"Normal" engine coolant temp?

[Mattillac]

Hey guys, I've been noticing my car puts off a lot of heat, i.e. when stopped, and I have my arm out the window, I can feel waves of heat coming from the engine bay... and I've been keeping an eye on the Coolant Temp in the DIC. It runs around 195F-210F when cruising @ 45-50mph, but when I'm stopped (drive-thru line, stop light) the temp soars upwards (210F-223F)

I'm wondering is it normal for the 4.9 engine to run this hot? I'm not getting any STOP ENGINE TEMP lights and the car runs fine, am I just paranoid? Thanks!

[misfit6794]

Don't worry until you hit 240-260. Regular coolant flushes are always a good thing too.

[submariner409]

An internal combustion engine with catalytic convertor wastes tremendous amounts of heat. If you could put that heat to work you would get 50 -60 mpg. Perfectly normal to "feel the heat". Same as if you opened the hood on a hot day.

The temp swings are normal for an electric fan cooled engine - even in the 4.9 I believe the fans come on in slow speed at 224 if the a/c system is off.

[carnut]

NORMAL! NORMAL! you're probably feeling the Cat. Converter heat. That gets to about 1000 degrees or more! So dont park in dry grass with your girl friend!!