Odd or normal temps?

[PCGUY112887]

I popped my hood today after a wasted trip to the junkyard (they were closed) and I'm looking around and I just got done driving for about 20mins and I notice my coolant tank is down on "cool". I'm like wtf... am I losing coolant somewhere?

So I look around a bit more and I touch the rad cap... cold. I'm like humm.... I touch the top of my engine, cold. My headers are hot and valve covers are warm, but it's like the cooling system never even got hot enough to open up.

When I parked, the temp guage in my dash was at the very first mark. It never really gets hotter than that, it can get a bit hotter but then my fan will kick on (since it's tuned to stay cooler with the Powrtuner).

Now it's like 10*F here... but is it a bad thing if my engine doesn't even warm up enough to make the coolant flow after 20mins of driving? I am using the suggested fan kickon/off temps and times from the DHP 1.5 file. Tstat is stock from the 3500.

[3100 MPFI]

do you have the PLASTIC intake gaskets or the METAL ones?

It is NOMRAL for a 3x00 engine to remain cool on top when driving becuase the PLASTIC GASKETS work as a HEAT ISOLATOR. If you have the METAL ones and it is that cold I would probably look into there being a problem.

That is also the reason why I tell people to use the GM updated gaskets. They are that thermal-plastic crap that works as a heat issolator, so your INTAKE TEMP does not get as hot as your BLOCK TEMP. Doesn't cooler air mean more dense air mean more potential power? The metal gaskets don't work that way.

[PCGUY112887]

I have the GM 3500 LIM gaskets, so they are plastic. It's not really the top of the engine temp I am concerned about, it's the fact that my radiator cap was cold and coolant was still down on "cold". It's obvious that the tstat never opened.

[sprucegagt]

Was the upper radiator hose hot?

[IsaacHayes]

My gauge is between 1/4 and 0 in these cold temps right now. My plenum stay cool even with the metal gaskets too unless the car sat idling forever.

[PCGUY112887]

Was the upper radiator hose hot?

I didn't check then, however today I checked again. It's a bit warmer outside and I didn't have my heat on, gauge got a tiny bit over the first mark. This time the coolant in the tank was just barely above the "cold" mark, and both radiator hoses were hot and the radiator cap was warm.

[sprucegagt]

If the upper hose is hot enough to make you want to jump your arm back then the thermostat is working. I've noticed on my car in cold air temps that the UIM and CAI get real cold but the engine does keep normal temps.

Next time, scan your temps to see if its really getting up to full temp. My car has a 180* tstat but will run about 170-176* range when outside temps are in the 30's or colder.

[geoffinbc]

If you are running a stock stat that is working then you should have a 195*F stat and should run at or near that range. This is almost the boiling point of water so you should not be able to touch the rad or rad hoses for very long. You should also have your fans set to come on around 210*F or 215*F. Running a cool motor just wastes power. At normal operating temps the gauge will sit at or just below the middle of its range. If your gauge sits at the first mark your either running real cold or the gauge is not working. See if you can get you hands on a laser thermometer and take readings at the thermostat housing

[PCGUY112887]

Right now what I have set (from DHP) is to turn on Fan 1 at 197.87*F

It's set to turn off at 194.42*F

That barely even lets the tstat open? The stock temps is on 226.41*F

I know my sender is good, it's new.

[Monzsta]

It's normal during very cold weather to not have a hot radiator or hoses. The engine is running on bypass coolant, and is only opening the thermostat a crack to begin to circulate coolant, before closing once the coolant temp drops below 190. Sometimes thermostats don't open at all, as all the engine heat is being radiated through the heater core, or ambiant air, so the thermostat never sees high enough temps to open. That's normal and designed for.

[IsaacHayes]

226.4F sounds exactly what I saw when I was scanning. Fan comes on between 226-227.

Yeah mine barely gets to 175 with normal driving. Doing a 1/4 mile run it got to 178 LOL. Unless you are sitting there idling or even raising the throttle it will be colder than the stock thermostat in winter. Some people (like with trucks) put some card board over part of the radiator to block air flow to it. But with the thermostat never opening not sure how much that helps..