93 Vette Overheating
#1
07-30-2007, 03:02 PM
93 Vette Overheating
My 93 vette seems to always overheat unless I am driving on the freeway. The only way to help the secondary fan turn on faster is by turning on the AC. Since my AC isn't working at the moment, should I buy a Hypertech Power Chip and a PowerStat low-temp thermostat to help reduce the overheating and help cool down the car? And if that is what I should do, should i get the 160 degree or 180 degree thermostat or does it matter?
#2
07-30-2007, 05:16 PM
RE: 93 Vette Overheating
First of all, what are you calling "overheating"? What are your temps? Secondly, your not really going to see lower temps with a Thermomaster chip and Powerstat. Third, if you change thermostats your car isn't going to run cooler. It will only help it heat up slower. I have the Thermomaster chip and 180 degree stat. My car doesn't run any cooler nor do the fans come on any sooner. You have to get a custom chip burned for that.All that thermostat does is open and close at set temps. Hence a 180 degree stat will open at 180 and stay open until the temps fall below that.If its not cooling the temps will only rise and the stat will stay open. Also, even though the compressor on your A/C isn't working your fans should still come on. Someone can correct me if I am wrong.
I vadered this from another site:
I'm renaming the thermostat. [/align][hr]
In lieu of all the thermostat questions... it deserves a new name.
I'm renaming it as the "Engine heating valve". It's a valve to keep the engine warm, above it's rated temperature, 160, 180, 195, whatever it happens to be. IT DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ELSE!
It's like what your house thermostat does when you only have a heater. When it's too cold, it closes, warms you up, then sits there patiently in case the house cools off again.
Now the folks with the a/c in their house, that's like having a cooling fan switch. When it gets too hot, it turns on to cool it down.
So this "engine heating valve" controls the minimum temperature, and the electric cooling fan controls maximum temperature. Each of these components has hysteresis. They start working at one temperature, and go off at another. The fan for example, goes on at 228, and off at 210, or something like that.
Now, the operating range in between the "heating valve" and cooling fan is known as the "dead-band" where the engine is happy and cozy and neither component is doing anything. A dead band is always necessary. If your "heating valve" hysteresis and cooling fan hysteresis overlap, then you have no deadband, and the systems are working at the same time and fighting each other. The thermostat will be trying to heat the engine while the fan tries to cool it. If the thermostat is winning the fight, the fan will never ever shut off.
So you can see here that drilling holes in your engine heating valve makes about as much sense as drilling holes in your wetsuit. Either way you'll freeze your *** off when its cold.[/align]
[/align]
I vadered this from another site:
I'm renaming the thermostat. [/align][hr]In lieu of all the thermostat questions... it deserves a new name.
I'm renaming it as the "Engine heating valve". It's a valve to keep the engine warm, above it's rated temperature, 160, 180, 195, whatever it happens to be. IT DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ELSE!
It's like what your house thermostat does when you only have a heater. When it's too cold, it closes, warms you up, then sits there patiently in case the house cools off again.
Now the folks with the a/c in their house, that's like having a cooling fan switch. When it gets too hot, it turns on to cool it down.
So this "engine heating valve" controls the minimum temperature, and the electric cooling fan controls maximum temperature. Each of these components has hysteresis. They start working at one temperature, and go off at another. The fan for example, goes on at 228, and off at 210, or something like that.
Now, the operating range in between the "heating valve" and cooling fan is known as the "dead-band" where the engine is happy and cozy and neither component is doing anything. A dead band is always necessary. If your "heating valve" hysteresis and cooling fan hysteresis overlap, then you have no deadband, and the systems are working at the same time and fighting each other. The thermostat will be trying to heat the engine while the fan tries to cool it. If the thermostat is winning the fight, the fan will never ever shut off.
So you can see here that drilling holes in your engine heating valve makes about as much sense as drilling holes in your wetsuit. Either way you'll freeze your *** off when its cold.[/align]
#3
07-31-2007, 08:54 PM
RE: 93 Vette Overheating
The whole idea behind the thermomaster chip is to reprogram the cooling fans to come on at a lower temp.also to give additional performance at full throttle. I too have installed the thermomaster along with the powerstat. My fans come on in the 190 range, whereas stock settings are approx 218 & 226. Like mentioned turning on the a/c turns both fans on. I have a 92 with the LT1 engine. No doubt about it they run hot compared with your avg car. But, the hot engine light is not progammed to come on until 260 deg! Now it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that a cooler engine will out perform a hot engine. So I too have taken steps to reduce my engine temps.
Check the area in front of your radiator for debris, these cars suck up paper, leaves, and small animals due to the bottom suction opening in front of the air dam. Also a broken air dam influences cooling. Its also possible that the radiator cooling jackets are clogged. Living in Phoenix, its crucial to keep the cooling system up to snuff, I run a mixture of 65% anti freeze to 35% water, you give up a bit of freeze protection but gain better cooling. Also I swear by redline water wetter, add a bottle to your refilled radiator and experience an 8-10deg difference in temps. I did an experiment and the stuff worked for me.
Check the area in front of your radiator for debris, these cars suck up paper, leaves, and small animals due to the bottom suction opening in front of the air dam. Also a broken air dam influences cooling. Its also possible that the radiator cooling jackets are clogged. Living in Phoenix, its crucial to keep the cooling system up to snuff, I run a mixture of 65% anti freeze to 35% water, you give up a bit of freeze protection but gain better cooling. Also I swear by redline water wetter, add a bottle to your refilled radiator and experience an 8-10deg difference in temps. I did an experiment and the stuff worked for me.
#4
08-01-2007, 07:10 AM
RE: 93 Vette Overheating
Now it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that a cooler engine will out perform a hot engine.
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