My car has been overheating lately. I had the waterpump replaced last year. One day when it was overheating, I turned the heat on and it was fine. Since then, I've been driving with the heat on and it stays at the proper temp and doesn't overheat. I took it in to get fixed today, and the guy asked called me and asked if it began overheating after I put the Streetfire front bumper on. I said yea, but I didn't notice it right away. He said that was the cause of it. He said that there is a fan in there... and that driving with the heat on is fine for now, but he said in the sumer it probably wont be enjoyable. He said that I could add another fan or somethin to help this. Does this sound right... and has anyone else with this bumper has a similiar problem? Thanks.
Wide Body Progress
are your inner fenders missing ?? or is the black plastic piece missing from under the radiator(the piece that scrapes everything) ??
my cav would over heat in the summer when those pieces were missing ,
also you might want to check the t-stat it might be sticking and causing a problem also , as could the radiator being partially clogged
seems kind of odd to me that bumper cover would cause the car to overheat. It is not like the cover has anything to do with the mechanics of the engine anyway. There is still a big enough opening in the front to allow for airflow to the engine amyway. Just seems odd, but I would check the thermostat.
http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=1&i=333805&t=333704#333805
if the bumper had no holes, it would be possible for your car to overheat.
I HIGHLY doubt it's the bumper, they were probably just looking for something to blame it on
That is Correct!
I would replace the thermostat
I'm pretty sure alot of us have had that problem. The first night I had my kit on...the car got pretty hot. Turns out that I took the black piece off that used to act as a scoop on the old bumper. Not the piece that hangs down for scraping, there is a black piece that is shaped like a scoop. Take that off because now it just blocks air from gettin to the radiator.
Try that and see what happens cause it worked for me
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take the grill mesh out......it will be alot better. ihad to switch to a finer mesh w/ more airflow. the ones rk made my caroverheat hoe depot special fixed it
Robby002 wrote:
if the bumper had no holes, it would be possible for your car to overheat.
Basically, our cars are air-cooled. It uses the air from moving/driving to cool the coolant in the radiator, which circulates through the car, then back to the radiator, ect ect. Your problem is that there isn't enough air movement cooling the radiator.
Sam
Ban low-performance cars, not high-performance ones.
well, if this guy aint overheating, i dont see why you would because of the streetfire bumper
RIP Kasey Burleson, and get well soon Chris Shelly
I thought overheating with the streetfire bumper was common....there's a black piece that goes near the radiator that directs the air flowing under the car over the radiator. Put that piece back in and you should be good.
Thank you to everyone who responded. I'll have to go today and see if that black piece is missing or not. If anyone has a chance, could they please take a picture of it for me. I would greatly appreciate it.
Wide Body Progress
Quote:
That is Correct!
I was going to suggest that....I'd get that checked if the bumper isnt the problem.
First off check your antifreeze in the radiator when it is cold, I know it sounds obvious but this could cause your problem
My car is the one with the grill cover shown above, it ran hot with the grill covered but not overheating hot, so I extended the air dam a little. I am not familiar with your front bumper but if it extends down even with or farther below the air dam(black plastic that scrapes) your radiator will not get any air except through the grill. Here are some accompanying pics showing what I did.
This is the front of the extended air dam, I bolted on an angled piece of plastic made from an old bumper, anything will work but the angle helps make the air dam more sturdy
This is the back of the extended air dam showing how the angled plastic helps to support the air dam more, it is pretty weak from the factory and I imagine just folds over at speed.
Extending this air dam an inch and a half or so with the grill blocked completely off decreased my running temperature 5 or so degrees from what it was with the grill open and stock air dam. Make sure you have the air dam, and if you do extend it.
Of course if you start your car and it jumps way up in temperature immediately then drops off a ltitle later it is the thermostat.
02 LS Sport
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2135396
68 Firebird
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2135556
56 GMC
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2135587
66 Suburban
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2135589
I just checked the picture on your cardomain site, and it looks like the bumper indeed is lower than the air dam. This would mean that your overheating is due to airflow. There are 2 options to improve this, extending the air dam as I stated above, but now I think the better option would be this.
Your problem is that the air is not being scooped up into the radiator by the air dam and the air going through the grill is bypassing the radiator and going under the car meaning your car is undercooled. You should make a filler panel that goes from the bottom of your front bumper to the bottom of your radiator. This will insure that all air going through the grill goes through the radiator and not under it. I think this would be the best option because you wont have to worry about knocking off an air dam on a dip.
02 LS Sport
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2135396
68 Firebird
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2135556
56 GMC
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2135587
66 Suburban
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2135589
Dennis has the right idea. but also your car is a 96 and im guessing you have an original rad. your car probably started to run hot and you never noticed till after your install.
t-stat is sticking! nuff said.
put a new t-stat in and it should be fine.
see ya!
Im gonna think that the air scoop rad piece isnt the issue, as my air scoop was broken due to hitting a bank of show this winter (trying to avoid a dumb driver), and my lower rad air dam was cut off by the previous owner, and i dont have overheating problems at all. I would check and maybe change the coolant (if it looks bad), t-stat, and see if the new waterpump is leaking.
i had the same problem on my 99 fire when i had the streetfire kit. didnt overheat but ran noticably warmer than it did with the stock bumper. it was only a needle's width or two so i never made any worry about it. however i did have the air scoop/director removed...never bothered to put it back on, but it might help.
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on my friend 2.2 he has been haveing over heating promblems up the a$$ and all the time it has been the T-stat and the overflow has been cracki the overflow bottle.
