stevecolletti

My 08 RS gets warm in stopped traffic ('traffic' is not defined the same way everywhere). I first noticed the overheating when it took me nearly an hour to 'drive' from the 105 & 710 interchange to the 105 & 605 interchange in SoCal (a distance of less than 5 miles), at around 90 degrees.
The same thing happened heading north up the 5 through the Central valley at 101 degrees during a 20+ minute (2 mile) construction slow.

Turning off the AC stops the gauges upward movement in the higher than normal, but not dangerous range, but temps won't start to drop (at those ambients) until you are moving - it only seems to take about 10-ish mph of movement, though.

HarmonyJim

I live exactly in the area of the central valley that stevecolletti refers to. I can assure you, conditions here are far worse than ever experienced near his socal reference (which I have also lived). My RS with AC running, in actually hotter than the 101 degrees he mentions (try 110) and for two plus hours (construction on the 99 has been a long time mess around here). During those times - more than a few times in the past 18 months that I have owned the RS, it has never got near overheating. Like I mentioned earlier in this thread, one needle width above center mark for both water and oil temps. Once moving, immediately back down to normal. It is fascinating why there would be a difference between individual cars. During these instances, the only difference in the car from box stock, is a SW center muffler bypass. Could that possibly have that significant of a difference due to better heat expulsion? Other than that, I would suspect there is a problem in the cooling systems, timing, carbon buildup?, exhaust/cat restrictions, etc on the cars that are experiencing overheating problems.

stevecolletti

You're right, Jim. We're seldom above 105 degrees.

I've put 26000+ miles on the car since near-new (541 miles). In that time, I can count the elevated heat issues on one hand. All were in traffic conditions that were near parked at high temps, and in all cases the gauge never got to the red, but was well above your 1-needle-width - more like 2-needles width from the red. In the first occurrence, the system got warm enough to shut the AC off on its own. After that, I never left the AC on as the gauge temps started to rise.

My car also has the SW bypass. I also have the SW/Evoms tune.
Clarification: The issue I've described predates the SW bypass and tune. They seem to have made no difference to when/where this occurs.

And since no one else has mentioned it, in my case the oil heats up first, with the water temp chasing - per the gauges. I'll try to remember to attach the AIM Solo to capture the 'real' temps next time I think it's likely.

ChrisF

I had the misfortune of taking a driving trip up through the central CA valley a couple of years ago in my .2. Temps hit 115 with the AC on full blast the whole way. Oil temps hit 230 and water temps normal. I've also tracked the car in 100+ without issue. Car is suspect. Maybe check the radiators for blockage?

If someone told me it was normal for a GT3 to overheat in hi temps, I'd move on.

stevecolletti

100% agree, as long as the car is getting airflow through it, and that doesn't take much speed.

I just want to make sure that we're all talking about the same thing.

HarmonyJim

Steve, I just installed the SW/EVOMS ECU reflash to go along with my SW bypass. What are your thoughts on the change from stock ECU programming? I'd be interested to hear another owner's opinion with the same car/same changes. I don't wish to hijack this thread, so I have another thread regarding this subject if you feel that would be a better place to answer (or PM me). Thanks in advance.

Liquid911

Pretty much the same thing for my car.
Maybe we should try to ascertain what the OP meant by 'overheating'. When I need to turn off my A/C, or more so if the car does it automatically, then I would say that temps are uncomfortably high under the hood.

stevecolletti

Jim, the quick answer is that I love it. I needed to get rid of the eGas throttle delay. The SW/Evoms tune did that. I didn't really notice a power increase, but prior to the tune, the car felt that it had 3 phases of acceleration on its way to redline. The tune smoothed that out into one nice linear rush. To me, it made it a lot easier to drive the car nearer its handling limits. Combined with the monoballs, I was finally comfortable driving the car quickly - it finally felt 'honest' to me.

I'm not sure the OP knew. It sounded like he only had the dealer's description to work with - "overheats in summer and traffic" might be a full disclosure. That location and the use of and could be the keys, based on our experiences -- but interestingly, not HarmonyJim's?

HarmonyJim

Steve, I too really like mine. So far the biggest plus is how much more solid just off idle when pulling away from a stop. Before I had to be careful not to stall it (I like using little revs so that the clutch lasts a long time), and now it is perfect. I have also done suspension work (full RSS Tarmac series front and rear, as well as RSS motor mounts), and the car is pure magic now.

almeena58

Middle East , Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Kuwait etc the summer temp is around 50C (~122F) and during stop and go traffic the oil temp will raise till 110 then the water will start toward east until warning come of high temp. so you have to shut engine or move to let air go to radiators.

this is my experience with 997.2 GT3 so I am trying to avoid driving through congested streets or during mid of the day.