Another Katatak Fiero Adventure! (Page 71/72)
mafv8 JUN 26, 05:19 PM
I have never had a thermostat in mine, but I do use a restrictor plate in the thermostat housing to slow the flow a little, I have an electric water pump and an aluminium 3 core rad, generally runs around 180 degres, actually the best thing I did for the cars cooling was changing the rad, I used to run a V8 Archie 4 core rad, but the new aluminum rad works way better and keeps the temp very stable.

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84SE, aero body, 4 speed and an injected 355 V8

Jake_Dragon JUN 26, 05:37 PM
I don't run a thermostat in mine and I'm still running the stock radiator and it will hold 190 even when its 100 + out side.
katatak JUN 26, 07:39 PM
Well I ran it today without the tstat and in about 5 minutes I was up to 200* just cruising around the neighborhood. I did install a puke tank for the tstat/fill housing and when I got home, it had puked some coolant into the new tank! I'm thinking that without the tstat, the coolant flows to fast through the rad and does not get any cooling action! It can sit in the driveway idling and sits right at 180* but the minute I start driving and building heat, the temp starts climbing. I like the idea of a restirctor plate - I may try that or just throw the tsta back in. I think I figured out what the main problem was while going through the sensor location changes. I did not have a puke tank hooked up the the Moroso tstat/filler housing - just a hose ran down below the cradle. I believe that due to the funky readings on the temp guage due to the sensor location that the car was getting hotter than I realizied and it would puke a little coolant out the housing onto the ground! After it would do this a few times, the system would get too low and an air lock would form at the pump - elevating the overheat issue until it would puke out all the coolant at noth ends. As I stated above, the other day I had to put 3.5 gallons of coolant in it after it overflowed the front puke tank.

I have it back in the garage now and after it sat there for a few hours, how I have a puddle of trans oil! WTF? Looks like the driver side axle seal went tits up! I tell ya - it never ends with these cars!

More later!

Pat
Jake_Dragon JUL 03, 08:14 PM
What PSI is your rad cap?
RWDPLZ JUL 03, 08:48 PM
Sounds like pinched pipe, plugged up radiator, or bad water pump.
katatak JUL 03, 09:10 PM
I put a 160* tstat back in it and replaced the axle seal this AM. Took it for a little hop around the neighborhood ran between 190 and 200. No boil over into the tanks. I beleive the caps - front and rear are 16 or 17psi? I'll have to go look. H2O pump is a new Mesierre. Only about 400 miles on it. All my coolant tubes are intact - no crush or bends. It seems to flow well without the T Stat. I'm pretty sure without it, it was flowing too fast and was not cooling as it passed through the rad. Seems to be working OK now - I'll take it for a big drive tomorrow and we will see.
fieroguru JUL 03, 09:18 PM
Normally you want to setup the coolant system to purge out only one of the two caps. I normally run a 4psi or higher difference between the two and prefer to purge to the stock overflow tank, vs. in the engine bay. So I run a stock cap in front and a higher PSI one in the rear (I also plug the purge hole on the rear).
katatak JUL 03, 09:38 PM

quote
Originally posted by fieroguru:

Normally you want to setup the coolant system to purge out only one of the two caps. I normally run a 4psi or higher difference between the two and prefer to purge to the stock overflow tank, vs. in the engine bay. So I run a stock cap in front and a higher PSI one in the rear (I also plug the purge hole on the rear).



Thanks for the input Guru! I was wondering if it would work. I was thinking that if I could "seal" off the rear like the stock V6/Duke setup, it would be the trick. I'll go find a higher PSI cap for the rear. I'm still not sold that this Mesierre setup is the way to go. I believe that I had the temp sensor in the wrong spot and it was giving me a false sense of secuity! Now that I have the electric gauge in the manifold and the manual gauge in the head (both are within 5* of each other), I am getting a "real" picture of what the temp is running. If I can keep it under 200* while cruizing down the higway I will be happy.
Jake_Dragon JUL 03, 10:15 PM

quote
Originally posted by fieroguru:

Normally you want to setup the coolant system to purge out only one of the two caps. I normally run a 4psi or higher difference between the two and prefer to purge to the stock overflow tank, vs. in the engine bay. So I run a stock cap in front and a higher PSI one in the rear (I also plug the purge hole on the rear).



Thats how mine is setup. The highest I could find for the back and a little higher in the front. I plugged the over flow in the back so its only used to fill and no over flow.
katatak JUL 05, 01:29 PM
I had big plans over the weekend to get the cooling system sorted out - did not work out though. This evening, I will hunt for a higher psi cap for the back. I have another idea - the piece bolted to the top of the Moroso tstat/filler housing is steel. I will look into cutting and welding a Fiero fill cap to the Moroso cap/plate - this will resolve the "cap" versus "vent" issue. I may even be able to weld the entire Fiero V6 tstat/fill housing to the Moroso plate and eliminate the Moroso housing - allowing me to use the Fiero Tstat which will aid in filling! It may require a coolant hose change though. Something to look at anyway.

More later!

Pat