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How hot is too hot. 180F thermostat 210 operating temp?

9

98Mystique2

CEG'er
Joined
Dec 11, 2010
Messages
204
Location
Chicago/(palatine/dekalb)
So i always thought my car ran hot ... normal scale the needle was always at the al twords the end it was a the l if not above....

After replacing everything basically... (Radiator, Waterpump, Thermostat, Temp sensor)
It Has a 180F thermostat in it right now. Shouldn't that hold the temp at 180?

Anyway so finally got an OBD scanner and found what my car has been running at... it warms up to about 190 and if the heater is on full blast it will stay at 180 for the most part...

But after driving for about half an hour on the expressway it was sitting at 210....

So i guess my question is how hot is too hot.. i feel like 210 is too hot... And also what temp do the fans come on if anyone knows off hand...
 
Temp wise 210 is ok. The boiling point of 50/50 is around 220ish. Plus take into consideration, the boiling point goes up 3 degrees for every pound of pressure the system holds. So, a 16psi system raises the boiling point to 260degrees with strictly water in the system.
 
Driving on the highway in a sane manner, the coolant temp should settle out at right about the thermostat opening temp, in your case 180F.

The first thing to check is if you have the undertray in place between the front bumper and the lower radiator support. If this is missing, a great deal of the air that passes through the lower bumper opening will waste below the radiator, instead of flowing through it. The rear turned-down edge of the undertray also creates a low pressure zone behind the radiator which helps increase radiator air flow.

You might have the same issue I had this past summer with some overheating on the highway. Everything checked out, coolant level, water pump, radiator, thermostat, radiator fan - all OK, but the coolant was running stupid hot (230F, oil at 250F) running 75MPH. Granted, I was pulling my little trailer, but I could drop the coolant temp right back to 195F (thermostat temp) and the oil to 220F by running the heater full blast. I discovered a large somewhat furry patch of crap plugging the A/C condenser, it was blocking nearly half the exposed area. I pulled the bumper cover, swung the condenser out and blasted it clean with the pressure washer. Overheating problem fixed. I have Autometer full sweep water and oil temp gauges, so I'm not relying on the stock idiot-pointer temp gauge.

This isn't the first time I've had this issue, have driven several cars past 100K miles, and the A/C condensers can get pretty loaded up with road crap.

All that said, 210F is not too hot, nothing wrong with that, but you might want to re-visit it when summer returns. I think the rad fan turns on at 220F and off at 215F, maybe 210, can't remember.

There is such a thing as an engine not being warm enough, I'm comfortable with coolant 190 to 220F, and I like it when my oil runs at 220F. If your oil isn't getting above the boiling point of water, then it's difficult to the PCV system to remove the accumulated water.
 
stock thermostat is 190 degrees. the coolant temp should range from 190 to 212, when the low speed fan kicks on. 210 is not to hot.
 
I discovered a large somewhat furry patch of crap plugging the A/C condenser, it was blocking nearly half the exposed area. I pulled the bumper cover, swung the condenser out and blasted it clean with the pressure washer. Overheating problem fixed. I have Autometer full sweep water and oil temp gauges, so I'm not relying on the stock idiot-pointer temp gauge.
Click to expand...

Well i dont have an ac condenser... because in the process of replacing the radiator the condenser rubbed against the oil cooler in the front grill.. puncturing it so i just removed the whole damn thing... compressor pump as well..

I dont have an oil temp gauge so i have no idea what my oil runs at...

I'm interested in this under tray thing... i have nothing. no spashguard thing people talk about or anything under there.. just a straight shot through everything
 
gmorrell said:
The first thing to check is if you have the undertray in place between the front bumper and the lower radiator support. If this is missing, a great deal of the air that passes through the lower bumper opening will waste below the radiator, instead of flowing through it. The rear turned-down edge of the undertray also creates a low pressure zone behind the radiator which helps increase radiator air flow.
Click to expand...

I thought the SVTs were the only ones to have that shield on them... :shrug:


OP: I4 or V6?
 
98Mystique2 said:
I'm interested in this under tray thing... i have nothing. no spashguard thing people talk about or anything under there.. just a straight shot through everything
Click to expand...

contourspd98 said:
I thought the SVTs were the only ones to have that shield on them... :shrug:
Click to expand...

all pre98 cars have the under bumper tray. only SVTs and possibly early 98's have them for the later years. they are often removed and then never refit. however I have never had any over heating issues because the tray isn't installed.
 
Awesome... yeah i keep the bluetooth dongle obd thing in my car so i can watch the temp while i drive... and we'll see how it goes when it get's closer to summer... i was thinking about putting aftermarket fans on next cause the stock ones block off a large portion of the back of the radiator as well as being heavy as hell
 
crewchiefpro said:
The fan shroud is still on and undamaged, correct?
Click to expand...
You mean the gigantic 40 pound beast... with the two fans... yes...
and the fans spin freely though i havent heard them come on but the car hasnt gotten to 212 while sitting still yet that i know of...

I had pictures but i cant for the life of me find them .. i think they're on my phone
 
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