993 running temp
06-25-2004, 02:50 AM
#46
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Hi folks, I've been lurking here at Rennlist for several months now and have been a member since last year. Someday I'll finally get around to posting an introductory message, but I had to get in on this thread as my first post. I've gotten waaay too much great info here to not describe my oil cooler experience which seems to be atypical but should be documented in case anyone has a similar problem.
I bought my car (1996 Arena Red C4S with 75K miles) last fall in Seattle and drove it home to New Mexico. About half way home my temperature gauge started reading much higher than at the start of the trip (went from around 7:30 to 9:00 or so). Took the car to the local dealer and received a story that this was probably just due to the higher altitude here in New Mexico which they felt made the heat transfer less efficient. That might have been marginally believable if my best friend didn't have a '95 C4 that always runs at 7:30. It might also have been more believeable if they hadn't told me "don't worry, it's ok as long as it isn't in the red zone". Yes, they actually told me that. (As soon as I'm off the factory warranty they'll never see my car again).
So got the car home, found the p-car article on diagnosing the oil cooler. Checked for flow, yep fender and oil lines are hot so the thermostat was open. Checked the resistor and sure enough, it was dead. After reading more, decided to disconnect the temp sensor and run the fan at high speed. BUT, and here's the wierd thing, it did not change my running temperature noticably.
Not having time to investigate further, and with winter arriving, I continued to drive (nervously) with the temp gauge reading 9:00. This spring as the weather heated up, the car started to routinely read 10:00 and I had to do something. I ran through the p-car document again, and to my surprise found this time that the thermostat was no longer functioning. It has since been replaced and the car is finally running where it should.
Anyway, my point is to make people aware that the oil thermostats on these cars do fail, and in my case the failure was not immediate. Probably it began failing and restricting oil flow so that although the lines felt warm, there was not enough flow to properly cool the engine. I haven't found any other instances of this type of failure by searching the archives. Anyone know of similar cases?
Sorry this got so long- again hello to all and thanks for all the great posts. This community is unbelievable!
Paul
I bought my car (1996 Arena Red C4S with 75K miles) last fall in Seattle and drove it home to New Mexico. About half way home my temperature gauge started reading much higher than at the start of the trip (went from around 7:30 to 9:00 or so). Took the car to the local dealer and received a story that this was probably just due to the higher altitude here in New Mexico which they felt made the heat transfer less efficient. That might have been marginally believable if my best friend didn't have a '95 C4 that always runs at 7:30. It might also have been more believeable if they hadn't told me "don't worry, it's ok as long as it isn't in the red zone". Yes, they actually told me that. (As soon as I'm off the factory warranty they'll never see my car again).
So got the car home, found the p-car article on diagnosing the oil cooler. Checked for flow, yep fender and oil lines are hot so the thermostat was open. Checked the resistor and sure enough, it was dead. After reading more, decided to disconnect the temp sensor and run the fan at high speed. BUT, and here's the wierd thing, it did not change my running temperature noticably.
Not having time to investigate further, and with winter arriving, I continued to drive (nervously) with the temp gauge reading 9:00. This spring as the weather heated up, the car started to routinely read 10:00 and I had to do something. I ran through the p-car document again, and to my surprise found this time that the thermostat was no longer functioning. It has since been replaced and the car is finally running where it should.
Anyway, my point is to make people aware that the oil thermostats on these cars do fail, and in my case the failure was not immediate. Probably it began failing and restricting oil flow so that although the lines felt warm, there was not enough flow to properly cool the engine. I haven't found any other instances of this type of failure by searching the archives. Anyone know of similar cases?
Sorry this got so long- again hello to all and thanks for all the great posts. This community is unbelievable!
Paul
06-27-2004, 10:27 AM
#47
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kary
i am supposing that as long as the temperature of the car is cold the sensor will send info to have a richer fuel-oxygen mixture.
This is done in some cars as a starting without this rich mixture is difficult.
The mixture of fuel-oxygen is at its best at the normal working temp of the engine.
Guess I had read it somewhere...
i am supposing that as long as the temperature of the car is cold the sensor will send info to have a richer fuel-oxygen mixture.
This is done in some cars as a starting without this rich mixture is difficult.
The mixture of fuel-oxygen is at its best at the normal working temp of the engine.
Guess I had read it somewhere...
