So I went to streets of willow on Saturday, and my coolant temps hit the H mark after lap 5 or so. Granted, it was 100+ degrees out. I currently have the nismo cap, mishimoto lower temp thermostat, and was running 50/50 with a bottle of redline water wetter in there. I recently installed an oil cooler, and my oil temps peaked at 270-280 and dropped to 260 when I wasnt in traffic, which I was pretty happy with since they were hitting 300+ previously. Im sure they were higher but the gauge only goes to 300.

I was driving with the heater on full blast to try and help, but it would still overheat after lap 5 or so. Id pull off, drive through the pits, up the road, back down, it would be back down where it usually is, and then after a lap or lap and a half it would start moving again. I also saw a 370 doing the same thing so Im not sure if it was his oil/brakes/coolant, but I felt a little better about having to pull off.

Im sure a different radiator would help, but Im not sure it would prevent overheating with the temps in the 100 range, so was just curious what you track guys thought.

Also, should I look into adding a coolant temp gauge? I mean, Ive ran on the track when its been 90+ before and only once seen the coolant temp gauge move. Im sure it couldnt hurt, but worth it for a mostly street driven car that sees the track once a month or so?

 

Search!

We have a couple recent threads on oil temps, heat soak, and track tricks!

 

I saw the thread on cooling tricks/oil temps, I will search on aftermarket radiators, thanks

 

Well any quality name brand radiator is gonna provide better cooling over stock! So if the aftermarket radiator is larger than stock and fits not much more that can be squeezed out of that part.

Sorry for my useless post but by all means derail a similiar thread with a question!

 

some suggestions:

1) a water temp sensor T'd into the radiator hose is a good idea to know constant water temps.. however if you dont want to do that, you can get what the ECU reads in temp if you get like a multi-display unit that reads OBDII info... like an scantool like app for your smart phone... can also show air inlet temps, probably ignition timing, rpm, etc..

2)as far a overheating.. probably if you get serious ducting ducting ducting!, seal the cooler so only one way in, and proper low pressure to suck out. for radiator, ambient temps are gonna be an issue no matter what radiator you get, but try to get one with good fin design. you can get an oem sized one with good fin design outperform a monster thick radiator as size doesn't necessarily mean better since the larger the radiator, the bigger heat sink it becomes when you're not moving...

how about venting the hood or raising the rear of the hood via spacers or remove the plastic fairings around your wiper blades next time? also are you running the OE undertray?

 

yes, oe undertray. removing the plastic is a good idea, ill have to try that next time. And Ill look into the obd II sensor for my phone, thanks for the response

 

More distilled water, less coolant? Better weight oil? Turn on heater fan and let it blow outside.

 

keep the undertray, remove the plastic by the windsheild...

as for oil temps, 270F isn't that bad if you're using full synthetic oil... if you're serious about warm ambient temp tracking then i guess you could swap to a racing oil..

 

I was just concerned with the coolant temps, was happy with the oil temps with the cooler. Ill try removing the plastic next time I go. Thanks.

 

Weird
I've tracked in 106 degree weather before and never gone over 220F

 

Run more water, and less coolant. Check that your fans are working properly. Mine went out and gave me some cooling challenges. Fixed them, and all was good. 300 oil temp? Wow. Synthetic. . . I assume.

Oil and water temps track each other. Not that they are exactly the same, but hot makes hot. I back off when the stock temp gauge moves, as my experience indicates that it doesn't move until you are over 220F, and that's getting too hot.

 

Fans kick in at 220F I've had my water at 230F before while sitting in traffic and the stock gauge didn't move.

 

300 was on synthetic oil, I have since put in an oil cooler so temps are better.

It sounds like the fans are coming on, I should look next time to make sure they are both turning on tho. Ive only seen the stock coolant temp gauge move once before and it was at the same track in 105 weather with no oil cooler, but never seen it move even on other tracks in the same heat with no oil cooler. I order a OBD II data reader for my phone so I can at least keep track of the actual temperature and not rely on the stock gauge but thank you for the input everyone.

 

Which is that?

 

I got the GoPoint Technology BTL. http://gopointtech.com/

It seemed more cost effective for me than cutting my radiator hose to install a sensor and mounting another gauge. It will also work with Harrys Lap Timer

 

Installing a water temp was actually pretry easy.

 

I know, I figured it was but I thought this was pretty cool and has multiple uses

 

Oh ok. I'll show you my setup if you find me at SOW on July 29th. Black 350z, RPF1s, amuse front end.

 

I was having overheating issues too at Auto Club Speedway. I upgraded my radiator with a Koyo R-Core, replaced my OEM thermostat & gasket, swapped the hoses for a set of Samco's, and used distilled water and Motul MoCool. I have not had any overheating issues since [knocking on wood]. The Koyo R-Core wasn't too expensive and fit pretty well. It did require some slight trimming of plastic around the condenser mounting tabs in order to fit. My water temps stay at or below 220 degrees now.

 

Thats great....

Anyone running an aftermarket radiator on and HR? Any fitness issues?