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coolant temperature to worries??

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Old May 3, 2006 | 01:19 AM
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coolant temperature to worries??

What is the highest temp of coolant before over heat.. Because when i was stuck at HIN my temperature gauge hit 230 so i crank up the heater and temp. slowly drop until i can get a parking space..Was a little worries.. I check my manual, no temperature danger is indicated... my avg is 185
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Old May 3, 2006 | 01:23 AM
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Originally Posted by CobaltSS-Superchager
What is the highest temp of coolant before over heat.. Because when i was stuck at HIN my temperature gauge hit 230 so i crank up the heater and temp. slowly drop until i can get a parking space..Was a little worries.. I check my manual, no temperature danger is indicated... my avg is 185
You can go to 260+ before the coolant starts to boil. At that point, it turns into steam and loses the ability to keep the car cool.
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Old May 3, 2006 | 01:27 AM
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Is there some thing wrong w/ my coolant system cause 230 is kinda close to 260 no?
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Old May 3, 2006 | 01:29 AM
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Originally Posted by CobaltSS-Superchager
Is there some thing wrong w/ my coolant system cause 230 is kinda close to 260 no?
You're fine. I've topped 230 once or twice sitting in traffic or coming off the freeway. Your fans will kick on and bring you back to normal. If it got hot enough to be of danger, your car would ding at you, and *then* you may want to fire up the heater or turn the car off.

That should never happen though unless you spring a leak somewhere. A leak, even if no liquid comes out, causes the system to lose pressure and the coolant will boil at a lower temp.
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Old May 3, 2006 | 01:37 AM
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If thats a little too hot for your preference, try RedLine's "WaterWetter"....it's good stuff.
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Old May 3, 2006 | 10:37 AM
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Originally Posted by CobaltSS-Superchager
Is there some thing wrong w/ my coolant system cause 230 is kinda close to 260 no?
Yes there is because 180 is close to 260 also. And your car runs at that all day. So just a few degrees more will totally blow your car up and the dealer won't warranty it because they will say it's abused.





God you people kill me.
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Old May 3, 2006 | 10:39 AM
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Originally Posted by StreetDreamz
Yes there is because 180 is close to 260 also. And your car runs at that all day. So just a few degrees more will totally blow your car up and the dealer won't warranty it because they will say it's abused.





God you people kill me.
It is perfectly normal for the car to hit 230 once in a while. It will not hurt the car, and it will not get any warmer if the system is doing its job.
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Old May 3, 2006 | 10:41 AM
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Any one what temperature the cooling fans come on at?
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Old May 3, 2006 | 10:57 AM
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water wetter
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Old May 3, 2006 | 10:57 AM
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what is it?
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Old May 3, 2006 | 01:18 PM
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Originally Posted by DWK5150
Any one what temperature the cooling fans come on at?
I'm not 100% sure, but on most cars it's between 210 and 220, unless you're running the a/c.
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Old May 3, 2006 | 01:41 PM
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my car averages around 180 - 190 when driving around.. but when im in traffic i have watched it climb into the 21x range..

you dont need to worry though... high water temps is a common GM occurance.. every car i have seen/known/worked on etc. have always ran above 200 even with 180 t*stats

Last edited by Acidangel_5.0; May 3, 2006 at 03:41 PM.
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Old May 3, 2006 | 01:49 PM
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I think having a digital readout of the temp is what's getting most people worried. Just about every car will run like this, but most newer ones with actual gauges for the temp will always stay in the middle. What most people don't know is that it's programmed to stay in the middle unless the temp goes outside a certain range. (say 175-235)
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Old May 3, 2006 | 05:32 PM
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how good does the water wetter work? How much is it?
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Old May 3, 2006 | 05:48 PM
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Not sure what it is at all, but when it comes to the cooling system, I'm a big believer of don't fix it if it ain't broke. I'd be careful about adding anything to the tank.
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Old May 3, 2006 | 05:49 PM
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I have used water wetter on all of my vehicles. Its made by Redline. Usually 8-10 for a bottle. Do a search on here as its been discussed before.
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Old May 3, 2006 | 05:54 PM
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My 2001 Ranger ran between 190 and 210 all the time... I dropped a 180 degree thermostat in it... made a huge difference... cooler is typicaly better... to a degree... modern engines run so hot to meet emissions standards.
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Old May 4, 2006 | 09:43 AM
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I hit 226 sitting in a construction zone on a warm day. And then the fans kicked on and brought me right back down to 185 where I usually am. Like someone said, you'll start boiling at 260, then you can worry.
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Old May 4, 2006 | 03:23 PM
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what...? you can feel the fan kicking in?
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Old May 4, 2006 | 03:28 PM
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I think the book says the coolant will start boiling at 265, then the fans should click on at some point if not already running
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Old May 5, 2006 | 09:21 AM
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sitting in rush hour traffic in the middle of summer ive hit a max of 112C - what is that in fahrenheit? it seemed disgustingly high, usually its around 82-86C
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Old May 5, 2006 | 11:39 AM
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No I didn't FEEL the fan kicking in. But the temp hit 226-ish and then suddenly started dropping even though I was still just sitting there. I figured that had to have been the point the fan kicked on.
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Old May 5, 2006 | 12:27 PM
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Originally Posted by beerbaron105
sitting in rush hour traffic in the middle of summer ive hit a max of 112C - what is that in fahrenheit? it seemed disgustingly high, usually its around 82-86C
I've seen mine as high as 110C when idling in traffic on a hot day after having driven for a while. Mine usually sits around 89C during normal driving so it looks like we're pretty much in the same range. As long as my car doesn't light on fire I'm not going to be concerned with it.
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Old May 5, 2006 | 12:34 PM
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Originally Posted by beerbaron105
sitting in rush hour traffic in the middle of summer ive hit a max of 112C - what is that in fahrenheit? it seemed disgustingly high, usually its around 82-86C
112C is about 233F. Also, you likely won't feel or hear your fans kick on. We have 2 smaller fans, and I never feel them, and I can't hear them unless I'm sitting away from traffic with my window open. They're very quiet.

The big single fan on my old Pontiac though...that thing dimmed the lights when it fired up.

Again, even running at 260 won't damage then engine. What damages the engine is when the coolant gets so hot that it boils and turns into steam, and loses the ability to transfer heat from the engine. At that point the engnie temp sky-rockets out of control. That's why if you kill the engine right when the coolant temp goes over 260, you have nothing to worry about as far as internal damage. Just a broken cooling system.
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Old May 5, 2006 | 12:35 PM
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i ve watch mine hit 230' until the fan kicked in. took a few seconds to bring it down to
190' which is about where it runs. but i too was a little worried watching my temp STEAM higher temps! btw i was sitting in a fast food drive through.
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