Heat problem

[86reddawg]

i'm not overheating, but i am running alot warmer than i used to, and sometimes it comes close to overheating. in the last month i have

-Taken radiator out, run hose through it and cleaned it out, as well as clean the area between the radiator and condensor really well

-Took thermostat out completely to see if it would help, then replaced with a new 180* thermo

since christmas, i have replaced the fan motor (it died) and replaced the coolant temp sensor

from what i can tell, there is movement in the radiator, so this means the water pump should still be working...

here's the details of how it overheats....

doing in city driving with no AC on (no fan till 220) the temperature quickly reaches 220 on the interstate and when in city, goes above so that it is halway between 220 and the red mark on the guage. It seems that faster i go, hotter it gets - i.e. 55mph=220* and 70mph=240ish and 85=too close to red mark for long periods of time...

i notice that at idle, it drops to around 220 and stays there (like at a redlight) and as soon as i start driving, you can watch the needle rise about 20*

I know this isn't overheating or too hot for the engine to operate in, but recently (the last 2 months) i've noticed that once i reach 220* i lose all power in the lower region and don't really feel any power till about 2000-2500 rpm; so i'd like to run my car alot cooler, in the 180* degree range where it seems the engine isn't so "tired"

Are these the symptoms of a water pump going bad? there are no noises or belts slipping, and for the most part, i don't overheat

What can i do to correct this, or the no power when warm problem?

p.s. - the only correlation i can find to this is the STB that everyone bought off of ebay - i also purchased one (carb car) and installed it with the top pointing towards the front right in front of the air cleaner (blocks the immidiate front part of the filter) - does this block enough cool air flow to effect performance?

I'm tempted to remove it one weekend and see if it makes any difference - either that or obtain a cowl induction hood to give the engine some nice cool air...

p.s.s - i have an 86 lg4 carbed sport coupe

[LL6]

Do you have your radiator's lower airdam installed?

[86reddawg]

yes, and it doens't look like it's beaten up too much - looks like i think it ought to - one year ago it worked perfectly fine...

i can't take this anymore, tonite stopped at a redlight, a big truck pulls into my lane - enough room to lay the smack down and jump into the other lane in front of these 2 girls in a geo metro-ish car - the best i could do was keep my nose 2 feet in front of their nose before almost running into the truck... damn, there has GOT to be something silly that i'm not seeing here that makes my car run hot and with no power...i've felt the power before, and i KNOW it's there somewhere...

[WS6 VERT]

"LG4" and "power" don't even belong in the same sentance... I know this from personal experiance tongue.gif

You definatly need to get this cooling problem fixed. It should only ever go to 220° while sitting at idle. At which time, the fans should come on and should immediatly go down.

Take a look at the front of your condensor, make sure a grocery bag or other piece oflitter didn't get sucked up into it. Also pull the radiator upper shroud off and check between the radiator and condensor. Leaves and stuff like to fill up in there.

Get the engine up to operating temp, then shut off. Now feel portions of the radiator fins. It should be very hot to the touch. If you feel spots that are relativly cool (primarily towards the bottom) then the radiator is clogged.

[Chvywolf]

Get the engine up to operating temp, then shut off. Now feel portions of the radiator fins. It should be very hot to the touch. If you feel spots that are relativly cool (primarily towards the bottom) then the radiator is clogged.
You can thank me for that piece of advice. Took me 2 years to figure that one out. :D

[irocbsa]

Yeah, check out that radiator for any blockage. Just because water flows in one end and out the other doesn't mean that its flowing the way it should. If it comes down to it, get a three core radiator from Autozone and a stage I water pump from Stewart. Its only about $70. Everybody seems to like them. I think I need to do this as well. If I run the car hard (extended high RPMs) the temp will creep up to about 210. As soon as I start driving normally the temps will go back down. I think the factory L03 radiator has seen better days and is incapable of cooling the L98 under heavy load. Anyway, good luck.

[ June 25, 2002, 14:44: Message edited by: irocbsa ]

[86reddawg]

well i know i've lost alot of power, i've got two 255's in the back that are completely bald, and now, not even around corners can i get a chirp - it really is something wrong somewhere - it may be the engine starting to die i guess, just crossed 195K this past weekend... hopefully it's something stupid i've done though

quick question on the "feeling for hotness" idea - how do you go about doing that with the fan shroud there and everything - should i go ahead and remove the fan for now for testing purposes? i guess it doesn't really matter since i'll be trying to get it hot anyway... i think i just answered my own question...

Thanks for the help, this seems like it should give me the answers to my heat problem. smile.gif

[ June 25, 2002, 18:22: Message edited by: 86reddawg ]

[86reddawg]

Take a look at the front of your condensor, make sure a grocery bag or other piece oflitter didn't get sucked up into it. Also pull the radiator upper shroud off and check between the radiator and condensor. Leaves and stuff like to fill up in there. That was one of the first things i did - completely took the radiator out and sprayed all the gunk between the fins off, as well as let water run through the radiator as i got the leaves and other gunk that was stuck to the condensor - wasn't alot there, but enough that looks like it might block a little flow - this had no effect that i could tell.

As i think about it, the radiator seems more and more like the only culprit left - I'll let you guys know how it turns out...

[86reddawg]

ok, an update - i haven't had time to just fire it up, warm it up and check the radiator - i checked it the otherday after driving through the city, and it was all really damn hot - i figured that it wasn't very effective since the whole engine campartment was hotter than heck... i'll try it later on

anyways, i'm driving back from a weekend at cookeville with the AC on, an it's sittin there right under neath the redline for temp - doing about 70-80. I turn the AC off, and it promptly falls to 220 and sits there. I turn the AC back on, and within about 10-15 minutes, i'm back up to under the red line

is the AC shovin all the hot side somewhere it shouldn't?
Also, if anyone knows how deep the airdam should fall, could you measure it for me? i've got one installed but wonder if it's really not doing it's job... that seems to be the only answer i can come accross other than failing water pump and or need a replacement radiator - everything else i know to work or have replaced...

[86IROC]

With the engine up to running temperature - have you ever looked to see if the lower hose looks like it's being squeezed? My buddy had an overheating problem on his 87' cougar years ago, turned out to be the lower hose was collapsing when the engine was running and up to temperature.

I might be off base, but I just thought I toss out that idea.

[86reddawg]

a lil update...
this weekend i was doing some interstate driving, engine running really warm - aparently warm enough to start melting my one inch spacer between carb and airfilter (only one i can find is plastic) and it now sorta blocks the secondaries from opening - they don't work until about 3300rpm, then rip wide open...the weird thing is, i've yet to get it up to 220 degrees anymore - even hardcore pushing it on interstate and city driving with AC on - do secondaries really make the engine that much warmer? i realize more gas, more explosion, hotter, but the temp went to 180, and started going down a bit everyonce in a while - the best i could manage was about 200 degrees with my hardest driving

any explanations? this weekend i'll be taking the spacer out and seeing if i can re-arrange it

btw, i added the spacer cuz my drop base airfilter was catching the throttle lever and holding it at about 3500 rpm... even with an lg4, that makes for some VERY difficult driving is the city....almsot rearended alot of people...

[irocbsa]

Seems to me that if fuel from the secondaries was being blocked you'd have a awful lean condition under hard acceleration. Lean = Hot as well. Sounds like you've found your power related problem.

[86reddawg]

well i was figuring at some point i was gonna take the carb apart and check it out again - those little metal rods that shoot the fuel that are in the fuel bowl didn't feel like they were in there very solid - that would prolly be a good start, i.e. only one is still working...

[86reddawg]

those with carbs, when you only take the first level of the carb off, is it hard to get it back in while the rest of the carb is still on? i seem to remember having enough problems putting the top layer on while the carb was off..with the pump plunger on a spring, and the little metal pipes hanging down, trying to get the gasket centered up...

or is it worth it to disconnect the fuel lines and take the whol carb off?