Need help! Cooling problem after STS install

**Alaska SS** · 07-03-2007, 06:16 PM

Ok, here's the deal. I put an STS rear mount on the car and have a front mount intercooler. I live in Vegas and it's 100-115 every day. The car stays at 210 degrees all the time. In traffic if sitting at lights for a while the car will creep to 220ish. Once it's there it's just a matter of time and it pegs the temp guage and spits coolent everywhere. This is under normal driving conditions without boosting the car at all. We thought it was the 160 degree thermostat we put it but we swapped it for the stock and the car still does it. We checked the replays for the fans and they are staying on. Our guess now is we have a bad fan/fans and they are shutting off or slowing down for some reason when the car gets to 225-227 degrees. Any ideas????? Also, if you think it is the fans should I replace then with OEM or is there an aftermarket that is better? Just a little more FYI, there are no other F-Bodys in town with cooling problems and there are several rear mount turbo cars with front mount intercoolers and they also have no problems. HELP...PLEASE!!! Thanks all.

**cailey37** · 07-03-2007, 06:36 PM

I'm guessing you had the car tuned after the install right......not that it is the problem but I'd be curious about a couple of things.....how much timing was put into the car, fuel trims........now...did you put the 160 thermostat in at the same time as the install????? wondering if you may have some air in the system.......I know people are going to have a sh@$ fit when I say this but try this........take out the thermostat completly.....fill the system back up.....make sure you get the air out the best you can.......run the car a little....watch the temps....see how far they will climb then........dont keep the thermostat forever but get a run around town with it........let me know what happens then.......may......just may....have gotten some air in the system......as far as the fans...that's another thing I'd like to know when they are cutting on and off.......they are controlled by the ECM.......

**Alaska SS** · 07-03-2007, 06:55 PM

Yup, had the car tuned and the 160 was in it at the time of the tune. Since then we have put the stock thermostat back in and flushed the entre system again so I wouldn't think there is air in it?????? As far as the fans cutting off...we checked the relays today in the ECU and they are showing the fans are on. From what we found out, once the car reaches 220 they automatically come on and you can't take that out of the ECU program. We though that maybe a fat finger happened in the tune and it was programmed to shut off at 220. A buddy of mine was looking at the car when it was getting hot and he said one of the fans was bairly running...do you think that once the fan motor gets hot or to a certain temp it might shut down until it cools off causing the car motor to get hot???? I'm stabbing in the dark here.

I hate to buy new fans at $209.00 only to find out it's a temp sensor that's an additional $300.00.

**cailey37** · 07-03-2007, 07:08 PM

you can actually go in and have the fans cut on sooner..........what temp do they cut on.......

**Alaska SS** · 07-03-2007, 07:15 PM

Honestly, I can't tell you. On the highway teh car sits at 210...no problem. It's just in traffic at stops lights and such. The fans kick on but I can't tell if they are staying on when the car gets hot. What's scary is when the car hits 220 it will stay there for about 2 minutes then...bang...250 almost instantly. It's scary!!! I don't know where the hell to look now to fix the thing because I can't guarentee it's the fans. Theya re just my best guess after everything else we've checked. It's driving me crazy!

**cailey37** · 07-03-2007, 07:18 PM

do you know what program they used to tune the car???? EFI Live, LS1 edit,??????? To me...it almost sounds like the fans aren't staying on long enough......

**Alaska SS** · 07-03-2007, 07:22 PM

I think it was EFI live. The only reason I say that is because they tune all kinds of cars not just LS1s. Again, I don't know for sure. Can you think of anything else it might be besides the fans? And, if you thik it might be the fans do you recommend OEM replacements?

**cailey37** · 07-03-2007, 07:28 PM

well......I'm trying to think of what it could be.....but if they were working fine before the install I wouldn't see why they wouldn't after......I mean it's possible.......but I'd ask to see at what temp the fans are coming on and when they cut off......you can actually controll both fans to come on at different temps.......I know with LS1 Edit you can...I think EFI live is the same......with being were you're at I'd first look at that......it may be a simple fix.....if it turns out that for some reason the fans are bad....which I dont think they are.....I'd have to say go with something other than OEM......might as well I figure.....something that can push a little more air......I will look at some tomorrow and let you know........but I will tell you another thing you might want to start using......Red Line Water Wetter......every time I flush my system I put two bottles of that stuff in my car.......it works!!!! There are some other products out there that are along the same line as it but this stuff has been proven to drop temps.......

**Frozen WS6** · 07-07-2007, 07:00 PM

Sorry to hear. That's almost as bad as what happed to my car last week.
I am a believer in the water wetter. We used it when we asphalt drag raced the snowmobiles in the summer. I know it may sound stupid, but did you check the radiator cap to see if was holding the correct pressure. I had a cap go bad on one of my other cars causing cooling problems. There are both high and low speed relays. But you probably already checked both though. You may want to do some datalogging to see whats going on when it accurs. I have a Tec2, but it doesn't do you any good up here unfortainatly. I hope they can get it figured out soon for you. I heard it was now up to 590rwhp from Ken and I'd hate to get a cold big mac when I'm there.

Or you could ship the car up to me were it's alot cooler.

**camarojunky74** · 07-08-2007, 12:54 AM

it sound like to me that if you just had the car tuned, that they may have not done the fan settings right, but on the other hand if your freind said the fans were barely spinnig and this is the case you for sure have a cooling fan problem,, if i was you i would take a paper clip and jump the leads where the fan relay goes, then measuer the voltage at the fans and make sure they are getting the full 12 volts, if they are than you got a fan issue, if not you got a wiring issue,

but this seems highly unlikely due to the car ran fine before the mods, i would also just check fluids such as oil and atf if an auto car, these two things will not cause this big a a overheating issue but also if low can add to the problem,,, but if it is the fans you can buy some of like a part out or maybe some used ones on ebay or a junk yard, you dont have to buy new, it is optimal but not always key.

also do you have any type of under or overdrive pullys installed??

if this was my car or a customers car i would dumb all the antifreeze, which is useless in vegas anyways, and run just distilled water, prestone radiator additive to fight rust and a couple bottles of water wetter which can be bought at napa or pep boys,

**camarojunky74** · 07-08-2007, 12:56 AM

a couple mis spellings and wrong words used but im sure you get what im trying to say, i belong in the garage not in the office lol

**Frozen WS6** · 07-09-2007, 06:54 PM

Hey, just trying to throw a little humor into it for you. I know your about to pull the rest of your hair out with all your frustration. As I am with my clutch that is gone again after 4,000 miles. The guy with the 02 SS convert, twin of your car told me that my slave cyl. is bad and so I need to replace all the hydrolics and clutch again, ouch. He's had to do his like 3 or 4 times and the car only has 8,000 miles on it. But he has alot of mods. He did offer to help me though, which is cool.

**Alaska SS** · 07-09-2007, 07:53 PM

Yah, my slave is GONE! After a couple of boosted passes it gets real squishy. I'm going to wait until the clutch takes a dump and replace everything all at once with a Textralia. I was going to do it now since it's already in for a radiator...$700.00...but I figure I'll burn up what I've got first. Any luck with the insurance comp and your car? That really SUCKS BAD! I hope it all works out for you. If not, we can always have a mofia hit put out on them. LOL

***Ed Blown Vert*** · 07-09-2007, 08:18 PM

So are you saying the fans come on strong. But when it gets hotter, they stop turning?

Turn on the AC when that happens, that should turn both fans to high.

**Alaska SS** · 07-09-2007, 08:34 PM

No, the fans are actually working fine. We did all kinds of tests on every part of the cooling system and every thing is working as advertised. I am just running out of cooling capacity. It's been over 117 degrees here and the ground temp on the road was 158 the day we tested it. It's insane. The cooling system on these cars with the added heat caused by 60lb injectors making bigger bangs just can't handle it. The new radiator goes in tomorrow and all should be good. I'll keep you all posted.

**camarojunky74** · 07-10-2007, 08:54 AM

good luck.! you may also want to put some pusher fans in front of the radiator taht may help a llot too, just hook it to a manual switch or run it with the other fan control

**Frozen WS6** · 07-10-2007, 07:38 PM

Yeh, my clutch was soft again after about 50 to 100 miles after it was replaced with all new parts. Even before we went to the track last year. Now it won't hold enough to even pass someone. The people that hit me are still denying the whole thing, and saying I made to whole thing up. So I'll probably get nothing. But as you can see from those pics I sent you, if I didn't tell you most people wouldn't know. It just makes me so mad that some people won't take responsibility for their actions. I'm glad your heating, oh actually cooling issue was a fairly easy fix. Nothing too serious. I had to ask Adrian if after a car gets hit if it was time to cut it appart and make a racecar out of it. He quickly said no! He wouldn't let me do something that wasteful with my car. I have their address so we can put the hit out on them.

**Alaska SS** · 07-16-2007, 08:33 PM

Well, we fixed it. We put in a new BeCool radiator and all is good. The car kicks ass. We also fabbed a new pipe and eliminated the over the axel piece and gained almost 30 foot pounds of torque. It's now making 599.96. Simply retarded. LOL

**Frozen WS6** · 07-17-2007, 04:57 PM

599.96, Let's squeez the last .04 out of it and make it an even 600. Like you said "it's retarded". I've read alot about those radiators, all good, you'll be happy with it. I just got back from picking up my truck. Valley AK Sales put in a new long block. So that $5500 went to Rob. Now he can order some more parts for his bird.

No procharger this year

, I would be a lot closer to yours at 541hp.

Next I'm going to order my master and slave. I'm also thinking seriously about the Ls7 clutch. I just need to find out if I can use my extra flywheel, after I have it turned. That would save me a little money if I can. I posted that question over in the tranny threads. That should hold up to my stock hp for a while, until I boost it. Then I'll figure that out when I get there.