With the Summer months and Heat in full effect, How hot is too hot?

94tbird · Jul 31, 2011

How hot is too hot for our cars?

My current setup is the following:

Fluidyne Radiator
160 Tstat
Meziere Electric water pump

I have no AC in the car, and all the components have been removed. I do have a Trans cooler in the upper left corner of the radiator, but otherwise its a straight shot into it.

Yesterdays Outside temps were 90 degrees when I was driving. On the highway everything was fine, temps stayed around 180-185. Once I hit the part of the roads with traffic lights, and slower speeds, I saw the temps creep up, and got to about 225, before i had the chance to pull over. The fan was running fine, and the pump seemed to be pumping as well. Once the car cooled down i checked to see the pump was pumping and it definitely was.

Am I worrying about these temps with all things considered or do i have a problem? I have my nexus gauge set to turn red at 200, and flashes by 220.

Today it was similar temps. All well on the highway, 180-185. Once i got off it creeped up to 190ish, but i didnt spend nearly as much time in the stop/go type traffic as i did yesterday, and once I got back on the highway, it all cooled back down to 180

Riptide · Jul 31, 2011

Has the car always been like that?

For reference I've never seen mine hit over 195 and that is on a hot upper 90s day driving around in traffic. Stock radiator and fan.

94tbird · Jul 31, 2011

honestly, I dont know. I swapped the motor last year, But i also had the Killer chiller using the a/c all the time and the car obviously ran hot because of that. I figured removing the a/c completely would lower temps, and it has for the most part, except the longer im in traffic on these hot days, the hotter it gets.

Last year it puked coolant once, semi overheated. But its so random when it happens, I have no idea when itll happen next.

bradleyem · Jul 31, 2011

The outside air temps have been in the mid 90s here. My SCT Livewire has been showing ECTs of up to 219 and IATs of up to 190. The stock temp gauge still stays right in the middle, and from what I understand, the ECTs reported by the computer are not direct readings, but are calculated. Also, the stock gauges are buffered so much that they are basically no better than idiot lights anyway. So, I don't really know what to make of what the SCT is telling me... I do really want to get some type of hood that will allow for more hot air to escape though.

94tbird · Jul 31, 2011

I read head temp on the aeroforce gauges, as I have been told its the most accurate to coolant temp since our cars infer those temps. Its always within 5 degrees of my autometer gauge. I have a sensor in my coolant cross over for my autometer gauges. My IAT's barely get over 130 on these 90 degree days, and drop when i get on the gas.

CPRsm · Jul 31, 2011

Sounds like a low speed cfm problem with the fan and possibly your pump not moving enough water. When on the highway at 60 or so you shouldn't have a problem getting your ECT down to the thermostat temp. If you can't get it down that far it's probably not moving the water fast enough. I have actually seen it where cars get hot on the highway, and only cool when they pull over and idle because it didn't have enough coolant flow.

94tbird · Jul 31, 2011

its an electric water pump. 55gpm al lthe time regardles of rpm.

CPRsm · Jul 31, 2011

I know. But you need more flow as rpm and load goes up, which a mechanical does. An elec does not.

94tbird · Jul 31, 2011

55GPM is far more than the stock mechanical pump can flow at 6000RPM

regardless of RPM im am flowing more than the mechanical pump can ever flow. Flow isnt the issue.

white05gt · Jul 31, 2011

94tbird said:
55GPM is far more than the stock mechanical pump can flow at 6000RPM

regardless of RPM im am flowing more than the mechanical pump can ever flow. Flow isnt the issue.

Water pump flow definitely isn't the issue. What kind of fan and shroud setup do you have?

JeremyH · Jul 31, 2011

I have a reische 170 degree t-stat, mish twin core radiator, stock water pump, SS slim shroud (made by silentscope) with a ffd 3600 cfm 16" fan.

On the highway i see t-stat temps 175 ish. low speed fan is set to 180 and high speed set at 190.

My temps never go above high speed fan setting (which makes sense since I had to put in a 60amp fan fuse as i blew a 40amp and a 50amp lol)Even in the 100-110 degree heat we had this past week. The fan I have is no joke and makes all the difference imho.

94tbird · Jul 31, 2011

white05gt said:
Water pump flow definitely isn't the issue. What kind of fan and shroud setup do you have?

Stock fan shroud and stock fan. Im starting to think maybe the fan is working intermittently. I had a similar problem on my 2002. Turned out to be a bad fan. One day it worked, next day it didnt. it was completely random

Lightblade said:
I have a reische 170 degree t-stat, mish twin core radiator, stock water pump, SS slim shroud (made by silentscope) with a ffd 3600 cfm 16" fan.

On the highway i see t-stat temps 175 ish. low speed fan is set to 180 and high speed set at 190.

My temps never go above high speed fan setting (which makes sense since I had to put in a 60amp fan fuse as i blew a 40amp and a 50amp lol)Even in the 100-110 degree heat we had this past week. The fan I have is no joke and makes all the difference imho.

You had to relocate the PS and coolant tanks though correct? I jsut dont have the room for soemthing like that.

JeremyH · Jul 31, 2011

94tbird said:
55GPM is far more than the stock mechanical pump can flow at 6000RPM

regardless of RPM im am flowing more than the mechanical pump can ever flow. Flow isnt the issue.

white05gt said:
Water pump flow definitely isn't the issue. What kind of fan and shroud setup do you have?

I have heard differently from quite a few sources as far as the physics go if the fluid is moving at the same max rate all the time it doesnt pull out as much heat as it goes through the system. Never been a fan of the electric water pumps. The only real benefit i see is running it with the engine off at the track. For street driving I would take a mechanical pump anyday.

94tbird said:
Stock fan shroud and stock fan. Im starting to think maybe the fan is working intermittently. I had a similar problem on my 2002. Turned out to be a bad fan. One day it worked, next day it didnt. it was completely random

You had to relocate the PS and coolant tanks though correct? I jsut dont have the room for soemthing like that.

You dont have to i did mostly for room for the turbo stuff. Its very very easy to make a bracket to fit the stock location. I helped Greg install the same shroud on his car and he has the bracket to keep the coolant tank where it was. The ps tank is easy as crap to move where ever you want or make a bracket to keep it there as well.

CPRsm · Jul 31, 2011

Mkay. I have never seen a 55 gal pump cause problems.LOL I wouldn't rule it out based on your thinking. Your assuming it's working 100% perfect and take all variables into consideration you could be chasing your tail if you're wrong. If you cannot get down the the t stat rating their is a problem. At 60 mph, it shouldn't be a cfm problem. I don't like to turn my fans off at any given speed if the car needs to cool down. It cools better with them on even at 60 mph. Either way I would stick a 180 in there to start. 160 is to low and is much harder on a cooling system than a hotter temp.

94tbird · Jul 31, 2011

Lightblade said:
I have heard differently from quite a few sources as far as the physics go if the fluid is moving at the same max rate all the time it doesnt pull out as much heat as it goes through the system. Never been a fan of the electric water pumps. The only real benefit i see is running it with the engine off at the track. For street driving I would take a mechanical pump anyday.

An even bigger benefit than cooling the car at the track, which is a must for me, is keeping the car from overheating if i lose a belt with a supercharged car.

Lightblade said:
You dont have to i did mostly for room for the turbo stuff. Its very very easy to make a bracket to fit the stock location. I helped Greg install the same shroud on his car and he has the bracket to keep the coolant tank where it was. The ps tank is easy as crap to move where ever you want or make a bracket to keep it there as well.

pics?

white05gt · Jul 31, 2011

So many people run an electric water pump on the street that it shouldn't be a factor for Ron. I know they are spendy but check into JPC's custom made fan/shroud setup, they were running that on the twin turbo build and now offer it on there website.

94tbird · Jul 31, 2011

The thing is, I never used to have this problem, I remember being 175 degrees i nthe hottest of days, which leads me to think theres an issue with the fan. I may try another stock fan andsee what happens. They are certainely cheap enough

130 for a ford fan, or like 80- for an aftermarket one.

94tbird · Jul 31, 2011

CPRsm said:
Mkay. I have never seen a 55 gal pump cause problems.LOL I wouldn't rule it out based on your thinking. Your assuming it's working 100% perfect and take all variables into consideration you could be chasing your tail if you're wrong. If you cannot get down the the t stat rating their is a problem. At 60 mph, it shouldn't be a cfm problem. I don't like to turn my fans off at any given speed if the car needs to cool down. It cools better with them on even at 60 mph. Either way I would stick a 180 in there to start. 160 is to low and is much harder on a cooling system than a hotter temp.

The 160 tstat is what came with the KB kit and was recommended. Its never been a problem in the past, unless the Tstat itself is sticking or soemthing. I may just pull it out completely, to see if it makes a difference.

JeremyH · Jul 31, 2011

I think the 160 t-stat is appropriate for the pd blower setup as well.

Good point about throwing a belt as well. Knew there was another good reason lol

94tbird · Jul 31, 2011

every now and then im good for one haha

With the Summer months and Heat in full effect, How hot is too hot?

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