so i noticed today my 89gt's running on the hot side.....needle went up to the o in NORMAL ( highest its ever been)...the water pumps pretty new as-well as thermostat..any ideas? i think im going to throw a new t-stat in tomorrow along with a 4 core radiator i picked up....could my crappy clutch fan be no good? i will be upgrading to a taurus fan after i do a 130 amp altenator.thanks

 

can be the temp guage sensor going bad.
with the engin off try to spin the fan and see if it is loose or wobly.
best bet would be to open the hood and pop open the radiator and put a temp guage in it, than run it till it gets up to operatng temp.
You may even fis the issue with that new rad you say you are gonna put in it. ther eis a possibility the old rad may have colapsed tubes in it preventing good cooling.

 

you have the right ideal , Cooling system is Water pump - radiator- thermostat - check all hoses too ! ... and the heater core hoses are always leak check that ! , And that radiator and electric fan installed should solve your issue !! and if all that doesn't do it ! then u got a head gasket .!!! but i highly dout the gaskets are bad!

 

was it running hot on a long drive??? or just a tad warm cause mine on the trip to cj's ran about 8-9 degrees warmer but it was hot today!!!

 

When does it reach the hot range on the gauge. During idle, cruise or highway speed?

Start with the basics. Radiators are often full of build up internally. It reduces it's ability to cool. Ever installed a new rad and felt how heavy the old one was compared to the new one? That's the build up.

As for an electric fan. Do it's ONLY as an upgrade towards power or efficiency. It will not solve a cooling issue (unless your mechanical fan was failing).

 

Do you believe the guage is correct? I hate factory guages.

Cheap fix: Bottle of Water wetter, dump all coolant and replace with plenty more water than anti-freeze (for summer). Water wetter alone dropped my temp 8 degree..

 

ok so far so good...chenaged the t-stat...and threw in my 4 core radiator..runs cooler then it did...car feels reallly good.. also heater core is less then a year old...water pumps like 8 months old also...hoses are good ( i checked them today)...this weeks check is going to a taurus fan,pa performance altenator....

 

why wouldn't u keep the 4 core in there?

 

i just threw the 4 core in...i didnt have time to put it in...but its staying in

 

so is the problem solved now??