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Hey guys, took a drive to a friend's house yesterday and decided to take the project for some RND. It was particularly hot on the road, 100 degrees or so, and It appears i have some cooling issues. Ive uploaded a log with the post, I hope you have the time to take a look, but Im just wondering if it looks to yall like a head gasket or a faulty/insufficient cooling system. This is the first time the temp has crept up on me, but its also the first time ive driven it at 100 degrees. Doesnt have an issue 80 degrees or below.
Youll notice during the highway portion in the middle that it goes up and down because Id turn the heater on at the peaks, which evidently helped a bit. Its also worth noting how the temp returns to normal levels quickly while idling on the offramp.
Im hoping its just the 27 year old radiator cap, but im prepared for whatever it happens to be. Ill grab a coolant gas tester later, Ill keep the thread updated. plan on upgrading the radiator in the near future.
The setup has a turbo and a stock cooling system, though I feel like the turbo shouldnt put that much load on the stock system on a calm highway run.
You have a few spikes to 214F, usually it's lower. I wouldn't worry about that too much. I would be more worried about the lean spikes you have.
Example:
21.5 AFR at 99 kPA is asking for trouble. It seems you don't have a TPS or it's not set up correctly. To get rid of your spikes you'll need to use EAE, which requires a working TPS.
the WB lags behind quite a bit, usually by about 4-5 records.
Edit: Im not dismissing the concern, Im just trying to work at one thing at a time. Its on the to-do list.
cooling system tested negative for gases.
I rewired the fans so that both are used to cool instead of one. The attached log was recorded about 30 minutes ago on the highway under similar conditions as the first. it never touched 200 and appears to want to peak around 190 as opposed to threatening to surge passed 210. This is mostly purposed as a nighttime vehicle where air temps are in the 60s, so I no longer consider this an issue, however if I intend to track the car a large aluminum radiator is in order.
For sake of contributing to the library and not leaving future browsers hanging, im updating the thread now that Ive gone through a summer after I replaced the radiator cap. Went with a 16 psi cap from Fab9Tuning. While this did help with coolant loss (yes the cap did turn out to be leaking) It also gave a bit more headroom before it decides to increase the temps. Im able to comfortably drive 70 on a hot highway without the needle rising, but continuous *ahem* "passing maneuvers" will pull a reaction. When I relieved the previous owner of this car it didnt have the lower radiator plate. I plan to replace this sheet of plastic and report my findings.
Ive sourced the issue to be primarily caused by the intercooler that takes up 90% of the front mouth opening, which is why this mostly happens at highway speeds. Im also taking into account the fact that its a stock radiator, though im in a Goldilocks zone of testing where the conditions arent too severe and yet sensitive nonetheless which makes every improvement present and noticeable, so I want to explore as many options as I can to find out the real impact they present in their effectiveness in keeping the car cool. Im excited to find out if that lower radiator plate is as critical as everyone says it is.
PS: Ive resolved the lean spikes by self educating on EAE
06-05-2020, 11:01 AM
cooling issues
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