Dougs951S

The other week I converted my car to a dry turbo setup. At the same time, I completely cleaned the inside of my radiator and changed the mounting of my FMIC to provide more airflow over the radiator. It is now overcooling, in normal driving I cant get the water temps over about 160*, the fans dont ever kick on, the car just isnt warming up. Is it normal for our cars to run significantly cooler on a dry turbo setup? Before the update the car would run consistently in the low 180's and the fans would kick on in traffic.

lee101315

Maybe the thermostat was stuck open and you didnt notice before because the cooling system wasnt as efficient?

The radiator doesnt cool the antifreeze until the thermostat opens, which should be around 176 degrees.

Dougs951S

I have a 71c* thermostat in the car though.

Tom M'Guinn

That's about 160f, which explains why it's running at 160f. The system just couldn't cool it all the way down to 160f before the changes.

Dougs951S

I assume then that its ok for it to run at 160 continuously?

lee101315

Well, I guess its ok. It shouldnt be permanent though... when spring rolls around and its hot enough for the AC, the operating temperatures should go back to normal.

mahoney944

I have a dry setup and my temps are always lower. Without all that turbo heat it won't get as hot unless your in hard, hot, or track conditions

gruhsy

mine runs below 160 in cooler weather.

Dave W.

It seems a little too cool for constant running. Just make sure the coolant temp adjustments in your MS are setup so there's no extra enrichment at those temps.

Dougs951S

Actually Dave this is a good point, I only really became aware of the ~25* drop in running temps after my car began running too rich and I couldn't figure out why until I thought to check my fuel trims on MS and realized it was indeed never getting out of warmup enrichment. My workaround was to just make the WUE cutoff at 150* instead of 170* where it used to be.

rlm328

I would bet that your oil temps are significantly higher.

Dougs951S

I wouldnt doubt it. I've got a 24" oil cooler to install here as soon as the weather warms up a bit. Its just been too damn cold to work in my unheated garage.

Paulyy

What did you do to the intercooler?

Dougs951S

Paul, I didn't do a whole lot to it, I just raised it up 3 or 4 inches with some new brackets, which allowed me to remove a bend in my charge pipes and remove nearly 12" of piping. It also exposed 4" of previously hidden radiator core to the moving air stream, and while I was in there I took the time to clean the inside of my rad really well.

Paulyy

Can you please post a pic of the clearance of yours though the bumper. as in a pic of the front of the car looking in towards the intercooler/radiator.