89 Camaro overheating

[bfrazee]

I was talking to a guy at work yesterday and he said his girlfriend owns a 89 Camaro and it runs hot. He says it will get up to 220. I was able to lower the temp in my Fbird by modifying the distance between the plate (separate part in Pontiac water pump) and the impeller (I found a lot of help on another Pontiac forum). I don't think Chevy pumps have a plate like that so they're probably not modifiable. Are there any problems common to 89 Camaro overheating? He says it's IROC so I assume it's a V8? I don't own a Camaro, so I'm not familiar with the pump. I do own a 72 Monte and I know that pump is a lot different than Pontiac. Are the newer model V8 pumps similar? Any help is appreciated.

[tacoma man.]

camaro's are bad for this, one thing that will cause it is a stuck thermostat. i recomend a 195 stat, also he may want to flush the radiator, but before that he goes through all that he needs to check the water pump, while the engine is cold he can remove the radiator cap and let the car run and watch the fluid in the radiator to see if its surculating, if it is its not the water pump, now if he replaces the thermostat and the coolant is also good and it still overheats it could be that the air dam under the front of the engine is loose or busted, thats another common problem with camaros.

[bfrazee]

What's an air dam?

[tacoma man.]

it a piece of hard plastic that hangs down in front of the bottom of the radiator support. what it does it catches air and forces it up into the radiator, the camaros front nose clip is desined to were it limits the air that goes into the radiator, so with out the air dam under the car, the air going into the radiator wouldnt be enuff to cool the car.

[bfrazee]

Thanks.

[Extreme28]

So true on the air dam ! I chased a 220 to 225 problem on my 87 IROC over that. ordered a new one, installed it and problem solved!

[4onFloor]

that year of camaro does have a backing plate on the waterpump that you can remove. the older style pumps like what's on your monte dont. they are different pumps all together. the pulley on the newer ones stick out further and spin backwards compared to the older ones. the 305 and 350 pontiac and chevy motors are the same as far as i know, dont know about the V6's though

[89IROC&RS]

actually the air dam is not to catch air and push it up to the radiator, it is to keep hot air from circleing back from the back of the radiator under the support, and back in front of the radiator.

but for overheating there is a very common problem of leaves, plastic bags, and such getting stuck between the radiator and the AC condenser which does not allow air through, causing cooling problems. its an easy thing to check, i would do that first.

[bfrazee]

That's good news. Is it hard/easy to change a pump on an 89? I've never done one. It's a piece of cake on my late 60s early 70s stuff, but I did a early 80s El Camino once, and it was a complete pain in the a!!. Everything with an adjustment (alt, power steering, AC) was bolted through that pump.

[David Cothern jr]

Originally Posted by tacoma man.

camaro's are bad for this, one thing that will cause it is a stuck thermostat. i recomend a 195 stat, also he may want to flush the radiator, but before that he goes through all that he needs to check the water pump, while the engine is cold he can remove the radiator cap and let the car run and watch the fluid in the radiator to see if its surculating, if it is its not the water pump, now if he replaces the thermostat and the coolant is also good and it still overheats it could be that the air dam under the front of the engine is loose or busted, thats another common problem with camaros.

Firebirds and Camaro's esspcually in the '80's are very similar, tell hi to try that and if it doesn't work then where the Refridgerant goes into the motar, there it could have a crack in it. I had a lot of problems on my '79, that's one of them.
Good Luck with that.

[89IROC&RS]

refridgerant??????? you mean coolant right?

[NINÅ]

Originally Posted by bfrazee

That's good news. Is it hard/easy to change a pump on an 89? I've never done one. It's a piece of cake on my late 60s early 70s stuff, but I did a early 80s El Camino once, and it was a complete pain in the a!!. Everything with an adjustment (alt, power steering, AC) was bolted through that pump.

It's easy Bfrazee, (hint: replace the pump and hose as an assembly - it will speed up the deal). Also, the serpentine belt and it's self adjusting feature eliminates the El Camino type nuisance.

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