I went to the track for the first time, and my car kept overheating, it reached 240 (coolant temp from my scanmaster) a few times, and was wondering how hot is too hot. When it gets up there I always let off and try to cool it down though. What is a safe temperature to let it get up to and still be pushing it hard?

 

if you have a stock thermostat and fan setting, then that is still way too high. if you were drag racing, then you shouldn't see anything over 210. road racing and other events that use longer run times will be different, but 240 is way too hot. you want to stay below 200 if possible, or no more than 210. thats ideal. you can run it hard on higher temps, but then you start getting risky. I'd switch to a 160 thermo and lowering the temps that the fans come on. or, try some purple ice from royal purple. you can pour it into the radiator and its supposed to help reduce temps in cooling.

 

I have a 160 thermostat and had the fans on high the whole run. There's no way in hell I can keep it under 210. I think I'm going to try to keep it under 220, but that's still going to be hard. In traffic my car gets up to 210, so I know there's no way in hell on a road coarse that I can keep it under that... I guess its time for a bigger radiator...

 

I would say 240 is a good place to limit the temp for engine safety. Even at that temp you are probably losing some performance. Do you have a good air dam on it?

 

Someone told me one time that they had a 160 in their Camaro, and in Texas heat, it wouldn't work right, they switched to a 180 and the car never got over 190 after that. Just a thought, I don't see how that is possible though. I have a 180 in mine and it never gets above 185 while driving and never above 195 in traffic.

 

yea i'd say 240 is a little hot, my car on the highway and most normal driving is only at 170-175, any hotter than that I turn my fans on. oh yea, i have a 160 thermo, running water wetter through it, and a fan switch

Toole

 

just a little hint...260 is when heads start warping.... dont ask me how i know that...LMAO... but seriously keep it cool

 

try some purple ice in your radiator then. probably will help. i have a 160 t-stat, and mezeire water pump. the car never gets over 180 by itsef driving, and never over 200 when in traffic. (thats with both fans off). i have a manua switch to the fans that i can turn on when needed.

 

maybe your radiator needs flushed out?
Is your car tuned for the 160* thermostat?

Just some ideas.

 

If you frequently race your car, I would highly suggest a beefed up radiator. I just watched Trucks on Spike and Stacy mentioned that Purple Ice fluid. He stated it will reduce the temp by around 20% by reducing the adhesion friction (or something like that) of the coolant enabling greater heat transfer.
Think I'll get a bottle myself!

 

I have water wettin in it already, and the radiator has probably been flushed 5 times in the last year. (couple cam swaps, new opti, new wp, ect...) The fans are tuned to come in earlier, but I was having a problem with the fan switch (broke it using my knee to brace myself in the turns) It was definatly on the first and second time yesterday though and it still got hot. I'm not going to go back to the track until I get a new radiator though. And I have a brand new air dam on it, but it has brake ducts on it but I put them on the outside of it, not under the radiator so I doubt that is hurting it at all.

 

radiator fins bent around? might wan to look into a radiator. at least a new stocker.