I bought my eighty five a couple of years ago, it has a 454 in it. Ever since I've owned it, I have been plagued with over heating problems. I replaced everything, flushed it three times, nothing worked. It was running any where from 220 to 240 on the highway. So, finally I found this waterless coolant that they recommend for big trucks. It comes in gallon cans and you have to buy a flush to use first. I bought three gallons of coolant and two gallons of flush. I installed it a couple of months ago, and last week I drove the car to Ohio from Virginia and back without any problems. My gauge still shows hot, but at the upper hose with a laser thermometer it reads around two hundred. When I used regular anti freeze it read hot at the upper hose. The coolant wasn't cheap, but it does what they claim. I almost forgot, the boiling point of the coolant is 375 degrees.
Hey Merc, i had the same problem with my 87 305. I put in a 4 core alum rad with 2 fans, installed a trans cooler to get that out of the radiator, flushed 3-4 times and still no relief. The thing i didn't replace was the temp sending unit. Normally i would have replaced that, but i'll call it age related ,and still no change. A buddy told me that where the knock sensor was located in the side of the block, that it impedes the flow of coolant, thereby causing a dam where any rust, dirt or typical mush that happens to be in the cooling system, gathers. I removed the knock sensor and poked in there with a screwdriver and you would not believe how much goop came out. I got my air hose and blew in there to knock loose what i could. i then flushed it again and the whole bottom of the pan was filled 1/2" deep. Now she runs at 180 idling in the Houston traffic with the a/c on and the outside temps at 100 +. Just a thought.
I use Evans NPG + in my 71 El Camino and it works great. I run 180-190 in the summer and 150-160 in the winter. I highly recommend it. Because it is waterless, it never clogs up your system. It lasted 5-10 years so the $40/gallon is not too expensive per year.
I changed everything trying to figure out what was wrong, I went to a aluminum radiator with electric fans, high output waterpump with matching thermostat. New hoses, flushed, still ran hot. It runs around 190-200 now with the waterless coolant on the upper radiator hose. The gauge is wrong, it says it runs around 260. I replaced the sending unit. I drove it to Ohio and back in the ninety degree weather with no problem. The coolant is expensive, but it is worth the peace of mind. Thanks for the info about the knock sensor. I don't know if I should investigate that now, I don't want to lose my coolant. But I will look into it.
When you put in dual electric fans does it have a shroud. Also does your El Camino have a radiator top plate? The shroud is there to make the air coming from the rad forced through the dual fans. The rad top plate is there so all the air does not seep out of the rad when flowing through.
Now if you have all of that the other option is maybe you head gasket is bad. That will cause the engine to overheat all the time no matter what you do.
I thought about a head gasket too, but I don't loose coolant and the oil is clean. No bubbles in the radiator My fans do have a shroud, and I still use the top of the old fan shroud and it has rods that go thru it down to the bottom of the radiator support to lock the radiator in place. The reason I think head gasket is because it runs hotter on the interstate at speed
although i don't have a problem cooling my zz4 motor with a aluminum rad/electric fan setup, i have a few questions about this stuff is it more viscous (thicker) than water/ethylene glycol mix ? is it noxious ? can it be filtered or "cleaned" if it becomes contaminated with rust/dirt ?
I know you know this but some do not, the water pump for a sept belt set up looks just like a water pump for a Non Serp belt set up Difference,is that the Serp water pump spins back wards compared to a Non serp belt set up. Just my two cents some may not know that !!
The thing I don't like about the Evans NPG is that you CAN'T mix it with water. If you get a leak your on a flat bed on the way home. Plus after Pauls deal you can't see it mix with the oil??:dontknow:
Donny
The water pump is a reverse rotating pump made for a serpentine system. Also, I had the same conditions when I had regular coolant in it. I keep an extra gallon of evans in the truck.
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