Question on Engine Temp

[chesnut]

Question - what is normal engine temp behavior in Texas summer weather 100 degree plus temperature?

My 1992 runs cool - 180 or less at highway speeds. During in city driving in the Texas summer heat 100 plus temps, the temp gauge will get close to the danger zone.

Same if weather cooler and driving hard like on a road course such as NCM Motorsports track.

Replaced both fan relays.

Car has never overheated.

Appreciate y'all's help. Thanks,

Gary
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[Dynomite]

Post 7 - Thermostats, Fans, Water Pump, and Radiators

[Chuck Banks]

I?m not in Texas, but frequently see 95* here in Prescott AZ @ 5200? elevation. City traffic with AC running engine temp will rise to about 221* before fans must kick in and bring temp down to about 207. Mountain driving shows the same high temp before slowly coming back down. I?ve never seen a temp above 223* so nowhere near the shaded zone on the analog gauge. I?m at 101500 miles with original radiator, but have thought about pulling it to see if debris has built up between the condenser and radiator.

Chuck

[Mikey]

Make sure your water level is full. My car has a leak in the recovery tank and I know water is low when I start seeing temps on the rise.

[WARP TEN]

I believe that when Marc Haibeck does a chip for a ZR-1 he sets the fans to turn on at 205 degrees. --Bob

[chesnut]

Dynomite,

GRRRREAT read - appreciate the link(s). Many thanks,

Gary
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[Young1]

Yes make sure black tank is full and white tank a 1/2 inch above line. Replace radiator cap if it is 30 years old. After a plenum pull recently I filled it and then noticed temps higher than normal. It was down 2-3 pints.

Yes you must pull radiator every 50,000 miles to clean it. Here in FL sand jams in the fins from following other cars too closely. It is surprising how much it scoops up.

[Hobbes]

I don?t remember the exact numbers, but last year I was pegging the temp gauge during the Houston heat of June/July. I ended up pulling the radiator for a good cleaning, put in Marc?s thermostat & chip, flushed the entire coolant system, and refilled with green coolant. Both the analog and digital temp gauge have been solid in the safe zone since then, even with long drives in 100+ degree heat.

[chesnut]

Temp update

June driving on I45 stop'n'go traffic in Houston area - '92 turned off the A/C and regular temp gauge was in the "danger zone".

Since then:
1) installed Marc's chip to turn on fans at 205
2) replaced radiator with 2 row DeWitt's radiator

Short test drive this morning went well. Ambient temp was 88 degrees.
- Idled with A/C on while filing up with gas & temp got up to 230
- Drove back home
- Idle for 15 minutes in driveway with A/C on and temp digital gauge showed 240

Checked top of radiator with temp gun and it showed 140 degrees.

Is there an easy way to tell if the passenger side radiator fan is on? I'm having a hard to seeing the fan blades to tell if they're moving or not.

Thanks,

Gary
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[Young1]

Tape some thick paper to end of something and slide it down there slowly. Like clothes pinning a baseball card to make noise on bicycle spokes when I was a kid. Or was I the only one that did that?