Engine runs hot

[madden87]

I am having problems with my engine running hot. I read that this is a common problem with 350 z's, but is there anything that helps bring the temperature down? I wrapped my headers before installing them and purchased the radiator from JTR. Any ideas?

[Pyro]

give us your engine and cooling system details.

 

might get better answers if we know what you have

[josh817]

Use water wetter, don't wrap headers because they'll collect moisture and then rust. Get them ceramic coated.

[gwnwar]

Do a search there is alot on this.. What thermo are you using.. Did you get all the air out of the system?? Fans turning the right way how big and what air volume do they move.. What turns on/off fans and at what temps.. If using puller fan is it shrouded.. What mixture are you running in radiator.. Were is your timing.. are you running lean.. Water pump pumping/moving water.. Belt tight.. What else is piled up in front of radiator, coolers,custom grill, lights, plate ..

[getZ]

What kind of car are we talking about?

 

I have a 72 240z with a moderately powered small block. On the front I have a relocated oil filter, transmission cooler and air conditioning (I can't remember what you call that heat exchanger for air conditioning). The radiator is an AZ z car radiator with a taurus fan cooling it.

 

Right now my car is running on the hot side at 210 -215 degrees. I found just by running around with the hood on the safety catch will lower my car down 10 degrees. I haven't tried it yet, but I would guess water wetter will bring it down another 10 degrees. BTW this is not running the high fan speed, that seems to bring it down another 5-10 degrees, but I'm not so sure the alternator puts out enough to keep up with the current draw of the high speed part of the fan, so I only use it when the car stops moving (I have it hooked up to a manual switch right now.

[madden87]

The engine is a plain jane sbc 350 with 8.5:1 compression or so. It is stock. The mixture is 50/50. I don't care if these headers rust out. They were cheap and usable until I decide what I really want. The radiator is from JTR. The water pump does work. I have a 180 thermostat in it right now. I do have an aluminum shroud on the radiator with a 16" puller fan. I don't remember the cfm off hand. The fan comes on with the key right now. I have a temperature switch wired up, but the tab was broken in the box when I received it so I have another one on order. I did drive home the other day with the hood on the safety catch and it did run cooler. Let me know if I am leaving anything out.

[josh817]

Water wetter, its fairly cheap. I guess I would look at your collant mixture next. More antifreeze = less coolant effect. If you live somewhere hot like Texas, you only need 25% antifreeze which should protect you to 10º or something like that. Perhaps get a louvered hood, that does help. If you don't want to cut up the hood then louver the wheel wells. Figure out a way to direct more air through the radiator maybe. Also with the ceramic coat, it seems like a no brainer. Its the difference from 1500º to 300º.

 

Lastly, is your fan a decent brand? There are a lot of inefficient brands out there. I would say a nice Spal fan maybe. I can't think of any way to tell how much air your fan is moving. I do know however that a lot of the companies make up fancy numbers for CFM rates...