Regular driving, temp gauge stays between 185-195 degrees. At a red light and at the drive through fast food joint, the gauge crept up to 230-235. Is this normal? I admit I am the mayor of Simpleton when it comes to engines, so any advice/help in this matter would be greatly appreciated. :yesnod:

 

Check under the front to see if there are anything like leaves built up under there blocking air flow. I think clogged cats can cause a car to heat up too.

 

I replied to your e-mail. :)
Dave

 

Water or oil temp?

 

That seems high. I don't think my water temp has been over 220. Check for debris and be sure the electric fan is operating correctly.

 

That was my water temp. Is it time to call the dealer for some warranty work? Thanks for the reply, Dave :cheers:

 

Check the opening to the radiator in front the center spoiler. You will be amazed at what gets sucked in the radiator. If that is not the problem, check to see if your cooling fans are working at those temps. A Quick way to check the fans is to get the car up to temperature and turn on the AC.


[Modified by NEED FOR SPEED, 6:53 PM 2/16/2002]

 

Sparticus - This doesn't sound unusual to me if you have not reprogrammed the cooling fan cut on/off points. While I would certainly follow the good advice of others to check for radiator blockage, in my experience the high temps at long idle intervals are probably due entirely to the rather high cooling fan points programmed into the system by GM, presumably to lower certain types of emissions under these conditions. Even with a lower temp thermostat (I use a 165) before I reprogrammed the fan on/off points my coolant temps ran abut 170 under low load cruise but cycled between 200 to 225 or more under the extended idle conditions you mention. An easy way to change the fan temp programming is with something like the Hypertech. Though it probably is not much good for much else for M6 cars, it does this as advertised and switches the fans on and off at selectable lower temps.

Please don't consider this an endorsement of the Hypertech. Their tech support is worthless, they don't support higher ratio rear gears (even the stock 3.42) and unless you have an A4, where it may help with the shift points, it is certainly overpriced for the value received. If there were another easy and cheaper way just to change the fan programming I would do it, but this function alone is worthwhile to keep the engine cooler while (for example) idling in the pits or staging lane, or at the drive-through.

 

The stock thermostat is 190', but I think that if your A/C is not running none of the radiator fans come on until about 220'. If the A/C is on, then at least one of the fans is always running. So in many cases, you can make your engine run cooler in traffic by turning on the A/C !

 

Mine goes that high all the time in heavy traffic or after a hard run. I think you'll fnd it to be very normal. Buy the way, in normal cruising, mine runs in the 190's.

 

As others have said, don't worry, these temperatures are normal.
Unless you run the AC , the cooling fans only come on above 220 degrees.

Roger

 

I am thinking of just installling a switch to allow the grounding of fan relay #1 (turns on both fans at slow speed). This would not be very sophisticated, i.e., automatic, but it would at least provide the ability for the driver to intersede. If the switch was left OFF (open circuit) the PCM would work as usual. Does anyone see a problem with this? By the way I have a 2002 coupe.

 

You should consider a 170 degree thermostat along with a fan relay that allows you the flexability to control when the fan comes on.

Check out http://vincihiperformance.com/products.htm for the thermometer and VHP CONSTANT MONITOR FAN CONTROLLER FOR LS1.

It brought my temps down to 185 during hot Florida days

 

Skipshift - that will work. One problem is that it will be easy to forget to turn them off, so they will be running a lot when they don't need to be. Also, I'm not certain the relay is wired through the ignition circuit, so if you (or anybody else) neglects to turn them off when you park the car, they may continue to run and drain the battery. You can check that if you have the service manual.

The more elegant solution is to program it into the PCM. Look around for a cheapo used hypertech.