Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Forced Induction ATTN All S/C'd or T/C'd Contours!

Hey Guys,

I've recently relocted to the Arizona/Texas areas from the midwest and have a s/c'd cougar. My car ran cool and fine before the move but now it constantly runs hot after ideling about 10mins with the a/c on. I've placed the t-stat and change the coolant without any resolve. The only things that seems to work is to turn on the heat. I'm beginning to get alittle nervous that I might be doing serious harm to the engine by letting the temp get so high. The only good thing is that I'm not experiencing much detonation with the heat. Anyone else having similar problems or have any helpful suggestions. I've been contemplating just removing the s/c. Please help!
Courtney

How high on the gauge does the needle get?

It has gone as high as the red but now since I'm aware of the problem it will get to about 3/4 of the way to boilover. After I turn the heat on and get the car moving it will go back down to just below 1/2. I realize that i haven't hit the boilover point yet but I am ruuning F/I thus the engine is under much more strain than if N/A.
Courtney

Bring it in to Street Flight and let's have a look.

erm...what about changing the waterpump??

NO NO NO! We have a thread in the 3L forum about high heat on the cougars. If you have the stock radiator and you are over a few years old, you could have some sediment buildup that reduces cooling efficiency. A good radiator shop can pull the radiator and run some kind of acid wash to clean it out. Using the heater to keep it under control is a big hint.

I advise getting an SVT radiator, the guy in the 3l forums got one for about $110. The SVT Contour radiators have larger cores and have given absolutely perfect results on 3L swaps and turbo setups. NO overheat in the desert even under boost. Add the SVT oil cooler to help control oil temps and you've seriously improved the reliability of your engine setup, especially with a S/C motor.

warmonger

Here's my story. You know the section that was cut out of the left cooling fan shroud? Well, vortech's instructions tells you to cut way too much out. What happens is that the cooling fan now directs the air from hot air from the rad, over towards the air filter, that's 190 or higher temperature air. Without the battery there any longer, the air filter just sucks it all in, and with more hot air going in, it keeps making the engine run even hotter. Mine ran to the point where the fuel pump made lots of squeaky noises from very, very hot fuel being returned and recirculated back through the tank.

What I did was 2 things. First I placed a heat shield around the air filter. That helped but didn't solve the problem completely. The second part of the fix was to get a small vinyl sheet, but high temperature though, cut to the shape like a small mud flap, and mount to cover part of the missing section of the left side fan shroud to just over the top of the supercharger. Now the hot air moves towards the firewall, instead of towards the left quarter panel. The stock water temp gauge used to be centre or right of centre. Now it stays always left of centre and the inlet temperature (measured via laser sensor) at the filter, has dropped some 30 degrees on a hot day. Tonight, the inlet temperature was about 80 degrees F, on a 70 degree F evening, which is very acceptable.

Here is a current engine bay pic. The flap I was discussing is attached on the fan shroud, in the picture just under the large return heater hose (with the white lettering).

Welcome to the SouthWest.

Get an Autometer Temp Gauge so that you know Exactly what you are running. Warmoger gives some great suggestions. Also, do what Keyser says and bring it to StreeFlight. Let us know when and we will meet up there. My car is the one casting a shadow from the lift. I will be the guy driving the POS pick up truck.

Hey thanks for all the help guys but I was wondering if the svt radiator would even fit. It was a tight squeeze for the stock unit after the s/c install. Would a more powerful water pump help any? An autometer temp gauge would also be of benefit in the future but right now I've got boost, A/F and oil pressure gauges and no room for anything else. I'm planning on hooking up with Keith and Chris at SF soon as I get some time from work. My car was awsome when I lived in Chicago but now with all of this heat is making it slow and sluggish again. I TO FIX THIS DARN OVERHEATING PROBLEM AND GET A INTERCOOLER QUICK!
Courtney