usmc_transam

this 1985 trans am is over heating im suspecting that it is the air dam, it runs great on the highway but through the city it tends to climb to 220 between 235 could there be anything else that is wrong with it? it has the 305 tpi nothing new has been changed to it im the new owner of it but the last owner did say the guy before him he thinks he put a new transmission

9014josh

iTrader: (1)

yup check the air dam as well as the cooling fans make sure they are coming on,but the air dam makes a huge difference in cooling in the birds because the nose is closed off in the front apposed to the camaro where the air can flow right through.

usmc_transam

ok thank you man i sure will but when i checked the fan was on, and where can i buy an air dam i seen ebay but id rather buy from a store with warrenty i cant find them at all am i looking under the wrong name or what?

LAFireboyd

iTrader: (3)

Have you confirmed that the air dam is, in fact, missing? Because based on what you've said, it doesn't sound like you have anything to be concerned about.

Running "great" at highway speeds, but warming-up to hotter temps at slow city speeds is normal; that's how it should work. The lack of an air dam would cause it to heat-up at high speeds.

220*-235* during slow-speed driving with a stock 195* thermostat is not out-of-line and could be considered a normal temperature range, and the lack of an air dam would have little-to-no affect on that.

And the 220*+ range is when the fan would be operating normally, and you've confirmed the fan does run, so that sounds normal too.

The "normal" operating temperature range of thirdgens fluctuates widely, and it can take some getting-used-to before you're confident in the readings you're seeing at the gage, unlike today's cars where the operating temperature never seems to change, making you wonder if the gage is stuck!

So unless you already know there is no air dam, I'm guessing there is one, and there isn't anything wrong... or at least nothing air dam-related. So just keep an eye on the temperatures to make sure you're seeing a consistent range of fluctuation, because I suspect this is a matter of you getting comfortable with the car's operating habits. Then if you want to change things, you can install a lower temp stat, even alter the fan temperatures, setting-up an operating range of your choice.

travis401

iTrader: (1)

The air dam only cools well at 35+ MPH. In city driving, your fan is gonna be doing the majority of the cooling. Check and make sure youre not low on coolant.