Hey guys -

I have a front mount right behind the nose piece and from what I'm reading that can make our cars prone to overheating.

I haven't pushed the limits yet, but I was out cruising around 70mph (2800-3000rpms) this afternoon with the a/c on and the car was running 240+ (computer scan)...right at the 3/4 mark on gauge. I can slow down to around 55mph and the engine seems to cool just fine.

I noticed it running warm last winter (215ish), but now that's it is getting warm outside (Houston, TX), that is entirely too hot for the car.

Any suggestions on making it run cooler?

It seems the radiator is the last to get any air because I have the intercooler, tranny cooler, condenser, and then the rad.

...and I have a 160 t-stat and the system has been bled. I've searched and found people with similar problems with no results.

 

If it is running hot because of the SC and it isn't do to a problem other than that you might want to consider geting an aluminum radiator.
Have you ever had a blown head gasket?

 

Not yet...but it won't be long if I run it that hot.

Would an aftermarket radiator make that much difference?

 

What temp do your fans come on? I have mine set at 165. Also, with all those components, do you still have the factory air ducts so the radiator can breathe?

Haven't had an aluminum radiator in this car, but in my old turbo'd miata it made a hugh difference. The only time temps would climb higher than normal is after 30 mins of road racing on 100deg day.

 

The factory air dam is in place and I'm not sure what temp the fans come on...whatever Bryan (PCM4LESS) did. They are kicking on though.

 

Bingo. I'd check this before doing anything else.

 

Assuming everything is running right and healthy parts ... If she has to slow down to 55 to cool it down then the fans aren't going to help that. I suggest maybe looking at your coolant and running more water and some water wetter and less antifreeze in the mix, especially since you live in Houston. Then you might want to alter your air dam - make it deeper - or do something to get more cool air flow to the radiator and maybe even consider a cowl hood to get hot air out of there.

If the radiator is old, maybe replace it, or at least flush everything out really good.

 

Thanks for all the replies.

I am running the water/water wetter mix and the rad is only 2 years old. It isn't even REALLY hot yet, so there is no way the car will survive in the summer.

I will look into a different air dam though. I remember guys with ground fx had problems overheating and somebody made a special air dam. Anybody remember this off the top of their head?

Also, would a bigger air dam make much difference? It seems to be that the intercooler is kicking off hot air that is being picked up by the air dam.

 

Check ebay- I see the RKSport drop dams on there quite often. Either that or just buy another stock one and rivet a section of it to the one you have. The RKSport ones are typically over $100-

 

I remember one guy had an air dam for his intercooler and a separate one for his radiator. That was quite a few years ago, though. Not sure if he had AC. AC, A4 cooler, radiator, intercooler - that is a lot of stuff all jammed in there. Maybe relocate the A4 cooler and stick a fan on it.

I see you have a stall converter as well so that contributes a little heat at slower speeds. Just make sure it's locking up - I'm sure it probably is, but had to mention it anyway since I'm just brainstorming.

Also, water wetter won't do much if there's much more than 30% antifreeze in there, so the mix of water is important if you want that stuff to do it's job.

You could also try to convert over to Evans coolant. I've heard that drops temps pretty good, but I don't have personal experience with it.

 

This was my next idea. Any good alternate locations?

 

...and yes, this coupled with 373s in Houston heat doesn't make a good combination for FI cars

What about possibly ditching the intercooler? I get its purpose, but in these temps I'm sure the thing is heat soaked in 5-10mintues. Heated soaked IC and hot engine temps surely equals massive decrease in power.

One more question; what is considered the 'overheating' temp for our cars?

 

The stock thermostat opens at 185-205 and the cars routinely operate at 220, but I would say anything more than 240 is definitely too hot. Synthetic oil would prevent it from cooking too badly. Did you have a stock water pump on there still?

Maybe you could stick your tranny cooler underneath although our cars don't have a lot of room. They do make some that are long with fins on them and that could probably be tucked away somewhere maybe next to a frame rail.

As for the intercooler, they are more foolproof than alcohol/water injection, but that's what I run and it does a good job of cooling and doesn't block the radiator. I use the washer resevoir for the methanol water mix - it's an on-demand system and otherwise not in the way, but it had better work when you need it to. And you're right - if your intercooler is that hot, it isn't going to help the intake charge much, and if your engine is that hot, it's likely to detonate under boost if you mash it which I'm sure you don't want. Problem is that you're just cruising around not in boost and it's already almost overheating, so that's not a good thing for a boosted car. I guess it's tough to have all that junk on there and have to live in a hot and humid climate. Wish I had better advice for ya.

 

Thanks for the help.

I am going to try moving the tranny cooler and modify the air dam.

If these two fail, then it looks like I need to read up on water injection and ditch the IC.

I wanted this thing to be a daily driver, but when it hits 100+ here, I don't see that happening.

 

I had a problem when I put on the front lip. All I did was rivet a piece of steel to my air dam. Now my air dam hangs about 1 inch lower. Worked great