Cooling, AC and temps? tdr IC
 

03, is the front of the motor "hotter" than the back? have TDR westach gauges and the sender for this up front off the tstat housing.

dummy gauge sits in the middle, never moves. fans never engage on their own (when I look or listen at a stop, but do both work with AC on. wire mod so they both run

sometimes the temp on the gauge will be 190 all day long.

other times (same ambient but AC off) temp sits at 220-225 on the gauge. no fans on.

AC blows about 60-70 never really gets colder. 90-95 ambient. it can get to 38* but only if it is sitting and not very hot/just started. compressor sometimes will cycle on and off every 5 seconds on the HWY making it surge and blow hot, warm, hot, warm air.

PWR radiator, tdr IC, shrouding all there afaik looking at pictures, 180* tstat.

im thinking about ordering the fm shroud and getting some more powerful fans than they offer.

but before I do, what else should I look for? is airflow that crappy behind the TDR ic? never had an issue with my old 96 with old style FM ic, AC blew really cold all the time. and it had a factory metal tank radiator.

bad head gasket?

Ideas? its too freaking hot and I want my AC back.

First off, ducting.

Second, you need to figure out why your radiator fan doesn't come on around 210, you shouldn't be seeing 220-225 without your radiator fan on.

Third, do you have good ducting in place?

Fourth, in your second paragraph you say "both fans work with AC on", in your fourth...ok, it's not a paragraph...in your fourth stanza, you say "same AC on...no fans on" This is confusing to me, in stanza 2, they worked, but by the time you wrote stanza 4, they stopped working?

Next point: What have you done to improve the ducting up front?

Your A/C needs recharged. Go to the auto parts store, buy a can of refrigerant with the trigger and a little built-in gauge on it for $40, and top up your system. Have faith that in the next few years, you'll be worried about finding the leaks. The problem with charging the A/C though - your condenser will run hotter because your A/C is running colder, this will increase engine coolant temps.

Got ducting?

The stock undertray - is it still in place, or at least a suitable alternative to it?

P.S. - Have I mentioned ducting yet? It's kind of important on our cars for cooling, and most of us destroy mazda's duct work when we do things like installing intercoolers.

YES, all of the tdr and under tray is there. im not on the track, im not ax'ing, im not even really in boost, im 65 on the hwy. not buying that the TDR ducting is not enough for this...

YES ac has been properly charged. like 5 times of suck, vac, charge, no loss. pressures were both a little higher than I would have liked though, but...

fans do work with ac on. do not engage with temp IIRC factory turns them on at 210? fixed above

hence, is the factory rear sensor not seeing as hot as the front?

how much air should I "feel" from the factory fans?

TDR i/c is much better than most in letting air through to the a/c condenser and radiator.

Something else is wrong with your a/c. If it cycles and doesn't let the evaporator get cold, the pressure switche(s) or the evap temp switch are a problem.

When I had a more restrictive i/c, and the factory fans, my a/c still blew cold.

yeah ive been searching and trying to figure out wtf is going on with this thing...

digging through the EMU manuals and the miata FSM now to see how it controls the fans, if it does... but there are multiple things i am sure..

update.
tstat double checked in a pot of water. 180* starts to open at 180, fully open at 185.

pulled rad. flushed out with water, lots of rusty/dirty came out of it. Im thinking the waterpump is crapped out...

I might be dealing with 2 different issues.... or the running hot is not letting the ac work well... it was 220* and the ac was blowing 40* on low...

If you rinsed crap out of your radiator, you need to go rinse the rest of the crap out of the engine.

Your first fan should come on at 204. Your second fan should come on at 214. If you have wired them to come on together then both should come on at 204. Assuming stock ecu control.

Get a scangauge or borrow something to read OBDII with, and see what temps the ECU is seeing. Or have you replaced the OEM ECU? In which case do whatever you need to do to read coolant temps from your ECU.

I'm fairly certain water temp has little if anything to do with AC functioning. I have a manifold if you need to borrow it.

Cool might have to do that. In the processd. of improving the ducting. Tdr. was getting cracked. Will post pics later.

improved side ducts. copied the busted up TDR pieces and made them a little bigger tighter.

drove it tonight. 200-205* fluctuating but the AC was definitely staying cooler so far... was about 85* ambient...

emanage ultimate, should be the ecu still controlling the fans. have not seen a menu in the EMU.