I was doing some driving in my 92 Dodge Spirit and at one point along a slightly muddy dirt road my aftermarket temperature gauge was reading about 230 Fahrenheit! That's a bit high isn't it? I got back on the highway but the temps didn't drop much. 230 F is only about 110 celsius, but is that periously high for my engine? My engine has around 306000 kms on it and I don't want the head gasket to get torn.
Is 230 Fahrenheit overheating?
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What's the pressure on your radiator cap?
16 psi. Prestone branded.
Originally Posted By: BuickGN
Assuming the water didn't boil and you have an iron headed motor a short period at 230 shouldn't hurt it too bad.
Didn't hurt aluminum headed LT1 and LT4 Corvettes either, although it made the driver pucker up. The 2nd fan didn't come on until over 230F and they needed that fan in hot weather traffic.
It was an ugly way to do things.
Assuming the water didn't boil and you have an iron headed motor a short period at 230 shouldn't hurt it too bad.
Didn't hurt aluminum headed LT1 and LT4 Corvettes either, although it made the driver pucker up. The 2nd fan didn't come on until over 230F and they needed that fan in hot weather traffic.
It was an ugly way to do things.
Ack, the 2.5 in my Spirit has an aluminum head, and these engines are well known for eating headgaskets if run too hot.
Often the heat comes from the cat overheating due to restriction. The heat makes it way back into the head warping it enough to blow the gasket. The head gets trued and gasket replaced, the cycle repeats itself without fixing the real problem. The engine gets a bad reputation.
Originally Posted By: XS650
Originally Posted By: BuickGN
Assuming the water didn't boil and you have an iron headed motor a short period at 230 shouldn't hurt it too bad.
Didn't hurt aluminum headed LT1 and LT4 Corvettes either, although it made the driver pucker up. The 2nd fan didn't come on until over 230F and they needed that fan in hot weather traffic.
It was an ugly way to do things.
Actually the fans come on at 228 degrees
Originally Posted By: BuickGN
On the scanner my TL only shows 187. The GN runs 160.
To clarify my other post, I meant that it's more safe to run the iron headed cars hot than aluminum. Didn't the LT1s have reverse cooling?
Yes they are reverse flow cooling. I've got a '94 LT1 vette.
Originally Posted By: BuickGN
Assuming the water didn't boil and you have an iron headed motor a short period at 230 shouldn't hurt it too bad.
Didn't hurt aluminum headed LT1 and LT4 Corvettes either, although it made the driver pucker up. The 2nd fan didn't come on until over 230F and they needed that fan in hot weather traffic.
It was an ugly way to do things.
Actually the fans come on at 228 degrees
Originally Posted By: BuickGN
On the scanner my TL only shows 187. The GN runs 160.
To clarify my other post, I meant that it's more safe to run the iron headed cars hot than aluminum. Didn't the LT1s have reverse cooling?
Yes they are reverse flow cooling. I've got a '94 LT1 vette.
Originally Posted By: GMBoy
Originally Posted By: XS650
Originally Posted By: BuickGN
Assuming the water didn't boil and you have an iron headed motor a short period at 230 shouldn't hurt it too bad.
Didn't hurt aluminum headed LT1 and LT4 Corvettes either, although it made the driver pucker up. The 2nd fan didn't come on until over 230F and they needed that fan in hot weather traffic.
It was an ugly way to do things.
Actually the fans come on at 228 degrees
Originally Posted By: BuickGN
On the scanner my TL only shows 187. The GN runs 160.
To clarify my other post, I meant that it's more safe to run the iron headed cars hot than aluminum. Didn't the LT1s have reverse cooling?
Yes they are reverse flow cooling. I've got a '94 LT1 vette.
What I was getting at in the reverse flow question is doesn't the coolant hit the heads first? If so, I could see it being able to run slightly higher coolant temps and get away with it. I'm just going off of memeory from a long time ago so I could be wrong.
Originally Posted By: XS650
Originally Posted By: BuickGN
Assuming the water didn't boil and you have an iron headed motor a short period at 230 shouldn't hurt it too bad.
Didn't hurt aluminum headed LT1 and LT4 Corvettes either, although it made the driver pucker up. The 2nd fan didn't come on until over 230F and they needed that fan in hot weather traffic.
It was an ugly way to do things.
Actually the fans come on at 228 degrees
Originally Posted By: BuickGN
On the scanner my TL only shows 187. The GN runs 160.
To clarify my other post, I meant that it's more safe to run the iron headed cars hot than aluminum. Didn't the LT1s have reverse cooling?
Yes they are reverse flow cooling. I've got a '94 LT1 vette.
What I was getting at in the reverse flow question is doesn't the coolant hit the heads first? If so, I could see it being able to run slightly higher coolant temps and get away with it. I'm just going off of memeory from a long time ago so I could be wrong.
I'd say 230F water temperature is the upper extreme limit and I wouldn't want my engine's temp up that high. Just my opinion though.
Originally Posted By: GMBoy
Actually the fans come on at 228 degrees
Actually, with AC off, fan one comes on at 225F and fan 2 comes on at 232 F. Neener, neener
http://www.9c1.com/technical/coolingfans.htm
And whever said it, yes the reverse flow hads make a difference.
Actually the fans come on at 228 degrees
Actually, with AC off, fan one comes on at 225F and fan 2 comes on at 232 F. Neener, neener
http://www.9c1.com/technical/coolingfans.htm
And whever said it, yes the reverse flow hads make a difference.
Originally Posted By: XS650
Originally Posted By: GMBoy
Actually the fans come on at 228 degrees
Actually, with AC off, fan one comes on at 225F and fan 2 comes on at 232 F. Neener, neener
http://www.9c1.com/technical/coolingfans.htm
Wrong - as I was talking Corvettes - you are talking 9C1 police cars. Different animals.
Originally Posted By: GMBoy
Actually the fans come on at 228 degrees
Actually, with AC off, fan one comes on at 225F and fan 2 comes on at 232 F. Neener, neener
http://www.9c1.com/technical/coolingfans.htm
Wrong - as I was talking Corvettes - you are talking 9C1 police cars. Different animals.
Originally Posted By: GMBoy
Wrong - as I was talking Corvettes - you are talking 9C1 police cars. Different animals.
Bummer.
I found this which explains what I thought I observed when I had my LT4 Corvette a couple of years ago.
Quote:
both fans on low at 219 F (off at 207 F)
both fans on high at 228 F (off at 214 F)
I must have mistook the fans going to high for the sound of the second fan coming on. My temp gauge said over 230 when that happened,but given the accuracy of temp gauges and relay sensors, who knows what it really was.
I bow in your general direction.
Wrong - as I was talking Corvettes - you are talking 9C1 police cars. Different animals.
Bummer.
I found this which explains what I thought I observed when I had my LT4 Corvette a couple of years ago.
Quote:
both fans on low at 219 F (off at 207 F)
both fans on high at 228 F (off at 214 F)
I must have mistook the fans going to high for the sound of the second fan coming on. My temp gauge said over 230 when that happened,but given the accuracy of temp gauges and relay sensors, who knows what it really was.
I bow in your general direction.
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Quote:
Yes they are reverse flow cooling. I've got a '94 LT1 vette.
Is this reverse flow cooling or just inlet side thermostat? The 180 inlet side thermostats usually result in higher indicated temps.
Yes they are reverse flow cooling. I've got a '94 LT1 vette.
Is this reverse flow cooling or just inlet side thermostat? The 180 inlet side thermostats usually result in higher indicated temps.
JHZR2
Staff member
what is the status of the radiator? Clean? new? newish?
Id doa good cleaning of the radiator, replace the thermostat, and make sure everything is up to snuff. With that mileage, the system may be very scaled and dirty, with reduced efficiency, or the thermostat may be getting lazy.
JMH
Id doa good cleaning of the radiator, replace the thermostat, and make sure everything is up to snuff. With that mileage, the system may be very scaled and dirty, with reduced efficiency, or the thermostat may be getting lazy.
JMH
Kestas
Staff member
Or he may be getting a false high reading.
Originally Posted By: Chuck1986
Hhhhmmm my coolant temps are typically 195-200 Fahrenheit.
Anyone else wanna chime in their coolant temps? (Remember, the factory analog gauge is usually pretty inaccurate.)
When warmed up, my Buick w/ 3.8 N/A engine reads just below the midpoint on the analog gauge, and anywhere between 180 and 195 on the digital Driver's Info Center, depending on the outside temperature.
Hhhhmmm my coolant temps are typically 195-200 Fahrenheit.
Anyone else wanna chime in their coolant temps? (Remember, the factory analog gauge is usually pretty inaccurate.)
When warmed up, my Buick w/ 3.8 N/A engine reads just below the midpoint on the analog gauge, and anywhere between 180 and 195 on the digital Driver's Info Center, depending on the outside temperature.
That's a little high. Doesn't leave a lot of room for error when the summer months hit. I'd start looking into it and view it as a "problem." I'd start with the thermostat or at least check to see if it's working properly. Get a thermometer and put it in a pan on the stove. Crank up the heat and watch the temperature. I'm sure around 160-180, the thermostat should open up all the way.
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