Temperature Question

[PSloan]

What should the operational Temp be on a 5.0? I have a 5.0 with a mild cam and a GT40 Intake the motor is stock other that that. It seams to get warmer that I think it should. It has a brand new water pump, 3 row radiator, and electric fan. The car gets up to 215 deg to 245 deg on the highway. I have and after market temp gauge and it tops out at 250 I know the stock gauge says that 270 is in the hot but that is the highest # so it would seem that it would need to be lower. The thermostat in the car is a 190 and it has under drive pulleys.

 

[srothfuss]

You say that on the highway it gets hotter? The first thing you need to look for is that the black plastic air dam is still inplace under the nose of the car. If that is missing, no air gets sucked up into the radiator to cool the motor.

Stock temps seem to fall between 210 - 215. Most people on here run their cars around 190. Mine runs between 200 - 210 depending on loads and airflow

 

[87notchback]

your timing sounds like it off mine did the same thing set the timing start it and pull that plug next to the disturber (forgot what its called) then plug it right back in computher rereads and sets it if you dont do this it runs way lean=hott worked for me

 

[HISSIN50]

Steve is right on about the air dam.

So in town it cools back down? Any chance there's air in the system?

Good luck.

 

[PSloan]

If I un-cap the radiator the coolant is coming out of the top. I don’t know if I have any air trapped in the motor. The timing is advanced 14 Deg. Now I have had and idle problem that I was resolving and reset the computer and IAC and the TPS. I don’t know if the computer on these cars reset the timing on the car after you reset the computer. If they do what’s the trick to reset the timing so the computer will read the advance.

So I take it that over 215 is not a good temp to drive at. I was not sure how hot is considered bad.

 

[HISSIN50]

With a sufficient cooling system (read enough radiator and fan), you shouldnt be running much hotter than ~15*F over your stat rating while in town (to accomodate the fan 'on' threshold). Then once at speed, you should cool down to near the t-stat rating. When temps continue to creep up [after you're at the t-stat temp], this suggests that there is an issue or that the system cant reject enough heat.

I suppose it matters where you are and how hot it is - I see about as high a temps as anyone (triple digits in Arizona) so I consider the temps here extreme. If it's cooler where you live, that's even more telling that there's an issue.

If you have a cooling system pressure tester, connect it and see how the system's doing.

Good luck.

 

[PSloan]

On the way home it got the hottest it has ever gotten I had to stop and let it cool down just as a precaution (245 deg). I looked under the nose of the car and there is not anything black to be found if you look down the nose with the hood up in front of the radiator you see the ground through the rectangle holes in the nose peace. There is no under valance. If this could be part of the problem does anyone no were I can find one. I just put a three row radiator on the car this weekend and now it is getting hotter than before I am going to check for air in the system when it cools down. Is there another way to check for air in the system other than a cooling pressure tester or opening the radiator and letting it warm up to see if the water level drops.

 

[srothfuss]

Look in the picture for the lighter shade of black... you can see the outline for the air dam.

The air dam has one function: It creates a high pressure area directly in front of the dam. This high pressure air is then forced into a lower pressure cavity (simple physics) directly infront and above the dam. Once the air is in the lower pressure zone [in front of the radiator] it's forced through because of the next batch of high pressure air that is looking to go to the same spot... This is what cools your car at speeds on the highways.

Edit: If your car still has Iron heads and you didn't hit 250, you will be OK. I have been that hot before also but that was because I drove the car with a coolant leak.

 

[TheBocSez]

Just bought a new one myself from 50resto.com Think it was about 30.00