Originally Posted by Checker
motor and rad is fairly new and the issue has been from the beginning.( it doesn't streak to a higher temp in traffic..it takes a while to get to 200 . I have tried most everything except going to a HV pump vs stock and upgrading to a 4 row aluminum. I'm not enthused about electric fans but as stated in My original post the car runs cool down the road even on the hottest days so at idle it is not getting enough air through the rad or the circulation may be too slow. With the setup as is...IF the fan could pull air through the rad at the equivalent beer of 35 mph...it would never go over 180. Down the highway on 90 plus days the car runs at about 175-180.


I have spent many years chasing cooling issues in customers vehicles and have resolved EVERY ONE OF THEM. It can be a time consuming process. I also spent over 20 years in various engineering positions some of which involved temperature control.
I have posted questions twice and only received a partial answer to one. In reading the above as well as you other posts two things JUMPED out at me.
1. 200 degrees is nothing to be concerned about. 210 also OK if it stays there.
2. You are relying on an auto meter gauge which I have seen be out of whack by as much as 40 degrees as well as other brands. They always go seem to go further out of calibration the warmer they get. While yours is probably OK the only way to be sure is with a thermocouple and digital meter. wink

Is this a mechanical or electrical gauge? If electric available V (typically lower at idle) and grounds can come into play and impact the readings, especially the sending unit ground.
You haven't stated what the ambient temperatures are or the conditions when this occurs. IE:
1. heavy stop and go,
2. just off the hiway,
3. and how long it takes under various conditions to reach 200 or 210.

While I'll agree your problem (which may not actually be) seems to be related to a lack of air flow it can also be a number of other variables stacking up. IE:
1. The fan pitch is not enough to pull the air for your 3 row radiator.
2. All radiator cores are not created equal. The size of the tubes, their wall thickness, staggered or in line, the number of fins per inch, the thickness of the fins. whether the are louvered or not and how they are attached to the tubes.
3. A clutch fan as suggested by another may tip things towards the cooler side as they are designed to move a lot of air when needed. (think a cop car idling for hours in Az back in the day or a forklift running around in 100+ degrees heat ) Do get a thermally activated clutch if you go that way.
4. Coolant? Anti freeze/water ratio

Answering/verifying questions previously asked should be step #1

Implement simple things like making sure the shroud is sealed to the core #2

Verifying your readings via thermocouple should be step #3 The beauty of the T/C is it responds instantly and is accurate to a .1 or so of a degree. You may not choose to do so or need to as you situation is on the ragged edge but definitely removes any doubt or questions.

Gathering and Recording the Data (answers) to all above posting and questions Step #4

Analyze the above answers to resolve the issue.

I will bet putting the car in neutral and raising the RPM to 1500-2k will make that temp start dropping wink beer