Zezima
Member
Driving a 71 383 2 barrel, and the other day I was driving it, the temp gauge seemed pretty consistent, hovering around 40%, if we consider C on the left to be 0% and H on the right to be 100%, and the center to be 50%. The temp gauge works, and the readings are consistent, so I trust its movement, I'm just curious how much I should be concerned when it does start leaning slightly to the right under certain circumstances. I've noticed today it's a lot more frequently tending to more around the 60% area, and occasionally seems to even lean almost to the 70-75% range. It does seem to run a little bit hot, but I'm not sure what would be causing it or how worried I should be. I was told that the way the Polara's temp gauge works, with 4 markings: 2 on the outside extremes, and 2 on the inside which indicates operating temperature range, that as long as it's in that range it's fine, and the Polara manual says the temp gauge should be centered, but I don't know if I should be looking at my cooling system or not.
I haven't yet been able to determine the exact causes of when it'll start leaning hot, since some of those instances, such as coming to a red light, it doesn't, so I haven't been able to intentionally reproduce it yet, but it happens fairly often now where it ran noticeably, if only slightly cooler before. I just want to make sure it's running optimally and smoothly and no damage is being done. I've also noticed, although I'm not 100% sure it's related, that after it had a minor overheating episode where there could be heard the sound of coolant boiling if you had the hood open and you were listening, which might have been due to an air bubble, that it started running slightly rougher since then. Not a big difference, and I don't think most people would notice, but it did used to run perfectly smooth and solid before, now there's more vibrations at idle for example. Possibly misfire?
Just wondering what everyone's thoughts were.
I haven't yet been able to determine the exact causes of when it'll start leaning hot, since some of those instances, such as coming to a red light, it doesn't, so I haven't been able to intentionally reproduce it yet, but it happens fairly often now where it ran noticeably, if only slightly cooler before. I just want to make sure it's running optimally and smoothly and no damage is being done. I've also noticed, although I'm not 100% sure it's related, that after it had a minor overheating episode where there could be heard the sound of coolant boiling if you had the hood open and you were listening, which might have been due to an air bubble, that it started running slightly rougher since then. Not a big difference, and I don't think most people would notice, but it did used to run perfectly smooth and solid before, now there's more vibrations at idle for example. Possibly misfire?
Just wondering what everyone's thoughts were.