When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
in my 2009 base A6 that my temps on the highway stay around 192 and city driving fluctuate between 198-212 (220 when its 110 outside). Is this variance in the normal range? Doesn't this range accelerate engine ware?
Is there a thermostat that can regulate the temperature better than the OE? Or can the fans be programmed to regulate the temps better?
"in my 2009 base A6 that my temps on the highway stay around 192 and city driving fluctuate between 198-212 (220 when its 110 outside). Is this variance in the normal range? Doesn't this range accelerate engine ware? "
Yes, normal. 192 to 220, depending on driving condition.
"Is there a thermostat that can regulate the temperature better than the OE? Or can the fans be programmed to regulate the temps better?"
Better? The thermostat opens somewhere around its spec. The OEM is 186, and mine settles around 193 - 194 on highway driving.
The OEM cooling system is undersize, maybe to save weight (?), such that when stopped, the cooling fans have to keep it from over-heating. Most regular cars I've driven don't do that so I wondered the same thing. After 3 years with my 08, it is pretty consistent to what you are seeing.
Yes, a tuner can change when your fans turn-on. You might shorten their life by increasing the duty-cycle, but I had it done. Most people are concerned with higher coolant temperatures affecting the ECM's spark advance curves. It turns out Intake Air Temp affects it more, and that's whey they look for true cold air intakes. I hope this helps.
some people, particularly drag racers, put 160 degree thermostats but there is a host of plus and minus to that and you can read a great deal with a search. The Stant brand thermostat, 186 degrees, has high ratings and they are cheap.
The reason for this is at the slightly higher temps, the exhaust gasses are cleaner, and oil with additives meant to be run at these higher temps comes up to temp to burn away the moisture (condensation collection as the engine cools down) and impurities in it (boiling point of water is 212).
The reason for this is at the slightly higher temps, the exhaust gasses are cleaner, and oil with additives meant to be run at these higher temps comes up to temp to burn away the moisture (condensation collection as the engine cools down) and impurities in it (boiling point of water is 212).
and that increases when pressurized. Yes you can make you car run cooler but to what advantage?
Even with a 160 thermostat you're city driving temps will still be the same as stock. That's because the fan starts to come on at 199 at 15%. Not really enough on a hot day. Temp goes up and the fan increases 8% every 4 degrees. So at 217 its still only about 50% on. I programmed my fan to come on 50% at 192., 75% at 196 and 90% at 199. So now it runs 195-200.
I have a 160 thermostat. keeps temps down which is always a good thing. Heat is an engine and oils worst enemy. Look how good cars run in cooler weather. In the cluster pic below (mines canadian so metric) I had been on a 4 hour road trip and was running pretty cool in very hot weather.
engine oil temp was 154.4F
engine coolant temp was 168.8F
The reason for this is at the slightly higher temps, the exhaust gasses are cleaner, and oil with additives meant to be run at these higher temps comes up to temp to burn away the moisture (condensation collection as the engine cools down) and impurities in it (boiling point of water is 212).
Time to go back to your science and physics books to understand evaporation and condensation of water in relation to temperature changes within a closed vessel and/or the humidity (dew point temperature) of the surrounding air.
It's why warm beer doesn't sweat when placed in the fridge, but does when it's cold and taken out.
Time to go back to your science and physics books to understand evaporation and condensation of water in relation to temperature changes within a closed vessel and/or the humidity (dew point temperature) of the surrounding air.
It's why warm beer doesn't sweat when placed in the fridge, but does when it's cold and taken out.
Oil gallery is kept under vacuum pressure by the PVC system.
The oil gallery is NOT under vacuum. Yes there is the hose coñnection from the intake manifold to the valley cover but its a small orifice. Put a gauge on a rocker cover hose connection. The reason is that hose coñnection at the air filter. The two rocker covers hoses connect to the oil tank which connects to the air filter intake. You can't have a vacuum if the other end is open to the air. But it does suck the oil-moisture vapors into the intake.
Keeping these engines running HOT is an old wife's tale---Some say they NEED to be run hot to run good-- others say mileage is better when hot---
To me this is all BS-----Computer controlled or not there is no good reason to run an engine at 200*----
I tune all my cars using a 160 or 180 thermo and adjust the fans to come on sooner to take advantage of the early opening thermo---
Especially on an auto trans where the trans fluid goes thru the radiator for cooling--Not only does the engine run cooler so does the auto trans
Another added side benefit of a cooler engine is that the "underhood temperatures" go way down----On a stock thermo high underhood temps will make your IAT temps spike up to 130-140* In turn this makes the ECM pull vast amounts of timing from your engine making if very lazy---These IAT temps are always False temps but the ECM does not know that---Lowering the underhood temps via a cooler running engine will get rid of most all those high false IAT temps and let in all the timing programmed into the ECM
Thermostat question
I love that analogy.
