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1990 Chevy Camaro

Tiny
SHAUNA25
  • MEMBER
  • 1990 CHEVROLET CAMARO
1990 Chevy Camaro Automatic 128000 miles

My husband just bought a used 1990 camaro iroc z28 and we did not know it had overheating problems. What could make it overheat? We have flushed it out and it seems to be overheating quicker then it was. And we checked the waterpump it seems to be doing fine. And there is a box to the left, that you are suppose to put coolant in? Well when he drives it maybe 3 miles the box fills up with the bubbling hot liquid I assume from the radiator, is that normal?
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Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 AT 8:08 PM

6 Replies

Tiny
BIG_JAY
  • MECHANIC
  • 121 POSTS
Ok, I need to know a few things. When it gets hot if u squeeze the upper rad hose is it hard as a rock or is it soft? Have you seen the cooling fan turn on yet? Let me know the answrs to those and we can go from there.
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Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 AT 8:22 PM
Tiny
SHAUNA25
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Yes the hose has got hard. My husband said it doesnt happen all the time, we dont really know about cars that much.A friend of his did this old school trick with a dollar bill, when he put it up to the left side of the exhaust it blows out and on the right side it popped back up towards it. We do notice the fans come on but they take a min to. Also the RPM sits too high, its redlining and he cant get into the high gears because of the redlining. When you put it into reverse it pulls back and when it goes into drive it pulls forward while the brake is still on. You cant put power into the car without it redlining. It really hard to explain typing everything, so bare with me here please. Im sorry if some doesnt make sense.
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Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 AT 10:48 PM
Tiny
BIG_JAY
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No problem. I know it is kinda hard explaining some problems. Lets try to get this thing to stop over heating first. If you have fans and they are working good I want to try 2 thing. I want you to goto the store tomorrow and get a new radiator cap and a new thermostat. The cap and t-stat are cheap and easy to install. Both of these could cause what you are talking about. The radiator cap if not working right will not hold enough pressure on the system and will let water blow intot he overflow tank like your were telling me earlier and it will also lower the boiling point of the coolant and make it get hot faster. The thermostat will make the car overheat also becaue it wont release the hot water from the engine to goto the radiator to be cooled by the fan. These are 2 of the most common things that go wrong with cooling systems and sound like what you have going on. Make sure you get a thermostat and gasket. I wouldnt worrie bout putting coolant in it right this second unless you live in a state that is going to be freezing soon because you may have to open the system back up again. I also want to know how high is the idle when u start the car why it is still in park? How high are the rpm's? Oh, and make sure you dont open the cap while the car is hot. I dont want to see any1 get burrned.
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Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 AT 11:17 PM
Tiny
SHAUNA25
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  • 3 POSTS
We did go buy a thermostat and the gasket and lube for it, we were told thats what we needed. And also we bought a cap and had to return it cause it was to big, we gave them year, make and model but thats the one and the lady said that all those were gonna be the same size, Which has me confused cause not all radiators are the same size. Right? So is there maybe a 'washer' that can be bought to replace the one in it. (The round black piece that lines it). Or will I have to order a custom one. Which im tryin to figure all this out on my own cause im not made of money ya know. And the RPM sit between 20 and 25 in park the whole time, when its in reverse and drive its sits between 15 and 20 and when you shift it shoots up to between 30 and 35. And thats with the brakes on the whole time. Is that normal?
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Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 AT 11:51 PM
Tiny
BIG_JAY
  • MECHANIC
  • 121 POSTS
That idle problem is not normal. Let's try to get this thing cooling and then we can try to adress the running problem. The person at the parts store must not know what they are doing because camaros took the same size rad cap fro 1967 to 2005. Just take your cap with you and they will have to match it up. Also make sure the fan is pulling the air through the rad and not blowing it foward.
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Thursday, October 15th, 2009 AT 1:38 PM
Tiny
LEOMNR2008
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  • 22 POSTS
If you havnt fixed the problem with the overheating problem I can tell you from experiance that you will need to have a compleat top end rebuild done you have a blown head gasket/ or a cracked head you will need to replace the gaskets and have the cylinder head tested to make sure they are cracked they also need to resurface them and magnaflux them this will take care of the coolant boiling in the reserve box. The coolant boils because the coolant is comeing into contact with the exhaust. Tell me what color is the oil? Black/ or coffee with cream color.
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Saturday, April 24th, 2010 AT 12:55 AM

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