squzzy

alright, heres the deal. i drive home from my porsche shop, where i work incidently, and i decide to take the long way, and enjoy the drive. as im driving, i notice that the temp gauge is hovering at about three quarters at highway speeds, and is not going anywhere. my first thought was sheer panic, but i calmed down a little bit because my car has some wiring issues that im on my way to sorting out. i wrote it off as the gauge pooping out because it was working fine this morning and most of that gauge pod doesnt work anyway. i did stop to make sure i was ok though. i popped the hood and noticed obcene amounts of heat pouring off my engine. bad gauge my ***. for giggles, i squeze (sp?) the upper radiator hose. it's nice and soft! the really weird thing is that i heard no grinding, or other indication of a bad water pump. infact, one of the mechanics and i adjusted my mixture and idle today because my o2 sensor took a dive and it was running waaaaay rich (9% CO ) neither of us heard any noises then, and we were playing under the hood for about ten minutes. i think i just talked myself into a stuck tstat.

oh, the other thing, after we adjust my mixture and idle, i have less power. i know that i'm giving it less fuel, but shouldn't these things make the most power when they're running right? it was very strange to get on the gas and have nothing there. felt like my moms saturn.

the shop i work at is about 20 miles by the freeway and im worried about the drive down, i know we can fix the problem though tommorrow. i guess im just looking for piece of mind so i can sleep tonight.

thanks for your help and take care
brian

BartW

if the lower hose stays cool once at operating temp then I would think it is the T-stat

Ski

Mine did the same thing a few months ago - turned out to be the inner seal on the water pump; this is where the thermostat when it opens, closes the recirculation opening. It turned out some chunks were missing from the seal.

billybones

No pressure = leak in the cooling system.

squzzy

i fixed my car today, and it was the tstat. i threw it in some boiling water and it stayed closed. oh well. it should also be noted that turning down the mixture like it did,(the same day my tstat failed) causes it to run hotter. what are the chances?!

take care
brian

944Play

[quote]Originally posted by squzzy:
<strong>turning down the mixture like it did,(the same day my tstat failed) causes it to run hotter. what are the chances?!
</strong><hr></blockquote>

All the extra fuel acts as a coolant, scavenging the heat out of the engine. The same principle is applied in water-injection systems.

squzzy

yeah yeah, i knew that, but what are the chances that leaned out my mixture the same night my tstat went to hell? crazy i think.

take it easy
brian