hello everyone I have been battling my cooling system as have many others on this forum. I am changing my stat tonight to a 180 and I could not locate the gasket in stock locally so I am using RTV water pump and thermostat stuff. Never done this before So any tips on using the RTV would be appreciated.

A little background, Highway speeds my temps stay around 87-92 celsius. Stop and go traffic and at idle I get up to 98-102 and I realize this is to hot especially without a/c. fan spins the same hot and cold less than a quarter turn so I assume the fan clutch is good. electric fan comes on when ac is on but when I get home and my gauge says I am at 212 I shut the engine off and the electric fan is not on. This has me kind of puzzled.

But more importantly. I removed the rubber strip up top in front of the rad and saw there is a decent buildup of leaves and crud down there. Question is there a simple way to clean out the fins without completely draining cooling system and removing radiator. I am nervous to pull it out and damage it and if I can just hose it down or something from the engine bay or something I would like to do that. Sugguestions for this, or do I need to drain the thing pull the rad and clean it that way. This is my last ditch before pulling the rad to have it serviced or just buy a replacement.

 

I am in the same boat as to if I can sufficiently clean the fins while still being bolted in. As far as your question from the a/c fans not being on when you turn your engine off and they don't stay on. What I do and it works is with the keys in the acc position turn your a/c on with the fan speed on. Then turn the car off with your a/c button pushed in with the fan speed on still. If that makes any sense.

 

There is a sensor some where that is supposed to turn those ac fans on based on the temp. Read the RAVE and see what it says as I do not remember the details.

As far as cleaning out around and between the rad and ac condensor, I have successfully blown a lot of dried mud/crud out of mine using an air compressor and a small spray nozzle. Worked pretty good in my case, but if you have a lot of leaves and such in there, you probably should plan on pulling the rad and doing a good a job as possible.

 

shop vac and small tube or flattened carboard tube will get the leaves out. Home brew plastic water pipe to garden hose connection, drill holes in one side of the pipe. Cap end of pipe. Now water sprays out firmly from one side, like a small comb. Poke behind radiator and behind condenser, squirting toward nose of truck. Work slowly. Don't try to use pressure washer, it will damage rad.

 

thanks guys... y'all always come through........

 

felpro 12994 is pretty common gasket. I'd try to find one before just using RTV. And I know the sell parts for Chevy's in Kennesaw....

 

Good ole Kennesaw Mountain. The cannons are still in place aimed North like they should be!

I turned the air compressor up to about 90 psi and it looked like a Sahara Sand Storm with all that dried up red mud coming out of my grill.

 

Remove the two bolts that hold the radiator in place, push it back towards the engine, use a shop vac to suck out the crap or a garden hose to wash it down and out.
Put it all back once done.
As for the engine temps, I live in the US so I have no idea what those Celsius numbers mean.

 

lol think of it this way 100c is 212F

 

I would not be worried about it honestly, temps I mean.