Re: ECT at 205 idling with fans on after highway drive
 

220 is too high for me, but at what temp does the stock temp Guage start to move an go up?

Re: ECT at 205 idling with fans on after highway drive
 

well i did the s2000 gauge cluster swap and couldn't get the temp gauge to work so i have a glow shift gauge. but i live in Texas where its now 105 degrees at 6pm.

Re: ECT at 205 idling with fans on after highway drive
 

I guess the other challenge, especially with turbo, is tuning for a variety of temperatures. It is much easier to dial in a tune for a set range of ECT than to have to worry about how it will run on a cold morning versus a hot afternoon. I guess if your car is always running at 220 and you are comfortable with that, then great you could tune it at 220. I am not sure at what point it is actually dangerous to where it could cause mechanical damage to the engine, probably not until like 250 or so. But you also gotta think, this is just the coolant temp. There will certainly be parts in the engine that are getting much hotter than this. And may not be designed to run at such a temperature for extended periods. But we don't really know that, all we can do is base it off of where the OEM temperature is set to run at, because we know the components are designed to last at that temperature. What we do know is that with higher temps, performance will be reduced due to the detonation threshold. The cooler it is running, the more timing it can handle and more power it will make.

But I digress, my car is running consistently in the 180's now, and the fan keeps it from going above 195. It runs great, always makes good power and I don't have to worry about pulling timing when it gets above 200, or having it feel like a turd because of it.

Re: ECT at 205 idling with fans on after highway drive
 

Read through this post to make sure I can find a solve for a similar issue I am facing with ECT getting too hot. Today I was driving to work, with outside temps around the 70s, my ECT hit 223 with my check engine light coming on after about a 30 minute drive on the highway with a mix of bumper to bumper and open traffic. I pulled over for about 5 minutes before driving again and temps went down to 198 and slowly climbed back up to about 215.

I am heavily considering getting the 12" SPAL since it seems like a really good investment so two questions on this front:

1. Is this THE 12" to get? Part 30102029
   Amazon
   Amazon
2. It seems like people are running these fans with relays but can I just use the OEM fan wires instead or running a relay wire harness?

I'd also like some feedback on my setup and see what I can add to improve cooling. From what I've gathered it's best for me to add in some Water Wetter to my existing coolant mix and upgrade to a SPAL fan.

Engine Cooling Setup

• OEM Honda Thermostat
• Mishimoto 80* fan switch
• Mishimoto two row full sized radiator
• 1.3 bar pressure radiator cap
• Beck Arnley Green Concentrate mixed with 50% purified water
• Upgr8 12" fan on the passenger side (no fan on driver side, space is too tight)

Turbo Heat Management

• Heat wrap on downpipe / dump tube
• PTP Lava Turbo Blanket

Re: ECT at 205 idling with fans on after highway drive
 

Seems like you have an appropriate list

1. Yes, the 12" puller is great or if you can fit one, go with the 13"
2. You need to run a relay as the SPAL fan draws more current than the OEM circuit is made to handle. It will blow the fan fuse and potentially burn up some wiring.
You will need to run an ignition hot 10ga wire with 30 amp fuse directly to the fan, then 10ga ground from the fan to a 30amp relay that is triggered by the fan switch.

Re: ECT at 205 idling with fans on after highway drive
 

Run distilled water.

Re: ECT at 205 idling with fans on after highway drive
 

This is something I've wanted to try. I'm currently at about 60/40 water to Honda coolant.

Unfortunately here we have a chance of being below freezing temps in the morning 9 months out of the year.


On a side note, after making winter updates and reassembly, I left the heat wrap off of my manifold and the upper elbow of my down pipe. Seems to make a big difference, it's having a harder time keeping temps below 190 even with the fan on, driving or idling. It used to cool it down to 185 fairly quickly when idling. Going to re-wrap it as soon as I get time and before it gets too hot out.

Re: ECT at 205 idling with fans on after highway drive
 

Fair & decent update