stat either, but thats not gonna make it run 245 deg. 195 t-stat is more for an emissions contolled engine; the higher temp helps the emissions controls perform properly. 180-185 is best for your engine. Let us know if rad is circulating & how the fan clutch tests out & we'll go from there.
T-stats only set a temperature floor, not a ceiling. The 195 t-stats only speed up engine warm up which is a good thing since that reduces wear. You want a cold engine to warm up to normal operating temperatures as soon as possible. Colder t-stats only slow down engine warm up, they won't lower the temperature the engine will reach if you run it long enough. It your motor is running hot, a colder t-stat will only increase the time until it starts to overheat, just a mask. Most likely you may have a vacuum leak somewhere leaning out your mixture, or the aftermarket carb isn't set right.
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