hey guys,

 

so its been in the upper 80s - low 90's recently in the philly area. sitting in traffic the mechanical guage shows a hair over 200 - 210 when the car sits and bakes in the sun...what is normal under these circumstances? the digi dash gauge sits at 1/2 way (dd - i know, i know) when the mechanical guage is in sitting in this range. how hot are your cars getting

 

keep in mind i dont have any A/C components left in the car and i have an XT6 (3 stage) thermostat in it...what can i do to keep thins thing cooler?

 

for those who dont know, this Q is for my modded 86 XT.

 

also the thing has been sitting because $2.27 p/gal for premium is stupid, and this POS only gets 13mpg.

If it has a clutch fan, I would remove it and replace it with an electric one. That way you can turn it on in traffic. I have the regular elec fan plus the accessory fan on my EA82T, and it works quite well.

Ive tried both the dual electrical and the stock mechanical setup...i find that the stock mech+a user controlled stock elec. fan is the best. Mine is getting warm as well...cruising at 74 mph...steady at 200-210...and ive got a 180 t-stat in it. Too hot for me...even when temp outside it 70 deg. I think my rad is the problem. That was the GL-10, with or w/out AC on....hotter with AC tho.

 

Now, the RX daily driver will cruise at about 220-230...sit at 200-210 in traffic....AC or not. Im guessing its got an OE T-stat...and its got a stock rad and red fan setup.

 

The DL...well...one mech fan and thats it...and stays below 1/2 on the guage.

 

The Project RX with one mech fan never got above 1/3 on the guage...and i ran the piss out of it...then it blew.

If your only getting 13mpg there is something way out of wack. You should get at least 20mpg.

Ok, now with a freshly flushed system...a big core rad (one from an automatic trans equpipped RX, and the rad is aftermarket) and using water plus Valvoline Racing Super Coolant...the temps are down about 20 deg.

Sounds like you got that solved. Now you should find out what is wrong with the engine and causing the poor mileage.

do you'll think ALL auto-equpipped turbo rads are the same?

im getting 26+ mpgs....hot or cold.

 

not all turbo auto rads are like that one....my gl-10 was auto/turbo...and it came with the factory thin rad.

 

ive heard that the 1989 gl-10 ft4wd auto/turbo had a factory 2 row.

cougar...

 

its crazy to say this but 13mpg is actually to be expected with how much work was done to the XT. cams, bigger turbo, timing, etc. leads to a 225mi range for a full tank, so maybe 15 mpg.

 

public enemy number one is probably the modified MAF that enrichens the air fuel mixture. the car runs very rich at idle and light throttle, i even get the pulsing rev idle after a 13psi blast when i come to a stop.

 

im thinking the car could use a new rad, and i should probably have the fan going full time as well...

 

we shall see after this heat wave breaks. not in any real danger just yet.

Dennis,

 

My wagon chills at 190deg with a 190deg t stat around town and its 100+ deg outside. 65-75mph it sits a hair inside of 210 deg, no ac. dual elec fans run manually when I see my t stat open

ok Guys a few mods that will help drop the temps in a turbo sub. First get a 2 row radiator. The stock one is just too wimpy. Then get a product called "40 Below" "Stops Over Heating" I comes premixed in a gallon can at any advance auto store. Follow the directions and watch the temps come down. Last, Put in a 165 degree thermostat for the summer.

 

 

I used to have terribel temp problems with my GL-10 turbo automatic and even blew two motors before I stumbled onto this setup. The car routinely runs at 180 around town and 210 on the highway in the summer heat and the AC on. The critical ingredient is the " Stops Overheating" formula. It is truely great stuff and I've been using it for several years now. No more overheated and blown engines.

 

Mike

Dennis...have you tried a bottle of Chevron w/ Techron fuel injection cleaner....it works! It last for maybe 5 or 6 fill-ups....then I dump another bottle in. It improves my gas mileage by about 3 or 4 miles a gallon. It goes from 200-225 miles a tank to 250-275. Its cheap too...only 4 buck a bottle. The other week I was in Auto Zone & they had Chev W/Tech for a dollar a bottle. I bought every bottle on the discount table.

An update...with AC on, on the interstate, at about 100 mph, 89 deg outside...no higher than 190 on the guage.