Alright, I'm having some issues here. I went road racing yesterday so I was on it pretty heavy for 20 minute sessions. The temp was around 100* so I tried to prepare as best as I could. I have a water pump that's only a few months old, a 160* stat with fans programmed, plus I ran water wetter and that RM12 stuff from amsoil that's supposed to be good for high heat conditions. I properly "bled" my colling system, letting all the air out throught the top access port (where you do the TB bypass) so there isn't any trapped in the system. Basically, it should have been fine.

Still, the damn thing could only get a few laps in before it would climb into the 240+ zone, at which point I would have to back off. It even got to the check gauges point, which is when I would pit and cruise in circles until the temps lowered to a reasonable point. No other cars had problems with overheating. In fact, there was an lt1 camaro there that would come into the pits and his fans weren't even on.

One thing I noticed on the drive back (it was still over 100*) was that the temps would stay around 240ish (the mark between 210 and 260) when I was on the freeway, even though I was in 6th at 1800 rpms. At that low engine output and with those speeds it should have been fine. However, it was when I pulled over to get gas and was at city speeds when it cooled down to 210.

This had me thinking maybe something was covering the radiator, but there was nothing there. The only thing I can come up with is that my front lip and SSRA are blocking enough air from reaching the air dam, therefore stopping it from going into the radiator area. That might explain why at low speeds air is able to travel up there, but at high speeds there is enough of a pressure differance that air won't naturally go up there.

Does this sound possible? I don't have to rip off my lip, or remove the SSRA, but it is the only thing I can come up with.

 

the stock temp gauge is junk. If I was you, I would verify the temps for sure. Since the check engine light came on who knows? again, it could be the temp sensor or the gauge itself. I think I would check all of that first.

good luck

 

No,it wasn't the SES light, it was the Check gauges light, which means that I was in the danger zone. I know that the regular gauges (except for the 98s are basically only dummy lights) but you could still see the steady progression of it overheating, and the temps would corrospond to how I was treating the car. I'm postive that it wa the car overheating, no the gauges screwing up.

 

The stock guages aren't just dummy lights. They just move within a certain range instead of with every degree.

 

My car ran a little hotter only stopped at lights when I initially installed FTRA, but after a 160 and reprograming fans it's been fine. Sounds too easy, but try a new radiator cap, maybe it's not holding pressure?

 

I have a fairly new raditaor cap. It seemed like everything was working, I'm just guessing I'm not getting enough airflow to the air dam with the lip and ssra. I'll put up a pic later and see what you guys think.

And yeah, I always figured that the gauges are somewhat decent. It moves around enough, especialy before I had my fans programmed.

 

Just re-read your posts again. SSRA shouldn't come into play at highway speeds going home (240 is too high). I could understand it going higher beating on the car on a road course in 100* temps but not just cruising home. Something else is going on IMO. What are your fan temps set at?

 

Looking for a good set of ported heads

 

Didn't blow the gaskets yet, sorry

The fans are set at 180 and 190 high.

I just have this feeling that the lip and ssra is blocking enough of the air from hitting the dam. Maybe it could be a pressure zone deal, at high speeds there is a differant pressure, keeping the air from going up there, hence the use of a dam, which capabilities have been diminished by the lip. Only problem is that I think the thing is glued on, and I won't really be able to test it until I go racing next. Not something you want to be trying to fix via hit or miss.

 

Mine are set at 184/175 and 194/185, not much different. The SSRA probably blocks more air than mine, but still think you should be fine on the highway. You should be able to remove just the lower portion.

 

Here's some pics, now you can see what I mean by the lip blocking the dam somewhat. Keep in mind that I lowered my phone a bit so it's not dead on, and n/m the scratches, I'm not that bad a driver, it's just that the tire stop didn't look that high

 

Are you running under drive pulleys? I don't think it's an air flow problem.

 

no Im Not running pulleys. i cant, i already have a lower output p/s pump, and my stereo system probably would be strained if i did. the radiator is only 35k miles too, and its oem.

 

blackrat, do you still have the problem.

I recently had the same problem after replacing the coolant temp sensor, checking the thermo, fans, blockages, flushed the system, new coolant and so on. What I found the problem being is my trans cooler and ssra blocking too much airflow. I moved the trans cooler and reinstalled the ssra. Before, with the ac on, i couldn't go 2 miles without it overheating. Here today in Vegas it was 106 and ran good with the ac and no overheating.

 

Thanks for following up

Yeah, I finally got it sorted out. I picked up a larger air dam from wings west and that fixed my problem. When the previous owner put the ground effects on for some reason he decided not to put on the supplied dam that came with it. I was getting some flow, but not nearly enough. I haven't done a track event yet in similar conditions as when I first posted, but I've noticed the fans come on a lot less on hot days than they used to, and the temp gauge runs pretty low when I'm on the freeway, like below 180.