wildncrazyguy
Newbie
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2014
- Messages
- 33
- Reaction score
- 2
So, I got this Suburban before Christmas and have been cleaning it up and fixing little things here and there, but overall, pretty nice vehicle with not a lot wrong with it. One thing I notice while driving is the temp fluctuates a bit. In my 1998 K1500 truck, once the temp goes right to the line that reads 210, then it settles back to the line between 100 and 210 and I never notice it move much if any at all. I guess it's 195 because that's what my scanner reads the operating temp at.
With all that said, I'm sure it's the 195 thermostat because of what it reads. Both trucks are 5.7L Vortec engines and I think that's the tstat temp for those trucks. The question I have is the Suburban never reads hot that I've seen, does't really get back to the 210 line, but it moves back and forth some while driving, like it get's hot, opens the tstat, and goes back to normal. Is this a sign of a tstat going bad (sticking), normal, or other potential issue? Or since it's not getting hot, not worry about it? I've just never had a tstat issue and unsure of any symptoms to watch for other that it running hot.
It's got some funny looking radiator cap on it, like maybe some point the tstat was changed. Who knows with a used vehicle what was done in the past. I'd like to get an OEM radiator cap and a GM tstat for it to be sure what's in it, and although not terribly expensive to do that, if it's normal what it's doing, then maybe put that off a bit, until it warms up. I just think it's not normal, because my truck which I've had from day one has always run at the same temp, at least the gauge doesn't fluctuate.
With all that said, I'm sure it's the 195 thermostat because of what it reads. Both trucks are 5.7L Vortec engines and I think that's the tstat temp for those trucks. The question I have is the Suburban never reads hot that I've seen, does't really get back to the 210 line, but it moves back and forth some while driving, like it get's hot, opens the tstat, and goes back to normal. Is this a sign of a tstat going bad (sticking), normal, or other potential issue? Or since it's not getting hot, not worry about it? I've just never had a tstat issue and unsure of any symptoms to watch for other that it running hot.
It's got some funny looking radiator cap on it, like maybe some point the tstat was changed. Who knows with a used vehicle what was done in the past. I'd like to get an OEM radiator cap and a GM tstat for it to be sure what's in it, and although not terribly expensive to do that, if it's normal what it's doing, then maybe put that off a bit, until it warms up. I just think it's not normal, because my truck which I've had from day one has always run at the same temp, at least the gauge doesn't fluctuate.
