Litespeeds

I have a 1988 944 NA that I recently purchased and have spent a few $$$'s on some maintenance issues. When I first got the car, the temperature guage was usually around the middle of the 2nd and 3rd bar but ,my mechanic just found that my radiator has a leak so I had him replace it with a new one and now my car temperature is almost always on the 3rd bar from the top. Kind of at the 2/3 mark. Is this normal or is this something that I should be worried about?

Techno Duck

Was the system bled of air correctly?

You can try this yourself. Might help the problem

http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/cool-02.htm

Litespeeds

so if there is air in the cooling system, it will cause the temperature guage to read hotter? I will definitely ask my mechanic about that.

Do you guys recommend putting in Redline Water Wetter into the coolant?

Techno Duck

Well the temperature gauge will reflect higher temps because the cooling system is not at 100% efficeny with air pockets in the system.

aeronautica86

air in the cooling system will cause the gauge to read hotter because the engine will be hotter when there are pockets of air in the coolant!

Redline water wetter is good stuff, but it won't really keep your engine cooler - if I remember correctly it just helps to keep "hot spots" from developing in the engine

Rip It

u don't see anti-freeze on the ground after having been parked ? does you temp gauge and radiator fan cycle ? The outside air temp seems to have a great deal of influence on mine. Hot around town temp of cooling hose at water pump is 85c when radiator fan kicks on, gauge shows last bar before RED. I think my temp gauge sender is wrong and soon going to have it replaced.

ljibis

My '86 hits that mark very infrequently. In regular driving it's usually just above the first mark up to about dead center. My fan comes on right when it hits that mark, actually....like clockwork.

I'll echo others in saying that you should check the following:
1. Radiator bled properly and full of coolant in correct proportion.
2. Radiator fans running when hot.
3. If above are okay, check sending unit.

M758

Litespeed.

Couple things.

First the system needs to be bleen properly. This can be an issue.


Second. The secondard cooling fans kick in at the last white line. In normal street driving my 951 would increase temps till it hit that line then back down to the middle of the gauge. If you looked at it often it would some times be at the last white line and sometimes in the middle. In general it would be in middle however even in 115F heat with A/C on. If in stop and go it would be a last white mark. If at speed then middle. You need to remember these gauges read actual temperature and the radiator temps are not constant. Most normal cars have constant reading, but this artifically generated to keep the driver thinking things are ok. They only move with large changes in temperature.


Third. For some reason new radiators seem to run warm for a time. Seems like they need to be "broken in". So for a 1000 miles or so temps seem warm then will move down to normal. I saw this behavior on my 944 Turbo and my 84 944.

Dave in Chicago

And yes, I like to run Water Wetter even with antifreeze. Can't hurt.