[Thunderskull]

Well, I just had a DUH moment today. You know sometimes the simplest solution is the first one you overlook. Here it goes.........

It's been really hot here in Southern California. So, I'm driving my firebird home from work yesterday and the car starts to overheat at cruise. It was fine at idle though it took a lot longer for the fan to bring the temps down than usual. But the needle slowly crept up on the freeway till it was hitting 220+ when I parked it.

Now, I had just gone through an overheating issue that turned out to be a dead fan clutch. That happened while upgrading cam, manifold, carb, rockers, etc... so you can imagine what I was going through.

Now first I thought it was a timing issue and I was pinging. The exhaust was kinda loud so I may not have heard it. I looked for all the other possible problems: headgasket, tranny cooler leak, belts, low pressure, etc..... and found nothing wrong with it. Lowered the timing and drove it to work this morning. It still got hot, but it wasn't as bad. It drove like butt. Hit Kragen over lunch and bought a new upper rad hose to replace the one about to blow, new belt just to be sure, and radiator cap since it was boiling over into the overflow at 220. I put all that on, and it still got hot on the way home. Now keep in mind I run at about 180-185 at idle and maybe 195 at cruise in the hot weather. So, I pop the hood and take a look. I go ahead and readjust the belt. I turned the car on to see if the air was flowing properly. There seemed to be alot of air flowing in the engine compartment. Then, I got the idea of putting my hand between the grill and the radiator to see if I could feel air swooshing by. On the left side I did. On the right side there was nothing. I took a peek and there was a black plastic bag like the one porn comes in stuck to the radiator blocking about half of it. I turned the car off and the bag just stayed there. I removed the bag and the car immediately cooled right off while idling. At least I didn't replace the waterpump.

Anyway, just felt the need to share.

Robert

[Guadofreak]

I don't know what you mean by one of "those" plastic bags. Good story!

[Squidward]

Good catch!

Hmmm... All of my "special interest" viewing material comes wrapped in a 17" monitor!