I have been dealing with my car for the past month overheating to about 225-230 in stopped traffic. It never did this last year. It always ran around 190-192 respectivly maybe 199 in traffic. Fans kick on fine before and after. Car suddenly started to reach 225-230 in traffic and would take a great deal of time to cool down. Normal Highway was running around 196-199 which was hotter than last year. Finally yesterday the car ran 232 and I couldnt get it to go down very quicky at all even on the highway. It finally went down to 183 which is obviously the thermostat sticking. I brought the car to the dealership last week, they said this was perfectly normal. Obviously its not good for an aluminum head to keep changing temps from 183-232. Its going to cause the head to walk and will blow a head gasket for sure if it continued. So dealership would not replace my thermostat under warranty or for anything at all telling me its normal. Today I woke up, went to advance auto, bought a the OE 180 degree thermostat, installed it within 10Min. All you need is a 10MM socket and wrench and 2 bolts later, thermostat changed. After all of this the car now runs 190-192 steady about 194-196 in traffic. So GM is full of $hit and I had to pay 20bucks for a thermostat that they would not replace. So just an FYI, if your car has this issue, change the thermostat. Thanks Everyone hope that helps.

 

Glad you fixed it and some dealers are morons. Like you said you'd lose the head gasket if that continued.

 

You should take the old thermostat down to the GM and throw it at the tech that said it was normal.... when he asks why you threw it, tell him it's normal to throw things at stupid people...

 

Any way you could do a how to on this with some pics maybe? lol

+1 rep for the heads up

 

Hmm.. My temp gets to 220 when sitting in traffic or dead still. But always goes right down when traffic starts moving.

 

Thats ******* great! LMAO!! Sounds like advice I'd give! +rep added!

 

yea ive been having eratic tempertures at times as well it freaks me out sometimes. But it won't be a problem after i dump the supercharger lol.

 

Good to know! Espessially in this heat!!! Thanks bud.
+rep

And +rep to you too sir!!!

 

If you have a SS/SC it will run up to 220 or so if you have stage 2 it will run that hot when you are at a stand still

 

Yes I will do some How to Pics for this. Its extremely easy! And yes GM told me they want to see the thermostat that I took out, and I will be sure to tell them what F-in Idiot they are. $20 bucks for a Thermostat Vs. $2000 for a valve job and head work after it blows up. Hmm whats better for them? Idiots!

 

x2!!

 

GM was right. there's nothing wrong with that. in traffic it's not unusual for the temps to get WAY hotter than when standing still. the fans kick on around 230 and cool it back down. as long as it's not ALWAYS over 230 it wasn't a problem at all. these engines fluctuate like that.

 

so is it nothing to worry about?

i also took my car in for this and they said it was normal

 

you're correct, it's nothing to worry about. the original poster just got extra worried. there was no need to change anything. i got worried the first time mine went up to about 220, since it was normally under 190. after doing alot of research on it, i found that these engines run hot, and it was nothing to worry about.

 

I dont have stage 2 but almost never see temps above 200. i have to sit at a light for a looong time to top 200.

maybe the thermostats are really inconsistent from car to car?

 

I don't feel i was extra worried. It was a different from last year and when it went to 232 degrees yesterday and took at least 5 mins to cool off at 65mph on the hwy that is a faulty thermostate. Today with 85 degree weather, it never went over 192 in hwy 194 in city, and that was also with me taking it to 5K on some shifts to get some air out of the system. The original thermostate has a wear mark where you can see it was binding. Plus its comon knowledge that any aluminum head fluctuating at 50 degrees difference all the time will warp and walk around the surface of the block and blow the head gasket. $20 for peice of mind and keeping my engine cool is worth it to me. Obviously if now the car has a huge temp difference, that means the thermostate was at least not working correctly or as good as new. We all have our opinions, and thats cool its respected here. I build 5.0L mustangs for a hobbie, and aluminum heads and heat do not mix. Oh and also, the drive to work today showed my power level to be better with more response like when the car was new.

 

are you guys even reading the post? He fixed the problem himself - therefore there WAS A PROBLEM lol.........

 

This is awsome.. I love the debates we have in here... So " thought " do you agree or disagree? But let me rephrase a few things, I agree that the temps should rise in traffic. Its obvious with no airflow to cool the coolant, but my findings are based on what the car did last year in the heat and the fact of 50 degree fluxuations all the time, on a aluminum head is bad and that now it is normal again after the change out.

 

i'm saying there never was a problem. unless the issue was different than what was explained.

 

Completely off topic, i finally figured out your user name

 

This is awsome.. I love the debates we have in here... So " thought " do you agree or disagree? But let me rephrase a few things, I agree that the temps should rise in traffic. Its obvious with no airflow to cool the coolant, but my findings are based on what the car did last year in the heat and the fact of 50 degree fluxuations all the time, on a aluminum head is bad and that now it is normal again after the change out.

 

nice!!

see here's the thing, to actually know if it's a problem or not we need more info. i agree, if it's fluctuating 50 degrees every 10 minutes, that's bad. but, if every now and then in heavy traffic it goes up to 220-230, that's completely normal. if in one trip it goes 180-230-180-225-180-230 then that's not normal.

but, the ecotec runs hot. that's not an opinion, that's a fact.

 

yes that is exactly what it was doing.... 192-199-230-232-187-199-230-232-190-194 over and over and over, expecially in traffic. This was a everytime i drive the car occurence. Since the thermostate change its 189-192-194-192-190-192-194-190 much better even in traffic it never got no where near as hot, and defintely not over 200... So obviously that part was screwed. I see what your saying though, and I should have explained it better.

 

yea that doesn't seem right... but i'm glad you got it taken care of!

 

Thanks... Yea I am glad its running cooler too... Just preventative maintence at work you know..