I need to replace the waterpump, right?

[fox racer]

Ever since I hid my wires, my car has been overheating. It very slowlyrises past 180, the warmest it ever got was just below 215 on my AutoMeter Phantom gauge. The only way to cool it down is drive, once i get moving it goes down to 180 dead on. It will only overheat at idle. I havnt touched any cooling parts since my intake swap, but after that it ran at 180 idling or driving spot on. The thermostat is only months old, so is the coolant, I even have a bottle of water wetter in it, I also have a 3 core radiator (looks just like stock just thicker).

I was told I was told I need a waterpump, which I agree with. Any other suggestions? Im going to order the Summit black waterpump and Mr. Gasket 180 thermostat.

 

[dragnazz5.0]

stock fan? if so your fan clutch is probably the culprit. go see if you can spin the fan easily with the car off. if it spins easily than the clutch is bad, if its stiff and stays stiff than its good

 

[RYC CUKR]

If you still have the stock fan then the clutch is probably on its way out.

 

[fox racer]

the clutch fan is good... its very stiff/firm actually.

 

[TrophyHead]

Could it be a radiator?

If you do replace the water pump. I would look into a timing chain and new gasket. (if your car has well over 100,000 miles)

 

[HISSIN50]

Joe, what you said still points to the fan, unless you have something hindering water pump performance at idle (Underdrives, etc).

If you let it idle in the garage with a huge box fan blowing in front of the car, does it run cooler than it would with just the car's fan?

Are the fan blades cracked? I noticed a good bit of flow improvement when going from a cracked stocker to a metal FAL replacement blade.

Just ideas. Good luck.

 

[Hickfied]

If you get a waterpump, get it from autzone, it will be just as good, and ALOT cheaper!

 

[fox racer]

Hissin, how the hell are you always right? lol. it turns out my shroud was messed up and crooked (must have moved when i took of the radiator mounts to do the headlight harness) and the fan was just hitting it, causing it to spin slowly and even stopping intermitantly. I just readjusted everything and now im saving for an electric fan =D. thanks alot guys!

 

[HISSIN50]

Glad to hear it's fixed Joe. FWIW, the fan shouldnt stop turning (or even lose much inertia) if it hits the shroud. A sign of bad motor mounts is the fan hitting the shroud (not in your case, but that's part of my story here) and when my stocker fan was hitting the shroud (cuz I needed mounts) it chewed stuff up pretty good.

I like the E-fan idea. Once you factor in the cost of a HD clutch and replacement blade (necessary IMHO if you see 100*+ temps or yours has cracks), that's cheap J/Y E-fan territory with a Baskin controller.