04 gtp runs really hot, normal or something wrong?

[QUICKSILVER462]

1) Make sure the thermostat is opening at the correct temperature.

2) I assume you have filled appropriate coolant amount and bleed air out of the system.

3) Make sure your radiator fans are coming on at the right time/temp. Do you feel hot air being pulled through the
radiator when the car is up to temp. and the fans are "ON"?

4) make sure you have good coolant flow in the radiator, sometimes water pump impellers wear out
due to neglect of the coolant and it no longer adequately pumps the water, or thermostat is stuck shut.

5) verify you have heat exchange from the water to the air, when car is up to temp., and the fans are "ON",
the top hose will feel hot (should be about 195-210 degrees depending on thermostat), and the bottom hose
going into the water pump should feel cooler (to the touch). Get something to measure the temp of the hoses
(top and bottom) and compare the difference, should be around 30 -50 degrees difference, the larger the difference,
the better. If your radiator is working properly, you will be able to feel the difference in temp just by touching them.
Best thing to do is get a little hand held thermal infrared temp gun, they are not expensive, and are great tools
for diagnosing all kinds of problems.

Hope this helps!

[Bogartthegod]

Hey quicksilver thanks for your reply always appreciate you being one of the only to try and help me out with this..

I believe the thermostat is opening correct, it's new and I've pulled it out and dropped in boiling water to watch it open, and I can feel the upper hose gets hotter when I believe it to open.

Also pretty sure I've filled it to the correct amount of coolant, up to the cold marks on my reservoir, radiator full. And yes bleed the system few times didn't see any air bubbles.

Fans coming on about a notch above half way mark on my temp gauge, and drops slightly to half way or so once they come on.

Water pump is brand new as well, so think I have good flow there. Although I have bought the laser temp gun as someone else recommended a couple weeks ago, possibly you that told me to? Took a temp of upper and lower hoses and there is a difference in temp, about 20° at most though, not 30-50 like you mentioned here? So is that my problem? And if so, any idea why? Is the water pump not up to par? I did opt for a cheaper ac Delco version from rockAuto...maybe the fans weren't on when I took this reading, I will do another check with fans on and report back.
Also just noticed some water dripping from below my heater hose inlet/tensioner unit that has hoses running into it if that makes sense? I was running the heater on my drive home and noticed this. Continued to drip with engine off, is this normal?