The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop 2.8 v6 question

I put a 92 model 2.8 in the 41. Got it running pretty fair for now, But the temp is hovering at 210. Does anyone know what this motor should run at? I do know some late models run warmer, But at what temp? I am afraid to drive it running at this temp. I have checked the flow,thermostat and fan and they seem fine. Thanks, PEDDLR

I think 210 is a little high peddlr. Cars nowadays do run hotter (more efficient that way), but I've got a GM 3800 V6 in a '04 Bonneville and she runs at 200 F on the nose. I've never seen an engine run at 210 by design, but I haven't seen all of them - YET!
Bluedog
Might want to look at a fan that will push more air. Are you using the original fan with the new motor? Or a "cooler" thermostat, or maybe change the F/A ratio to get more fuel in the mix might cool it down a couple of degrees. Different saprk plugs could also help some...

210 is right in the middle of the safe operating range on the guage in my S10 2.8, but I've never seen it go past about 180. Are you sure that your gauge is accurate?

you are trusting a factory electronic guage i suppose. good old fashioned meat thermometer with the radiator cap removed. by the way...........remember not to open the system when it too hot. if you find much of a descripancy, go with a decent aftermarket mechanical gauge. oh yeah, the heater valve is on full hot. ya just might have a vapor lock problem. take a hard look at the radiator cap while it's off too. place in a pan of water and as the water heats up. check the openig tepm against the temp on the meat thermometer.

What Koolkar said...

At a temp of 210 and a good 14 pound cap your boiling point is 259 degrees. I would try advancing the timing a few degrees or until it pings under a load. Also, make sure your EGR valve is working as it cools combustion temps.

How about a fan shroud? or perhaps dual electric fans?
dg

Most vehicles from the mid 80's on up use a 195 thermostat. On cars the electric fan doesn't even kick on until 210. I wouldn't think 210 is all out of line. I would check and make sure your gauge is accurite before I dug into anything.

Modern cars run higher temps for emissions purposes, not efficiency. For example the fans on a Camaro / Firebird come on about 220-230 range. Check the thermostat that you have. If you are using factory gauges, remember that GM only paid $1.45 for the air core in the temp gauge and are not that accurate due to variances in the air core thermister, the gauge sensor, quality of wiring, ambient temperature and battery voltage.

First I would verify your reading is correct. I found a good infared thermometer is handy for verifying temperatures. If you mixed brand a gauge and brand b sensor, you could have a resistance / thermister miss-match resulting in incorrect readings. The actual coolant point should be the modulating range of your thermostat.

If you truly have a cooling issue and do not have a fan shroud, start there as you are probably checking the temp with the engine sitting and there is no air movement through the radiator. the fan should be able to hold a piece of heavy cardboard to the radiator by itself. Fan blade to shroud clearance should be as minimum as possible. Fan spacing from radiator should be no less than half the hub diameter. Since the V6 is much shorter than the inline 6 you pulled out, you will need to go to a long shroud if you want to keep the engine driven fan. An engine driven fan will always out perform electric as the best single fan will only move 2900CFM at 0" of static. However with the short motor you may be forced to electric fans.

woopieee got it fixed.What I had was a fresh rebuilt 2.8 I put in the 41. It had new:waterpump,thermostat,belts,hoses,temp guage,fanclutch 50-50 mix of coolant. radiator was cleaned BUT it ran at 210 degrees weather it was idling or driving. even tried to climb when driving.fan was approx 2in. from radiator. Should have worked.But seemed hot to me.I got to checking and the new fan didnt seem to be pulling much air. So I put on a regular fan with a spacer and that cured it...really p...d me off.took the new fan clutch back and got a refund.Now, I can go crusin toniite..

Didn't mean to imply efficiency is the WHY modern engines run hotter, but holding the intake charge constant and increasing exhaust gas temperatures does improve the thermal efficiency of an air-standard cycle.

Thermal efficiency = 1-(Qi/Qe) = 1-(Ti/Te)

Or, looking at it the other way: Holding my engine temp constant (@ 195), my car runs better E.T.s on a cold night in Georgia than on a hot night. (reduced Ti improves thermal efficiency)

OMG, look away! It's an engineering discussion!
Bluedawg

i would drill 4 1/8 inch holes in the edge of therastate and what everyone else said