Thread: Is 225 too hot?

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those are the pre 81 valve covers. synthetic should not make any difference. as long as you have a vented radiator filler neck, with a vent tube running to a puke tank, or right to the ground. Then It cant be over filled. And 99.9 percent of radiators made are vented. If it does not have a puke tank you need one. When the car is running (start from cooled down) Squeeze the upper radiator hose that goes to the thermostat housing. If it is tight and firm the thermostat is closed, as soon as it opens the hose will be softened and you will be able to squeeze it flat. check your temperature at that point to verify the themostats operating range. It should open at 190 or so for a carburated motor with the heads you have.

What type fan are you running, from a water pump pulley, or a radiator mounted unit? If its a pump mounted unit does it have a full shroud from the radiator to the fan blades? If not that may be your problem, and an additional radiator mounted fan might become a nessacary item, and cheaper in the long run to get, then modifying a shroud in a custom fit car like yours.

here is a pic of my puke tank set up from the filler neck.

Originally Posted by mooneye777

those are the pre 81 valve covers. synthetic should not make any difference. as long as you have a vented radiator filler neck, with a vent tube running to a puke tank, or right to the ground. Then It cant be over filled. And 99.9 percent of radiators made are vented. If it does not have a puke tank you need one. When the car is running (start from cooled down) Squeeze the upper radiator hose that goes to the thermostat housing. If it is tight and firm the thermostat is closed, as soon as it opens the hose will be softened and you will be able to squeeze it flat. check your temperature at that point to verify the themostats operating range. It should open at 190 or so for a carburated motor with the heads you have.

What type fan are you running, from a water pump pulley, or a radiator mounted unit? If its a pump mounted unit does it have a full shroud from the radiator to the fan blades? If not that may be your problem, and an additional radiator mounted fan might become a nessacary item, and cheaper in the long run to get, then modifying a shroud in a custom fit car like yours.

here is a pic of my puke tank set up from the filler neck.

I started the car and I was able to squeeze the hose right away.

I do have a resivor tank and I also have an electric fan with a shroud.

With me being able to squeeze the hose as soon as I started it, does that mean that my thermostat is stuck open and that I should replace it?

Youther....Princeton WV is listed as elevation 2605 ft so water boils at appx 207.7 degrees F there. You could take your temp sensor out and put it into a container of water and boil the water....when the water begins to boil, the indicated temperature should be 207.7. Of course, you would also have to take your temp gauge along to the stove and rig up a 12 volt source to run it.

If the gauge/sender reads accurately, the next step is to inspect your installation. Did you change the position or location of the sender? Some folks mount the sender in a location where there is a trapped pocket of air that keeps the temp sendor tip from being in contact with the water. I've seen people put senders in some awful looking pipe adapters that insulated the sender....of course, these read low. One way to assure the absence of the air pocket is to burp the system by unscrewing the temp sensor after you fill the system (and it is still cold) so that a small bit of liquid escapes (to tell you that the air is gone).

You didnt say what brand of gauges you are using and if the sender matched the gauge brand.

hope this helps

mike in tucson

Originally Posted by robot

Youther....Princeton WV is listed as elevation 2605 ft so water boils at appx 207.7 degrees F there. You could take your temp sensor out and put it into a container of water and boil the water....when the water begins to boil, the indicated temperature should be 207.7. Of course, you would also have to take your temp gauge along to the stove and rig up a 12 volt source to run it.

If the gauge/sender reads accurately, the next step is to inspect your installation. Did you change the position or location of the sender? Some folks mount the sender in a location where there is a trapped pocket of air that keeps the temp sendor tip from being in contact with the water. I've seen people put senders in some awful looking pipe adapters that insulated the sender....of course, these read low. One way to assure the absence of the air pocket is to burp the system by unscrewing the temp sensor after you fill the system (and it is still cold) so that a small bit of liquid escapes (to tell you that the air is gone).

You didnt say what brand of gauges you are using and if the sender matched the gauge brand.

hope this helps

mike in tucson

Great info. I'm not technical enough to pull this off....LOL! I can pull off the sender and see if it is full.

As far as the sender and the gauges, the sender was not part of the gauges but is new. The gauges are TPI Tech gauges.

OOOOh...that may be your problem if you didnt buy a sender matched to the gauge. A temperature gage is really just a volt meter and the resistance calibration of the sender is matched to the full scale reading of the gauge.
In fact, there are several factory senders for Chevy with different resistances....check with your gauge manufacturer and they should be able to tell you the correct resistance.

Also, the grounding on a one-wire sender is thru the threads to the intake....dont use teflon tape or too much pipe goo and increase the resistance

After market gauges have different senders. For instance, I have VDO gauges matched with a 250* sender. Since I'm wiring my car now, I decided that I wanted a transmission temp sender as well (thanks, Henry Rifle - Jack). I looked through the VDO catalog and chose one identical to the engine coolant temp sender, not the 200* or 300* version. It's installed in my aluminum trans. pan with a SPDT switch so I can read one or the other.

Soooooo with that said, the gauge and sender need to match. Not the GM to gauge

Nobody said GM sender needed to match...the example was that GM even had several ohm ranges.