So I had to drive to Idaho this weekend so I figured I would drive the Si, and see how well it would do driving a long period of time.

Well guys, I got 30 miles a gallon on the way there, and I got 28 miles a gallon on the way back. I even stopped by Moses Lake to race some guy a few times and probably hit full boost like 6-7 times through all the gears. So I was pretty impressed with the fact I got some pretty good gas mileage. You gotta love the AEM Closed Loop, seems to have done it's job.

Well anyways, I ran into only 1 real problem that bugged me. When I was driving through the mountains and going up hill in 5th at 0 vacumm my car would slightly over heat. I was logging everything, and usually I am at about 215-220 degree's which shows just a lil under half on the temp gauge. This happen to me before, but I thought I had figured out the problem, which I thought was air in the cooling system. Anyways, the temp would go up to 230 "looked on the AEM" and it would just stay there till I started driving down hill or whatever. I played with my fuel and timing and it didn't really change at all.

On the way back it happened to me again, and it was 85 degree's out. I kicked it at a friends house for a lil bit and drove the rest of the way during the night. It was 61 degrees out and it did not go past half, not even once. I have not ruled out a headgasket, but last time it was a headgasket it would not only get way hotter, but it would get hot when I boost. When I was racing that kid, it didn't get hot at all.

So anyways, what you think it might be. I was thinking my Precision 750 is blocking my radiator. I was running 14.7 at 0psi load@3500rpms. I even leaned it out to 14.0, and that didn't help. I have seen peoples maps and I've seen them run leaner in that area.

Here are my spark plugs after my long drive back. What do you guys think? It looks pretty healthy to me, a lil white..but no signs of any type of damage on them or discoloration.




Here is my timing map.


My o2 target feedback table.


Like I said, I do not think it is a tuning issue, but I am open to suggestions. I have seen people run leaner than this, but I guess 0 psi load wouldn't be considered light load, but damn..that's where I am usually right around that area when I am in 5th and going 75-80mph.

 

hey dude,

for one, 14.7 at 0 psi is too lean.

you want to be mid 13's if not low 13's at 0 psi.
but i doubt thats whats causing your over heating problem.

regardless, you might want to make sure you dont have any air in your cooling system. and of course make sure its full w/ coolant

 

where's your sender mounted at?

 

im sure at low rpm's cruising on the freeway , your waterpump isnt moving fast enough to counteract the blockage of the radiator by the intercooler , i go through the same sit .

 

sparkplugs look fine to me man,

i'd say look at your cooling system.
do you have a cat ??
could have gone bad..

 

yup i get the same **** with the intercooler blocking my rad gatta step on it and cool my baby down sometiimes

 

was your fan turning on

 

i have the same issue in my car and i think i know why...
my engine bay temps are just way too hot...
i need to coat my manifold and downpipe..

 

its not a tuning issue.
My underhood temps were sickening too. Would cause my water temps to get soooo hot. **** my manifold was practically on the radiator. lol

 

welcome to the i have a gigantic restrictive intercooler club. to be a member you must have a large intercooler which is great for cooling down your charge temps, but must restrict the airflow to your radiator so your car overheats randomly.

a fluidyne, fal fan and water wetter helped my car out, stays right at 200 degrees sometimes gets to 203 degrees when its over 95 degrees outside, below 85 degrees the car sits around 195 or so. but my charge temps tend to hover around 7-15 degrees above ambievelant

this is with a uncoated dp, topmount, etc. i'm sure if i jet hot coated everything like my previous setup, it would be much cooler.

 

I didn't think it was a tuning issue, but I had to check..and just be sure.

Also this is what my engine bay looks like right now.


So I got a C&R with a SPAL fan. I am thinking of putting it in the front so that it will push air through the radiator rather than pulling air towards it.

Here is a picture of my old PWR Intercooler. I now have a Precision 750. My PWR covered a good amount of the inside bumper. With my Precision 750, almost the full width of the inside of the bumper is taken. It's probably 4-5 inches wider.

 

well as you do some random moldings for your work and such, ever think about making a little piece that forces air from the center vent above the bumper (where the stock H goes, that little grill area) mold a piece that would move air at the radiator, think of a ram air piece but for your radiator.

dont' know if you have much room, but would could, still keep the stock grill, but just focus the air. other than that you have a good radiator setup and fan.

what is your current blend of coolant? 50/50? using any water wetter?

if you want to go hardcore: get some Evans Coolant. http://www.evanscooling.com i think. its like 28 bucks a gallon, but supposedly its supposed to be pretty darn good stuff.

 

That is 1 thing I noticed, my coolant is pretty damn green. I need to add some more water to the mix. No water wetter, I've never used the stuff. I don't have experience using it, but I've heard of it. How well does it work?

 

is that manifold jet hotted right?

 

water wetter is the ****, i use it instead of water!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by seen4ever &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">this is with a uncoated dp, topmount, etc. i'm sure if i jet hot coated everything like my previous setup, it would be much cooler.</TD></TR></TABLE>

does heat coating everything make that much of a difference? my friend with a wrx was telling me to get my exhaust side coated before i install my turbo, but i haven't had time. well worth it?

 

i saw zero gains by switching to water wetter, BUT the outside temp went from 80 degrees to 95+ degrees during the same period and my coolant temps are the same. Plus i didn't go to a full water + water wetter, i still added a little coolant. In reality, with as much as i pull engines, i have no clue why i even use coolant

but i suggest, a coolant flush, add in some water and a bottle of water wetter, you can get it at most autoparts stores, i got mine at pepboys for 10.99 or something.

Jethot coating does work to keep heat inside the parts, instead of letting it all radiate away. but it still isn't cold or anything, i mena, my cheap CF hood from JDMshit still discolored. but before i couldn't burn myself on my driver's side fender, now i think i could.

old


new


FYI: we're turbo twins at 1.4 bar it gets very fun

 

in terms of A/Fs. I don't think your overheating was related to your tune, but here is my std desired a/fs.

 

my car did the same thing.. when i go up vantage hill or snoquamie, which were probaly the hills you were climbin too, it tends to overheat a lil bit.. i know my hg isn't blown.. and first off my fan wasnt kickin in, so i ran a switch to my fan.. that helped it from overheating.. also my fmic is blocking radiator.. i also think that its working hard from being in 5th gear.. i have to be like at 2-3 psi to get up those damn hills, blowing off every once and a while. when i do climb the hills i run my fan.. no more problems after that.. check ur fan switch.. off topic.. u should've stopped in spokane to race me there is no real comp in moses lake

 

I'm almost 100% positive that the problem lies in air restriction. What i would try is some water wetter, more water, less coolant and of course some way to get more air flow to the radiator.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by eli_vang &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">my car did the same thing.. when i go up vantage hill or snoquamie, which were probaly the hills you were climbin too, it tends to overheat a lil bit.. i know my hg isn't blown.. and first off my fan wasnt kickin in, so i ran a switch to my fan.. that helped it from overheating.. also my fmic is blocking radiator.. i also think that its working hard from being in 5th gear.. i have to be like at 2-3 psi to get up those damn hills, blowing off every once and a while. when i do climb the hills i run my fan.. no more problems after that.. check ur fan switch.. off topic.. u should've stopped in spokane to race me there is no real comp in moses lake </TD></TR></TABLE>

That is exactly where the hills were. I also ran into some mountain type terrain when leaving Cour de lane, Idaho going East on I-90.

Well I don't really race my car, but I got a phone call from my friend in moses lake about some kid talking ****. I don't know the kid, but I guess he talks **** about everyones car. He backed out after I called him a ***** when he was on the phone with my friend. I don't care if he beat me, I just don't like people talking out of there ***. He is one of those guys that says he has a 3 bar map sensor, and they think they are bad *** hahahaha. The guy I raced though was cool, he gave me props on my the car. He had no clue what kinda beast he was dealing with though LOL hahaha Plus, I've never pushed my car before, it gave me a opportunity to log some parameters I needed and to see how well the car would do in the upper rpm range. haha you should have seen the look on the kids face when I waived past him. That was priceless, I have not see that look in a long time.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TurboTegB18c &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm almost 100% positive that the problem lies in air restriction. What i would try is some water wetter, more water, less coolant and of course some way to get more air flow to the radiator. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I think I am actually going to go with a smaller intercooler and sell my PTE. I think I am going back to the PWR which is about 5 inches shorter. I also like the machined aluminum endtank look better. We'll see though, I really like the PTE intercooler, but I am going to try a few things.

Like I said, I am going to put the fan in the front of the radiator, and also change my coolant mix.

If you guys have anymore ideas let me know. Since I am not the only one experienceing this, this thread may help some people.

"itr206" The manifold and my turbine housing is ceramic coated.

 

nvm, dumb idea. lol


Modified by LSVtec-T at 4:34 PM 8/15/2005

 

its idaho man....idaho sucks...haha!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BodyKits NW &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
My o2 target feedback table.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm no super tuner like Mase but your target A/F is too lean IMO. I know every motor is different but I ran A/F similar to that, made a mistake in the map, and the car just didn't move Unless there is some alcohol injection I don't see