So Summer's here! (heating problems)
 

I've done just about everything you should to keep the car cooled down w/ the exception of the OEM fans/radiator and relocation (because it looks too difficult and i dont want to start a project i can't finish)...

Here's the things i've done:

-Radiator flush(50/50 Prestone w/ water wetter)
-New radiator cap (came with radiator)
-New Koyo OEM Radiator (automatic)
-New Thermostat (i forgot the degrees it works on, but it came from napa)
-Dual Fans mod (it's not set to turn on when the car is on.... maybe i should do that mod?)

The problem is:
Before when the weather was 80 and under the car drove fine.... i did highway driving for an hr and the car wouldn't even get hot. But with the summer coming by and the 95+ degree weather of FL (which sucks monkey nuts cuz i sweat my balls off on hot weather) I attempted to do a 1hr drive to my girlfriend's house (from kissimmee to maitland if anyone's familiar with that) and the car went 75% on the highway... my POS metal OBX wanna-be short shifter got soo hot i could burn my hand if i left it there long enough. So i immediately got off the highway... took the car slowly in the backroads to her house until the overheating died down, when i got to her house i checked all my fluid levels and they were all fine. :mad:

is there anything else that i can do? besides godspeed radiator+new flex fans? i'm flat broke as of last week and i can't think of anything else besides those two and biting the bullet and attempting to do the relocation kit :hustler:

Uh...Cut up your bumper?

And since its summer and your in Florida theres no risk of your coolant freezing(I know anti-freeze has other properties too, I might still get flamed for this) you could try running a weaker(more water) anti-freeze mixture, since water cools better than antifreeze

oil cooler?

i believe that fatass front mount i have is what's causing major heating problems at higher speeds (the RPMS stay at 4000+ for an hour straight @70ish), so i don't really know about an oil cooler... i'm thinking about doing braineack's tip for other people.... 30/70 coolant/water mixture combined with water wetter.... OR run 25/75.... dunno if that'll help much but it's worth a shot right?

as for cutting up the bumper... i have the VIS wizdom kit... so i dont think air getting in is that much of a problem

http://i30.tinypic.com/33ou1jm.jpg
http://i25.tinypic.com/16kz2x5.jpg

Hi, I'll throw in my 2c worth. I have standard nose on my '91 MX-5. I had a big sucker of an IC. It was almost as big as the radiator. I also have a PWR all metal 37mm radiator and was having major overheating issues last summer. Oh yeah, I also has air conditioning. I had removed the under engine tray as the IC piping was in the way
I ended up fitting a smaller IC and modified the under engine tray to allow it to fit with the IC piping. So far no more overheating. I have read on the miata.net forum that the under engine tray makes a big difference to the amount of air drawn through the radiator. Yes the intake air temp is slightly higher with the smaller IC, but a small price to pay for resolving the overheating.

J

Hey Goku, I've faced overheating even before I installed the turbo kit. I too did all the things you mention and I still face some overheat. I decided to buy the Qmax system (which by the way has still not come to market :mad:). My suggestion would be to either do the Begi Coolant reroute or check to see when mkulak announces they have completed theirs.

I'm convinced that there is no other solution for those of us facing overheating problems.

I see (through) your problem. All that oncoming air is rolling off the face of your IC through all the holes in your "mouth". That's what is missing from your checklist: seal off air entry in front end. That's also the disadvantage of mounting the IC so far forward- the air that rolls off the face of your IC is less likely to enter the mouth and reach the rest of the heat exchangers.

I think I may have the same problem. I have had no overheating problems until yesterday. It was hot as balls yesterday and my temp gauge climbed slightly above the half mark. Im gonna replace my 10" fans with 2 12" fans. I have pretty much done everything else.
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Ha, I have the same issue with that. Replacing it shortly. No heating issues in the summer for me yet, just overheating :)

hmm... i'll take a look under there, i believe the undertray is still there, if not... it was thrown away from by my installer a while ago :( i even had the adapter for the K&N filter over at his house and he threw that away also

how has the qmax system been treating you? i may decide to do the reroute after i fork over money for bigger fans+radiator.... but i doubt it's the fan's problem(since this is at high mileage driving and not idle)

so you're saying i should move it back a bit? i'll try my best... but i'm not a professional welder or anything LOL.... i mean i can drill a hole at the bracket where the guy made the IC for me but that's the best i can do

yeah....HOT AS BALLS LEV!!! holy cow 95+ degrees owns me.... and i didn't wanna make it worse by turning on the AC on the highway lol

yeah.... well compy.... mainly you're suppose to put in a new shifter boot... i've been uber lazy and i dont have the money for it right now (what is it...like 15$???) but i'm pretty sure after you replace the shifter boot the heating problems will go away with that cheap assed shit-shifter

GoKu, as far as I'm concerned the PWR radiator and fancy spals didn't make any appreciable difference. If I were you I'd follow m2cup's advice and seal the front of the rad. I'm convinced that the best option is to go the coolant reroute way. BTW, check to see if your fans are working and try to turn the A/C on next time you face that issue. That will make the second fan come in.

About the Qmax; I'm still waiting for it. I got an email from Emilio informing me that now it would be available at the end of May at the earliest :mad:

Agreed. Mine just actually tore recently, hence the heat :(

lifting your hood in the rear increases engine bay pressure and reduces cooling efficiency at speed. it will help at low speeds and in traffic, but for highway you should put your hood back in the stock config in the rear.

I just got done with putting the thermostat on the back of the head and totally bypassed the heater and mixing manifold. It wasn't bad at all. The hardest part was taking the friggin coil pack off to be able to reach the rear of the engine. Anyways, before, I was hitting about 200 to 205 daily on the freeway (160*F thermostat, oil cooler, 2 fans) and today, I was getting about consistent 180*F at the front of the engine (160*, oil cooler, 1 fan). Next up on the list of stuff to do is to get the undertray back on or to make a new one from lexan that encloses the radiator sans end tanks.

ducting is the biggest key. your intercooler is too big and is is forcing air around and out of the nose of the car. If you duct everything up it will work better. My track got a v mount this winter with ducting that lets no air out. 1 hour track sessions see water temps no higher than 98deg..

Not to mention it looks rice as hell.


Like M2 said, seal off the radiator/ic flow so air doesn't go around it, but through it and you should have a noticeable difference in cooling.

Its ghetto, but for a short test couldn't you use cardboard to test where you'd need to place things?

and my god, drop the back of the hood down to stock.

I doubt you'll find a single intercooler setup here that required mounting. There are tons of threads with images showing IC mounting on this forum. It's usually a matter of some aluminum flat stock, bending and a drill. That location is poor ... and ugly, IMO. ;)

seconded on everything M2 said, seal so air can't escape around the rad and move the IC back. Also, water pump? Maybe the WP is on its way out and only gets ugly during prolonged mid-high RPM cruise?

i'm running dual fans, so the fans turn on whenever it's ready to... i will definitely think aobut the re-route now.... and i'll look up bell's kit :)

yeah...... damn heat! i think i'm gonna make that my next mod, the other day the car got so hot the CD functions of my radio stopped working (it said overheat) temporarily

thanks arkmage, i'll definitely lower it.... i had it raised cuz before i did a lot of city driving.... now with my girlfriend halfway across town i gotta make the highway trips :(

wow.... that's an insane improvement! i will definitely do that now!!

wth! that's amazing! i'll definitely try this too after the bell kit!

thanks for the advice... but i like the look of the big fatass intercooler up front, it was cheap anyways (i believe 50-100$?)... i will be running meth/water soon so i won't really need a IC pretty soon

will do mr ben sir... i PMed u a while back about the pistons you ordered man, you never got back to me :(

ohh... the guy who did mine's?(god knows why, but he freaking loves to weld...) welded the brackets for the intercooler.... yeah i believe it's a bit unnecessary but he did it....*sigh* if i could go back in time.... my turbo set-up would be insane(especially looking at some of you guy's setups!)

that's not a bad reccomendation! i looked up WP replacement, and man does it look ugly! (i definitely do not want to mess with timing right now)