My car has a genuine new nissan thermostat, uprated large radiator, topped with watter wettter, but upon driving 10 minutes or so the running temp on the aftermarket gauge, sits between 83 and can rise to up to 98 if accelerating on and off for long periods,

 

generally it rises to 93 ish after a while of acceleration, but on normal driving stays steady between 82- 87....

 

now are these temps ok? and at what point should i be worried its getting too hot? i do have the 1.3 bar rad cap which in theory raises the water boiling point to 130. but i just want to keep the engine safe.

A bit on the high side, is your fan locking up correctly and still using the shroud?

 

Keep it below 105, the real killer is the oil temp though so you should keep an eye on that too

i have no shroud in place, and the fan seems ok, it does lock up from time to time ( loud truck like sound) but not always..... i dont have an oil temp gauge, but it does run a large oil cooler too..

Running an aftermarket rad without the shroud is like running a stock one with it, you loose the direction of the air it can pull from all directions rather than actually through the rad.

I have no shroud on my aftermarket rad and the temp on mine stays rock solid at 180f which is about 82c.

 

I do have a cooling panel and whether fit or not makes no significant difference.

The other thing could be that the coolant galleries are full of crud...

Whilst it sounds high, we are experiencing high ambient temperatures at the moment; so I would expect higher readings on the temp gauge. Especially when stationary..:wink:

 

Many modern high performance cars run naturally at closer to 100 degrees; so, whilst a 300zx is not so modern, I think we worry a bit too much sometimes. These engines are tougher than you think!

Running an aftermarket rad without the shroud is like...

 

...Oh never mind.

 

The other thing could be that the coolant galleries are full of crud...

 

how do i clean them? the car will sit at 82 ish for a long period, but upon acceleration it begins to heat up slowly, this had been the case for a while even when it was a lot cooler, even in the rain....

 

do you guys think i have an issue?

 

should i perhaps try a nismo 62 degree stat, as i can see that my system seems to operate about 10 degrees above the stat opening temp ie 76degree stat and car averages about 86 88... so with the 62 will i be running more like 72 76 ish???

is the stat fitted correctly? don't bother with a nismo one, car never gets up to temp in the winter!

 

find yourself a shroud, and maybe borrow someone else's viscous fan incase it's starting to fail

the stat was fitted correctly, and yes ive tried 3 fans, all the same results, the only way to keep it below 88 is when i run the ab flug vented nose panel. but it looks ugly!

 

jaffa have you had one of the nismo stats? if so did you notice lower temps with it? im not worried about it being cooler as i will have it mapped to suit, as mine it a heavily modded TT so think it will be reasonably warm.

Yes I've run a Nismo stat, doesn't make any difference to the peak temp under load, but in the winter the coolant temp never went above 62!

 

Do you have a slam panel to force air through the rad rather than letting it bleed over the top? I suspect the abflug nose panel is having the same effect?

 

Is your base timing correct? this can also impact running temp?

 

When you say heavily modded, can you elaborate and say which ecu/map you're using?

i think your right in the base timing issue. thanks for all your help, i don't have one of the slam panels but did test the theory with metal plates and made no difference to running temps, only fitting the vented panel did.

 

i may get a nismo then as i take the car on track and do drift events in it, just as an added precaution, just unsure why it creeps up so much when hitting boost for long periods..

 

The car runs a john dixon map currently, but will be having this changed as it needs a custom map, as alot of work has been done since then.

You can run a product through I believe to clear the galleries, running a hose through the block out to the drain constantly flushing helps liberate a fair bit if crap. Check your air con rad if you still have one, mine was filthy, there was even half a dead bird in there down in the corner, leaves etc etc, full of rubbish. That will not help the situation.

Let me say this one more time

 

don't bother with the Nismo stat, it won't help you

Using ECUtalk today coming round A406 into Hanger Lane stop start in usual bloody traffic jam, water temp topped out at indicated 96C. Aircon on, no airflow, very slow / static. When eventually got going at 70 ish (on M25 after the usual A40 hell), dropped to 94 then 92. Got off the Mway and ambled to pub at 30 ish, dropped to 91. Stopped for 20 mins, got back in car, up to 92 (yes engine off but no fan). This is NA Auto unmodded. In the winter, it sticks at 80- 82 so I was suprised to see 96 but it was f hot ambient and NCR traffic jam.

Oh, and all the way through, the OEM temp needle just pointed left to mid range as it normally does (whether winter 80 or summer 96). So that seems to confirm what someone told me here years ago that the OEM guage does NOT show actual temp, it just shows "in normal range" - i.e. it the real temp is within what it "should" be, needle stays horizontal. When it starts to climb, be worried as that means "hotter than it should be".

Using ECUtalk today coming round A406 into Hanger Lane stop start in usual bloody traffic jam, water temp topped out at indicated 96C. Aircon on, no airflow, very slow / static. When eventually got going at 70 ish (on M25 after the usual A40 hell), dropped to 94 then 92. Got off the Mway and ambled to pub at 30 ish, dropped to 91. Stopped for 20 mins, got back in car, up to 92 (yes engine off but no fan). This is NA Auto unmodded. In the winter, it sticks at 80- 82 so I was suprised to see 96 but it was f hot ambient and NCR traffic jam.

Oh, and all the way through, the OEM temp needle just pointed left to mid range as it normally does (whether winter 80 or summer 96). So that seems to confirm what someone told me here years ago that the OEM guage does NOT show actual temp, it just shows "in normal range" - i.e. it the real temp is within what it "should" be, needle stays horizontal. When it starts to climb, be worried as that means "hotter than it should be".

 

Yup - what Mike says.....:wink: