Cooling

Ran out of gas yesterday night, around 10pm, i was running 87 octane before however because of this forum i figured id start using higher octane. so i put in about 10 gallons of 91 in and hit the road. by the time i went about a mile, the temp gauge was almost red lining. I know that the higher octane takes a higher temp to burn, so im wondering if this is a side affect of new gas, of if its a T-Stat problem. or what?

also what temperature do our fans turn on at? because mine havent since ive baught the car, the car has been running consistantly at Normal Operating Temp until last night.

Your overheating had nothing to do with the octane of the fuel. Premium fuel has a lower flash point, it does not burn any hotter. Because of this, it resists detonation (KR).

My guess is that you changed your driving habits after putting in the premium, which might have aggravated an existing problem. T-stat is a good place to start.

Definitely not a fuel problem. T-stat would be cheapest and most likely culprit. And you need to figure out why your cooling fans didn't turn on. I assume they didn't run at all? Turn on is around 210? or thereabouts.

And now that you've been here a couple of weeks, PLEASE take the time to add the basic car info to your default signature, so we all know some background info w/o having to ask.

Definately not my "driving habits", i knew that i probably had a little of the 87 left in my tank, so i mixed what i put in with what was left.. so i was actually kind of nursing it rather than driving like an asshole.

didnt mean that to sound like a jerk, so i hope you dont take it that way.

Ok, I don't have my temp gauge in front of me. What's the approx temp where your gauge peaked? Do you know if your fans turned on at all? They should have been running if your temp was that high. So a couple issues to address. Probably a new t-stat, and try to figure out the fans.

Even if the fans were on, a stuck t-stat would cause it to overheat. Something's keeping the coolant from cooling, either the radiator, water pump, or t-stat.

I'm not suggesting you were driving like an ass, but usually if you change to fuel grade, you do it for a reason. Most people would expect the car to go faster with premium, so might be tempted to push the accelerator more than normal. Same as if I put in new trans fluid. I'm gonna see if it can shift.

Yes it could still overheat with fans on and a bad t-stat. But it sounds like the fans are complicating the situation, if they aren't working at all.

When was the last time you flushed your radiator?

Aslo, take the top radiator mount cover off and look down between the AC coil and the radiator and you will be surprised at how much debris is lodged in between the two. I usually clean it out by spraying water through the radiator from the engine side towards the front.. Note, do not spray the water directly into the evap coil because this will just lodge whatever is in between them deeper.

Chicken wrote:

When was the last time you flushed your radiator?

Did'nt get a chance too but the T-stat, and the flush wre first on my list, i really want to get the fans going too, where is the switch?

1998 Riv wrote:

Ok, I don't have my temp gauge in front of me. What's the approx temp where your gauge peaked? Do you know if your fans turned on at all? They should have been running if your temp was that high. So a couple issues to address. Probably a new t-stat, and try to figure out the fans.

i believe it was around 240- degrees, if you need a quick image in your mind, its just at the begining of the red line.

Get that t-stat changed right away. It's a $10 part. I wouldn't run the car even 5 mins until you figure this out.

i don't really have a choice unfortunatly, I have to drive it home from work, but im buying that today, and pricing water pumps just in case, wish me luck.

found them for $50.00 at Summit.

heres the link for references.

Link

Try to keep moving, coast a lot. Don't race the engine. If you have to stop, turn the car off. If you can let the car cool down half way, that will help. Good luck!

If you turn on your AC doesn't that automatically turn you fans on?

I'm also thinking it's the thermasat like they said $10 part . It would probley be a good idea to change the gasket for the thermastat as well. I also put a waterpump sealer on both sides of the gasket to help it from leaking. Only takes like 10 mins to do.

I found a leak in the upper radiator hose where it meets the water neck, so i replaced the hose, the water neck gasket, the thermostat with a brand new 180, had the radiator flushed and filled it with brand new coolant and things are looking good so far, but i have the thruway drive in the A.M. so we will see how this helps.

thanks for alll the help guys, and surprisingly enough the fans actually turned on!!

Chicken wrote:

If you turn on your AC doesn't that automatically turn you fans on?

yes