1988 Corvette Temperature -- normal to high NEED EXPERTISE
Asked by Shaeranne Oct 29, 2015 at 04:06 PM about the 1988 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe RWD
Question type: General
In idle or at stop sign or light, what is the NORMAL temperature my car should be running? I know the fan kicks on at a certain temp, but what are the normal ranges low to high, please? Thanks.
16 Answers
It reached 224 when idling in my garage around 5 minutes. I also live in Florida and it's 88 degrees out today.. Need advice, please.
Like I said do not want to run over 210, normal is 185 to 200
Just looked at my 1988 Corvette Owner's Manual and it states "NORMAL RANGE IS 190 - 255" That seems high to me but it says normal and depending upon the outside air. I live in Florida so it's hotter here. My car never ran under 200 and I've had it since 1993....
255 is way too high, if you hit 225 and it cools from there you'll be ok, I have never seen a vehicle run consistently at 225, it is just not good. How many core radiator did you put in? Needs to be at least a 3 core radiator. Have you tried a 180* thermostat? Also the temperature sending units in that time area where not that accurate, they made 3 different ones that all work, but not listed in all parts books for specific applications. For piece of mine find a garage with a inferred temperature gage and have them tell you what exactly it is running at.
And in the last 5 yrs. since the new radiator, what has it been running at? Why the issue now? They also make aftermarket water pumps for hot running engines, have you looked into that?
Oh, and I meant to say that even though you live in Florida, you need a 50/50 mix antifreeze in the coolant system, this raises the boiling point of the cooling system, and protects metal parts, (water jacket, water pump, radiator and such)
The radiator that was put on they said it was for my year car for sure..... good place i went to... But with this mechanic that I had I had to get rid of him because he was doing crazy stuff and told me "ignore the check engine light." I noticed that both of my fans are NOT coming on now. I don't know what he did.
Can a thermostat go after a couple of years? And I should put in a 180 thermostat for sure to keep it running cooler.... Thanks.
I would try the 180* but sounds like the problem is the fans, very important for those to run. Maybe the jerk just unplugged them. Fans need to get running! Don't let that motor be running up at 225, that is too high, I don't care what your manual says, at 255 she be puking one of her life lines out!
I think the jerk unplugged my fans to try to get more work. I'm going to get another mechanic to check the fans out for me and if they're unplugged then I know what is up...... He was just trying to get more and more work from me and that is evident.......... He made way too many mistakes for my liking....... The last straw was when he said "ignore the check engine light, or you'll never get sleep at night... That was it for me! I closed my hood on him and said "get out, we're done." And then to rev my engine and redline it and hold down my accelerator for at least 10 seconds.. That pissed me off! In park that is......... Not even going down the street; in my garage. That pissed me off. And now I hope my car is okay. He has no money to buy me another engine either, he constantly complained that he had no money... Another thing was he replaced my rack and pinion, and I said once you're done I will take it to get an alignment. He said "I just gave you an alignment." I said "how can you do that manually without a machine?" My car is on 3 jack stands in my garage....... I should have released him a week ago! Lesson learned.......
Wow! So, your temp. issue has just started after the tune-up, & work he done. Fans are probably unplugged, how are you for just looking under the hood? Look for a plugin and see if it is unplugged? Follow wires from the fans, look around the fans. Of course that radiator is in on an angle, may be difficult to see, but worth 5 min. of you time?
A fuse would be another way of disabling the fans. Probably a 20 amp fuse, usually tells you on the back side of the cover or by where the fuse goes in. Not all fuse areas have a fuse in them. There are extra slots for fancy wiring of other added devices. Putting a fuse in any of them will not hurt anything. Also there should be some sort of fan relay in a fuse block.
Since it was Halloween, I took a break on my car for a second.. Looking into 2 other mechanics now. I will let you know what happened.......... Thanks.
