Is this normal??

[SignMan59]

Ok I took my car out for its first real drive. Its a 4500 mile totally stock original unit. I noticed when we drove slow thru a small town (stop and go traffic) the temp guage got pretty close to max. It never got there (about 1/8" from) but it made me nervous as heck. Once we got back to say over 45MPH to 65 or so....it came back to what id call normal (needle at half way).

I never got "on it" really or drove like a mad man at all, but when that needle got close to "hot" I was starting to freak.

Anyway....is this normal. or do youi think I have a stubborn T-stat or something??

[carter200]

Check for garbage behind the radiator. These cars are like hoovers and suck up things you would not imagine. Good luck :cheers:

[rhipsher]

My buddy Lee's white 91 Z does the same thing and its bone stock also with only about 14,000 miles on it. The only time my temp gage ever went up over normal was on a 104 degree day 80% humidity stopped in traffic on I-10 only once. I have one of those thick plenum gaskets and my temp sensor has been rerouted to the front of the car plus I've got the forced air on it which all probably help keep it cooler than stock. Or maybe it just has something to do with the white ZR-1's.:mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

[gbrtng]

Turn the AC on and both fans will run - cools 'em right off.
Else the fans come on at about 228 degrees. Yours didn't get quite that hot.

[tf95ZR1]

I just re-read your original post and my response was
totally BS. So I edited it out.
But being new to the ZR-1 you may not know that the cooling system for the LT-5 is different with bypasses and
coolant tubing all over the place.
My car will run cooler in 5th gear hi RPM than 6th gear
lower RPM. But that was not your senario.
My rec: Couldn't hurt to clean out around the radiator but also
to read up on the LT-5 cooling system.

[Jeffvette]

The analog gauge is not linear. You can rely upon to accurately tell you what the temperature is.

To get a more accurate temp in your car, hold the both fan speed up and down buttons for 5 seconds, when you release them you will see "--". Now with the fan speed up button, scroll to 16 and then hit the auto speed button. That will bring up your temp in Celsius.

[jonszr1]

i would get someone to modify your prom so tyhe fans come on sooner. also going to at least a 180 thermastat would help or get one of randy woods 165-170 stats would be even better , plus definatly ck the rad for junk

[Z51JEFF]

To get a more accurate temp in your car, hold the both fan speed up and down buttons for 5 seconds, when you release them you will see "--". Now with the fan speed up button, scroll to 16 and then hit the auto speed button. That will bring up your temp in Celsius.

What?

[Kevin]

What?

if you have the elect ac option you can use what Jeff posted to find your actual temp in cel

[tomtom72]

I think that your cooling system is okay from your telling of what you saw on the gauge. I would go to the NetReg site and look in the maintenance section for the write up on what Carter is talking about. Also in one of the back issues(?) of our newsletter there is an article about how hot these cars can get. Anyway, there are two write ups in the "How To" section, one is to do the cleaning and the other is the intake screen. There is also a write up from Gordon Killabrew on a reasonably reliable translation of needle position vs temperature on both temp gauges. I copied it out & keep it handy for quick reference.

When my 90 had about 14k on it I took out the shroud and radiator to do the clean up. I had done the air intake screen mod before I started using the car and you should have seen the debris the car collected in just 7400 miles! I should say that one of the many benefits of having a re-programed PROM is that people like Marc Haibeck make the fans come on sooner to keep the temps down even with the stock 180* stat. If you clean up the debris and do the screen and get a lower stat and do a PROM rewrite you will really see how cool the system will run. Our water pumps move a ton of water and the debris and the fans' programing keep the car running hot.

Here are some links:
http://www.zr1netregistry.com/ZR1_howto.htm

http://www.zr1netregistry.com/ZR1_faq.htm#30

:cheers:
Tom

[USAFPILOT]

My old 96 LT4 and the ZR-1 both usually run at about 210-220...use the digital readout on the DIC

[tccrab]

Get an updated PROM from Marc Haibec.
Your problem will be solved.
:thumbsup:

TomC
"Crabs"