WOT Engine Temp Increase

[1998gpgt]

Towards the end of last season, I started noticing that my temp gauge was starting to creep up during any WOT or spirited driving. I haven't had a scanner hooked up to see the exact temp increase, I just know that it is enough to where it is noticeable to the point of seeing the needle come up during the run/pull. I parked the car after my most recent track visit and haven't looked at it since.

I'm still rocking the 5/8" N/A radiator and stock water pump. I view this as an excuse to buy some new shiny things for my Grand Prix. I am ready to pull the trigger on an oversized radiator and Meziere electric water pump.

Does anyone have words in objection to this being a good idea?

Click to read more...

 

[boostedguy05]

[MENTION=7923]CTC DEEZUL[/MENTION] and me

Overheating crew check in.

Sounds normal for a 3800.

 

[DEEZUZ]

Meh, my Tstat is shot now so hottest she gets is 177 so no cares

 

[Nate]

Just get your valve cover recall done. GM thinks that will fix everything lol

 

[10sec]

You don't need either IMO. The miziere is a piece of shit and will fail on you and the over-sized radiator is overkill for a SC'd car. Your needle is moving but the temps are probably nothing near what you think they are. Cars get hot when you get on it, especially cars with all that shit on top of the motour. Save your money.

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

to be fair the radiator has 15+ years of crap accumulating gunk in it and on it (cottonwood fuzzies love to get stuck in em between the condenser and radiator) and its likely not able to transfer heat as fast...

the WP should be a preventative maint thing if its near 100k

 

[Yaj Yak]

You don't need either IMO. The miziere is a piece of shit and will fail on you and the over-sized radiator is overkill for a SC'd car. Your needle is moving but the temps are probably nothing near what you think they are. Cars get hot when you get on it, especially cars with all that shit on top of the motour. Save your money.

wtf is a motour

 

[10sec]

I do that just for you.

 

[ZephTheChef]

Temperatures are going to increase any time heat production exceeds heat dissipation and the rate at which they increase is a factor of system capacity vs how much of a difference those two values are. Your temps will continue to rise until the temperature differential at the radiator is high enough to allow the BTUs produced by the engine and dumped into the coolant to be effectively transferred to the ambient air. Factory radiators aren't typically sized to control temperatures during prolonged acceleration, they are sized for typical cruise loading.

I have had a dinky 5/8" radiator this whole time, and when I added the turbo (which is water cooled) my temperatures started creeping up, but it never overheated. It would run maybe 210-215. I was concerned about it becoming a problem, but it wasn't a priority for me to upgrade my radiator. In fact, I still would not be upgrading it if it weren't for the other benefits I was looking for regarding my refrigerated intercooling system's performance.

Point of the story is, if it bothers you then upgrade, if it doesn't then don't worry about it. It will probably be fine. Upgrading to a thicker core without additional frontal area will only slightly improve cooling anyway, but what it will do is increase your system coolant capacity and make the temperature rise happen more slowly. Pics for attention.

 

[10sec]

I had 2 turbo'd GTP's and neither had water cooled turbo's. When the AC was on and it was pretty hot out (I do not own NON-AC RACE CARS) both of them couldn't keep up and got hot enough to have to turn the AC off to let it cool down. If I was moving steadily without traffic they were fine though. There's just so much hot piping under the hood with nowhere for the heat to get out when the car isn't moving along. I think even upgrading the radiator wouldn't solve the stop and go overheating, you would have to get a vented hood or something, that is IF you wanted to continue using AC.

 

[ZephTheChef]

I had 2 turbo'd GTP's and neither had water cooled turbo's. When the AC was on and it was pretty hot out (I do not own NON-AC RACE CARS) both of them couldn't keep up and got hot enough to have to turn the AC off to let it cool down. If I was moving steadily without traffic they were fine though. There's just so much hot piping under the hood with nowhere for the heat to get out when the car isn't moving along. I think even upgrading the radiator wouldn't solve the stop and go overheating, you would have to get a vented hood or something, that is IF you wanted to continue using AC.

Race car without AC? What the fuck, why would anyone ever?

I agree, parked/stopped airflow seemed to be my problem more than anything else. The new fans and cowled hood should fix that even if the new radiator doesn't. I can say that having coolant running through the turbo dramatically cut down the warm-up time, but I don't know if it had any direct affect on the overall temps or if that was just a matter of all the extra exhaust piping under the hood.

 

[1998gpgt]

Thanks for the input everyone. I ended up picking up a HD Meziere and just flushing out my stock radiator. It may just be my imagination, but my temps seem to be staying more consistent.

 

[10sec]

Man, you wasted so much money on that water pump. Why??

 

[Yaj Yak]

BECAUSE BALLER [MENTION=517]10sec[/MENTION]

 

[10sec]

Just going to fail whilst you're out somewhere, that is a guarantee. The stock one is 100x more than enough.

 

[1998gpgt]

Just a little update on this. It turns out that I was still getting what appeared to be a significant temp increase any time I went WOT. I did some more searching online that led me to think the coolant temp sensor may have been playing a part in this. The installation of the new AC Delco sensor ending up resolving the issue.

[MENTION=517]10sec[/MENTION] The Meziere pump is still running strong. I will be sure to offer my congratulations to you if/when the pump happens to fail.

 

[10sec]

It will my son, it will. It's only been like 3 months...

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

^ negative nancy