Riktar Posted April 22, 2004 Report Share Posted April 22, 2004 While this is my 3rd W-body it is my first one with gauges: 91 GP that seems to run between 175 - 215 degrees at somewhat random intervals. Obviously I am guessing at these numbers since the factory gauges aren't calibrated but you guys/gals get the idea. Is this rise and fall normal for a 3.1? Since both my other W-bodies were . sans gauges I wasn't sure. This car seems to run perfectly normal in all other aspects but this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musthavemuzk Posted April 23, 2004 Report Share Posted April 23, 2004 in my 90 cutlass with the 3.1i had no gauges so i never knew anything. in my 93 GP with the 3.1 the gauge goes all over the place. in general the same as yours. has hit 220 a few times but in short order it drops way down. there are some threads here that say the fans come on at 230. i dunno. hit the search function at the top of the page for some help. Monty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
god910 Posted April 23, 2004 Report Share Posted April 23, 2004 Well, you can't really rely on factory gauges. But the factory T-stat on a 3.1 is 195*. The fan on setpoint is 215 or so (IIRC) They run pretty toasty, too close for comfort in my opinion but that is what they want, so that's what the General got. Unfortunately, you can't get any lower w/o a chip. (You can, but the computer won't be tuned for it.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitaloutsider Posted April 23, 2004 Report Share Posted April 23, 2004 During regular driving, I run at about 185*. After hard driving and then a stop, it'll shoot up to a 220-227, where the fans kick in respectively. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THe_DeTAiL3R Posted April 23, 2004 Report Share Posted April 23, 2004 I don't have numbers on my cluster, so I'll have to go by fractions My car usually runs a equal to or a little less than 1/4 on the guage during highway driving and not-too-hard city cruising. In hard traffic, taking it to the track, or other hard conditions it goes up a little past half (about 3/5s max) then the fan (only 1 fan in the 1988) kicks in and it goes down to half or lower. When I blast down the quarter mile or the highway it quickly cools off the rad and goes down to 1/3rd or so. In the summer I might put back in my 180*, but in the winter and now even the stock 195 is best on my car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riktar Posted April 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2004 Ok so it sounds like everything is OK with this setup. At least from a factory standpoint. Now I keep hearing about this 160 chip. Is this something that will keep the car cooler? I understand there are some performance enhancenment that will be gained. One of which would be (Hopefully) better mileage. My concern is the temps being lowered. Now if the chip is only about more power but no gain in mileage I don't hink I would bother unless the temp drops would be significant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THe_DeTAiL3R Posted April 23, 2004 Report Share Posted April 23, 2004 If your car is operating in the same temperature as my car and others listed above, they are designed to run hotter than some cars. This is normal and factory, and probably best for gas mileage. The 160 chip just turns your fan on at a lower temperature. It may be good to have in the summer but I'd sooner just put a manual fan switch for the $$$. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted April 30, 2004 Report Share Posted April 30, 2004 yep my car does that, starts out near cold doing city driveing it almost gets to the red then the fan kicks on and sends it down then once i get out on the road it cools back down again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fast68 Posted May 2, 2004 Report Share Posted May 2, 2004 on the road a vehicle will run cooler, sitting low speed or dead stop idling will always send the temp soaring, especially on hot days, fans dont kick on til around hair over 200 factory, if your car hits the red then it might be time for new fan motor and/or fan coolant temp sensor for the ECM, i just had to replace the coolgn fan motor on a 92 grand am se 2.3L becaus eit burned up and quit coming on and the car got up to 260 in the chicago city driving low speed, so.. now it is all good again gets up to 200 but no more, and fan never hardly has to kick on, but it hastn been 80 out since that day earlier this week good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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