StoogeMoe

I think you answered your own question when you mentioned the scale on the inside of your hoses. I'd guarantee that if it's on the hoses, it's all over your radiator too, restricting flow. Someone probably ran the wrong coolant or put in hard water instead of distilled water.

If flushing doesn't work, I'm afraid the radiator will have to be replaced.

____________________________________
1986 944 NA - Guards Red - 90k miles
1983 944 NA - Platinum metallic - beginning a new life
1985.1 944 NA - Guards Red - donor car
1984 911 Carrera Coupe - Guards Red (gone, but not forgotten)
"If you're not living on the edge, you're not living"

sillbeer

Stooge, so you think it may be the radiator then? If it is, i'll be somewhat relieved. Glad that its not the engine/headgasket/waterpump, but sorry I'll have to dump even more money into it =(

Yabo

Are you losing coolant AT ALL? because coolant shouldn't be disappearing, and if it is I would suspect headgasket, just because it happened to me.

sillbeer

nope..has never lost any coolant...no leaks, nothing...just refuses to run normal temps lol

sillbeer

Well, I cleaned the crap out of the radiator. There was a paper mache type of crud on the front side of the radiator. Im guessing only about 25% of the fins were even visible. I drove down estrella parkway @ 50mph and roughly 90-99 degree ambient temps...did ok. I got gas. I had the hood up and the fans were running constantly, probably because I have a low temp fan switch. They finally shut off with the engine off and I finished gassing up. waited in a drive through for like 10 minutes. fans never shut off. temp needle hovered around the middle line. I gtot back onto estrella parkway and the fans probably never did shut off, and the temps were halfway between the middle line and the 3rd line. Is this normal operation? I know my Honda fans come on and shut off about 40 seconds later. I don't think the water temp gauge is correct. The hoses dont feel nearly as hot as they did last summer. Back then I could barely touch the upper radiator hose but now I can grab and squeeze it a bit. Im thinking I should switch back to the stock fan switch or these fans will never shut off the whole time I drive it! Any opinions?

Lizard944

Too lazy to print it all out again, sooo... go to post labeled "wierd cooling problems half rad hot half cold" and see my post...almost 100% sure it's your thermostat

sillbeer

It could be the thermostat, although the rad and hoses do get hot...and I changed it last year, however the driving to fixing ratio on this particular vehicle is very high, so the thermostat can't have more than 10,000 miles on it...

sillbeer

I just read your post...I never checked the thermostat..I guess I could pull it out and check it...uugghhhhh..it seems like everytime I drive this damn thing it needs 2 hours worth of work...

M758

Yep, Sounds normal. It is hot out now and if run below the last white line, but above the middle line you are fine. I am not surprized the fans run so much. The low temp fanswitch will do that, but again you are fine. In this weather my race car would run at that temp.

However I have 3 things that help out the race car that you won't a a street car

1) No condenser - remove and improve air flow to the radiator
2) No center bar the spoiler = more air flow to the raditor
3) 951 oil cooler = less heat being put in the water
4) direct wire 6 blade fans than run at battery voltage (read very fast). I run both during races in the summer.


All 4 things are not really street car type stuff and even doing all that my race car gets to those temps. I don't worry about it at all.

BTW... at speed if you run the stock undertray it will help radiator air flow by helping to create a low pressure area behind it. Without the tray higher pressure air can get behind the radiator and thus restrict flow a bit.

BTW... if you want it to run cooler you will need a new radiator, T-stat sounds like it just fine. Even they don't expect it to be much cooler, remember the last white like is abotu 210F or so. Quite warm, but not overheating. The car is only overheating when past that line.

sillbeer

Joe,

sounds good to me! I was wondering if I'd have to run a bottle of water wetter in it or not! The only thing that concerns me is Im fixing the A/C on it right now and I havent tried driving it with the A/C on yet. Also, that drive was at night, and the sun was down. Im worried about driving it in the middle of the day, with the A/C on and the sun beating down...Also, I didn't have the under tray installed, I was just seeing if it was even driveable since I had done so much work on it and I hadn't driven it in 3 months!

Lizard944

Hmmm.. I wonder if I should do good, or evil with my invisibility??? Not to sound too sarcastic, ahem, but I would definitely not write this off as "normal," because it isn't. At highway speed, you should be running normal temps, I don't care what the ambient air temp is. I replaced a good three y/o thermostat with a brand new one straight from the dealership. I was just changing the coolant and did this as a matter of routine. Bled system 20 different ways, 'till I wasn't getting so much as a champaigne-size bubble coming from the bleed screw, and it still ran just below the "top white line." This was, by the way, in 65 degree outdoor temp. The new t-stat was opening around 205F(should be ~181F or 83c) and would subsequently close much sooner than it should. After removal and replacement with the old working t-stat, it ran perfectly; just barely above the first white line. This was at 85..errr.. 65mph in 94 degrees at 110% humidity. There is a post titled "weird cooling problems," which is almost a carbon copy of your problem. It ends with something like: "hey guys, everything is ok now. I just pulled the T-stat and it's running cool." These t-stats are quirky, and can fail or stick at any time, and impede flow. Do what you want, but if I was driving around with those temps, I think I'd cover up the gauge and the ( ! ) warning with black tape to cut down on the Pepto-Bismol bill, and start saving some coin for the inevitable motor transplant that you'll be needing.
1)Pull the T-stat. 2)Refill and bleed. 3)Drive around and report your findings. 4) check opening temp and function of T-stat in pot of water if you want. 5) Get new T-stat and check before installing. 6) you know the rest...

sillbeer

I know what you mean lizard. I wasnt trying to ignore you at all. I have an early car, Im not sure if that makes a difference but It never gets to the 3rd line as of yet. I havent driven it during the day yet, im afraid to with no A/C. It's supposed to be 112 tomorrow =( I think the gauge is inacurate becuase if I tap on the dash, it will move up or down. Most of the time it moves down..So, I duno...oil pressure according to the awesome stock early gauge is 5+ bar when cold, and around 2.0 at idle when hot. It did dip down to 1.5 bar when I was sitting in the drive thru for 10+ minutes. I also didnt have the lower cooling pan on when I was driving it around. It sucks that these thermostats are so tempermental. It seems like everything on these cars are" tempermental"

RMills944

In Memphis it gets about that hot and yes, that is normal for a 944 it seems. At the last autoX, on the way there my friend's car showed 103 degrees and my 944 was sitting on between the 3rd line and yellow area. The other 944 there did this as well. I just don't like it that hot though... I'm putting my 160 degree NAPA thermostat when I get to it. That keeps it right at the mid line even in 100 degree weather and keeps the fans off more too. It's well worth doing that.

ausgeflippt951

What is the stock thermostat rated at? I'd like to install a new thermostat as well, because just before I left the country in May my '86 was hitting just below the red when stopped at a light for a long-ish period of time.

On my car the fan tends to turn on at just below the red...no good. You say NAPA has a replacement thermostat rated at a much lower temperature? Still, 160 seems quite low. Any advice?

Lizard944

Stock is 83c (181F) I'm not crazy about using items that operate outside of original equipment range, that may have an influence on the DME. Just the "purist" side of me...lol. DME is set up to run efficiently at a certain temp range, not too hot, but not too cool either. Just assuming that it would run slightly richer since the DME is getting input that it's running cooler?
Maybe someone who knows what they're talking about can pipe in here?