1988

I WENT ON A DRIVE ABOUT 20 MILES. AT THE END WE WERE CAUGHT IN A TRAFFIC JAM ON THE INTERSTATE. MY CAR RAN UP THE TEMP TO 231 DEGREES THEN IT WOULD DROP DOWN TO 225 THEN BACK UP. IT DID THIS SEVERAL TIMES. ONCE WE GOT MOVING IT COOLED DOWN TO 202 AND I FELT PRETTY GOOD IT WAS OK. AFTER I TURNED IT OFF TO DROP OFF MY GUEST IT WOULD NOT START!! I HAD GOOD BATTERY BUT IT DIDN'T MAKE A SOUND. I WAITED AN HOUR WENT OUT AND IT STARTED RIGHT UP. I HAVE NOT HAD IT THIS HOT AGAIN AND IT STARTS AND RUNS GREAT. HAS ANYONE HAD THIS PROBLEM? WAS THERE ANYTHING FOUND WRONG IF YOU HAVE THAT I SHOULD CHECK FOR? PLEASE ADVISE.

    It sounds to me like you was not driving with the A/C on. When the A/C is on the fans will come on sooner and keep the temperature around your 200 but driving with the A/C off the fans turn on later. Usually the 231 -236 is where they normally come on to cool things back down to around the 220 - 226 area. This is normal with the A/C off. Kinda scary to me cause I do not like to see temperatures get that high myself either.
   As far as the car not starting, it sounds like the starter picked up heat from the engine and temporarily locked up. This too is normal on some Chevy's. That's why some of us older guys use to rig up the old Ford type solenoids and used a bypass wire or jumper on the stock solenoid and problem solved. IF that's what happened with you?  

corvettes usually do run at a higher temp. that is normal. maybe starter is getting weak. if it cranked but did not start i would check the coil.

Thanks, but it did not crank or do anything. I'm thinking vapor lock as nothing has happened since. I took it out yesterday to run the temp up. After getting it to 230 I turned it off and it restarted. No problems. Still wondering?

Maybe vapor lock? Starts strong and runs great. Tried to make it do it again yesterday ran temp. to 230 turned it off and it started right up!

Vapor lock was a carbureted issue...doesn't occur on injected engines, fuel doesn't 'boil" because of the higher fuel line pressures. A fuel or ignition problem would not cause the engine to not spin over (make no noise). Sounds like a starter problem to me also. Try running up to hot operating temperature.....then shut it off -leave the hood closed...the temperature under the hood actually rises after the engine is shut off. Many times a starter issue will show up after sitting for 10-15 minutes.

I agree with saywhen....sounds like a starter issue of some sort. Could also be a problem with the anti-theft system.
When it did not start, and didn't make any noise, did you happen to notice if any of the dash lights dimmed or not?
Did it absolutely not make a click/clunk/buzz...nothing?

And, as has been said...these thing DO run hotter than you might expect, but it is totally NORMAL. Mine will run up to around 235* in the summer, with or without the A/C on, if I'm moving slow, or stopped. It will cool back down to "normal"(215* or so) once it gets moving again. Part of it is for emissions reasons, and part of it has to do wtih the design of the front body, and not really having a grill for the air to get to the radiator easily....

Starter heat soak is what it is called, If you run your car on a  warm day and shut it off when it is still quite warm the starter will not work until it cools a bit. they make a heat shield just for this problem but I have even seen folks take a coffee can and rap it around their starter sorry back when they made them out of metal, Starter heat soak is a pain and is hard on the starter so use one of the ideas here to take care of it. I have known folks to set up the ford solinoid deal. heat shield or even a gear reduction starter will work. or just let it cool off a bit before restart when you know you shut it off hot.

Starter heat soak is what it is called, If you run your car on a  warm day and shut it off when it is still quite warm the starter will not work until it cools a bit. they make a heat shield just for this problem but I have even seen folks take a coffee can and rap it around their starter sorry back when they made them out of metal, Starter heat soak is a pain and is hard on the starter so use one of the ideas here to take care of it. I have known folks to set up the ford solinoid deal. heat shield or even a gear reduction starter will work. or just let it cool off a bit before restart when you know you shut it off hot.

88-up L98 have a Denso reduction gear starter. Quite different from the Delco we're used to that have the "hot start problems". Maybe the Denso's have problems too, but I never had trouble with my 88 during the 3 years I drove the crap out of it. A Denso can also crank the engine with a battery that would be too low to crank with a Delco.