What Does Your Temp Gauge Read While Driving?

[mark wheeler]

The weather has been hotter than normal in Virginia, but shouldn't the engine run about at the same temp regardless of whether it's 70 degrees or 90 degrees?

What does your temp gauge read while crusing on the highway and in stop and go city traffic? On the highway (in 70-90 degree whether) at 65mph mine reads approx. 185 degrees; while in stop and go traffic it creeps over to approx. 205 degrees.

Last night after the car cooled down I checked the coolant level and it hasn't lost a drop since last summer when the coolant system was flushed and refilled. The coolant level is at the "MIN" level. (Also, apparently the shop filled it with the green coolant rather than the pink coolant...)

I'm thinking maybe I should either drain and refill the coolant (with a stronger ratio of coolant to water) or replace the thermostat.

Can anyone tell me where the thermoostat is located, what it looks like, cost and how hard is it to replace?

Thanks,

Mark

[CO996C4]

About what mine runs and with fans running. My old 74 used to run REAL hot like cose to 250 when running hard up a mountain!

[Loren]

180-190 is normal and under stress (mountain roads, high speed driving or heavy stop and go traffic) 200 or 205 is not uncommon. Once you slow down (or get moving as the case may be) the temp should come back to 180-190 range in 5 minutes. If not you may have some debris in your front radiators.

Porsche's lifetime coolant is green not pink. I don't see any reason to change your thermostat - just clean the radiators and top up the coolant with Porsche coolant. It is also possible that there is air in system and it needs to be bled out - to do this open the air bleed valve (see my third radiator DIY page) for a few days then close it and top up the coolant.

[Hank Cohn]

Mark,

I'm not sure any of what I am about to write is helpful. My car is a '99 6-speed with 64,000 miles and I live in Georgia. It sounds like our weather is similar at the moment. My car runs at a similar temperature to yours. The temp needle usually points at the "0" in the number 180. With just a little stop and go traffic and some fun acceleration the needle approaches the hash mark between 180 and 250. I am guessing that that mark represents 215 degrees? So I suppose that means that my car runs between 190 and 210 regularly. Water is a much better coolant than antifreeze. I don't know what the Porsche fluid is, so perhaps it is something other than ethylene glycol. Plain water would cool the engine better but would have no resistance to freezing no lubricants nor anticorrosion protection. I hope there is something useful in this.

Hank

[mark wheeler]

Loren and Hank,

Thanks for the feedback. I just grabbed a flashlight and looked into the air duct intakes and did notice some leaves and debris, so that leads me to the next question -- what's the best/safest way to clean all that up without damaging the radiators? Running a garden hose in there might help... or maybe if I can figure out how to take the bottom cover off the front of the car... I'll check out the DIY section.

Are there actually two more radiators behind the radiators I can see inside the intake ducts?

Also, thanks for the intell on how your gauges operate under light and heavy loads. Hank, my gauges are operating the same as yours.

Thanks gents. I love this board Loren!

Mark

[mark wheeler]

Loren,

Thanks for the info on the Porsche coolant being green, not pink.

Mark

[Costa]

Mark,

As far as cleaning debris in the intakes goes...I tried the hose and water trick, but I found that the debris was harder to remove when wet and it tended to collect right at the rearward bottom corners, which was the most difficult part to clean.

I ended up using a household vacuum cleaner with a hose/nozzle attachment which fits between the openings in my front bumper. This works a treat and if the debris is dry, the vacuum cleaner picks everything up.

I normally vacuum the intakes before I wash my car and then give the radiators a quick gentle once-over with some water spray from the garden hose to remove any other dust etc if required.

Edited April 22, 2004 by ZX7R

[mark wheeler]

ZX7R,

Thanks for the great cleaning tip. I'll try it tonight.

Mark

[Loren]

Mark,

Have a look at my 3rd Radiator DIY and you will see that each side has a radiator (for engine cooling) and an air conditioner condenser mounted in front of it. For a through cleaning you can remove the front bumper and use a soft brush on the condenser and then loosen the condenser and clean the radiator behind it. Maybe 1 hour total for the bumper cover removal and cleaning.

[ToblertheDog]

Mark,

It's above 70 degrees today here in the northeast...not too warm by your standards. After some spirited country driving, here's what my temperature gauge reads. I think your ok, but it couldn't hurt to clean & flush the system...I plan on doing the same this weekend.

[mark wheeler]

Mark,

Have a look at my 3rd Radiator DIY ... Maybe 1 hour total for the bumper cover removal and cleaning.

Loren,

I just printed out the 3rd radiator DIY. Thanks for the tip. I'll try it.

Mark

[mark wheeler]

Mark,

It's above 70 degrees today here in the northeast...not too warm by your standards.  After some spirited country driving, here's what my temperature gauge reads.

ToblertheDog,

That's about where my temp gauge is after 15 - 20 minutes of stop and go city traffic...

Mark

[mark wheeler]

Last night I carefully vacuumed out the leaves and debris from my air intakes and I topped off the coolant with antifreeze I purchased at the dealership so hopefully I'll see a difference with my temp gauge while driving. Also, I did check and confirm that both the cooling fans (located behind each radiator) are working.

I'll drive the car a couple days and provide feedback to anyone who is interested.

Mark

[mark wheeler]

Good news, the problems is solved byvacuuming out the debris in the air intakes and topping off the coolant. Temps are back to normal!

Thanks for everyone's help,

Mark