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I have a 2002 Z06 with a Magnacharger supercharger that was installed by Lingenfelter in 2005. I bought the car last year and this is my first blown engine so I'm still learning its functions.
My question concerns the cooling pump/system. The coolant in the tank does not get hot after a decent drive (about 1/2 hour). The hoses from the heat exchanger to the intercooler and from the intercooler to the coolant tank get hot, but the hose from the coolant tank to the coolant pump stays cool. The diagram I have for the system shows this hose as the return hose to the pump and then to the heat exchanger, so I assume it should be the hottest.
In addition to the coolant in the tank being cool, there is no pressure in the tank when I open the cap.
The coolant tank is full so I don't think there is a leak in the system, and the pump seems to run when the engine is running, although it doesn't seem to be moving the coolant.
My first thought is to replace the pump, but that doesn't explain why there is no pressure when I remove the cap. Could the cap be bad also?
Any suggestions or thoughts greatly appreciated.
Sorry for the long read.
with the car running and the coolant not hot, cap off of the res. look to see if you have coolant moving in the res. if not you have a flow problem.
on mine it is easy to tell that the coolant is moving just by looking.
if you do not see moving coolant I would think that you have a pump system issue, maybe a clogged or kinked hose?
Thanks for the replys. I do not see coolant flowing with the cap off. I have ordered a new pump and should have it installed next week.
I thought of a possible airlock but not sure how to resolve if that is the problem. Also, hoses don't looked kinked and can't think of anything that would be plugging the coolant flow. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
drain the system pull the hoses of the res. attach a water hose and slowly apply slight pressure see if it comes out the other end.
keep in mind that you do not want a lot of pressure in this system so if nothing is coming out stop.
for me i would just blow on one end but I'm stupid that way lol
unless you have a high spot in the hoses ie it goes up and the down and then up again (think W, V works fine) the res is the highest spot and the system tends to avoid airlock.
i have same set up and have same issue.I have no overheating problems.
Thanks for the input. I haven't seen any overheating either. Engine runs pretty consistent at 190 deg.
I'm new to the world of supercharging, am I correct that the intercooler is more to cool the air/ fuel charge under boost, than it is to cool the supercharger/engine?
The cooling circuit for the supercharger is separate from the engine cooling circuit. The intercooler is a small radiator(finned)that resides below the rotors,the air is pushe through the Finns to help provide some cooling effect from the compressed air.
The coolant ,or water is pumped(circulated)to a heat exchanger on the front air intake opening , where it gets cooler air from the " bottom air feed " . So it circulates in a circuit from the reservoir to the pump to the heat exchanger , then to the intercooler.
So that is why you should see flow in the reservoir, it means the water is being circulated properly.
I always found high engine temps in stop and go traffic until I relocated my heat exchanger.