What is the normal water temperature?

[white99c2]

I removed the bumper cover and cleaned out 11 years worth of crap from the radiators then power washed them. I dumped the coolant and switched to straight distilled water and 2-12 OZ bottles of Water Wetter. I did the cooling fan mod and engine compartment mod and now have them on as soon as I start the car.

I use the Porsche AC Diagnostics to display the coolant temp on the left side of the climate control center. When it shows 85C thats 185F I can tell the thermostat has opened because boiling hot air is pouring out of the discharge on both the left and right sides of the front bumper from the cooling fans.

As far as I can tell, everything on my 996 is working, maybe it just runs hot.

On a side note I went to a Porsche Pancakes breakfast this morning and it was only 95 degrees here. My coolant never went higher then 98C, thats 208F on a 45 mile round trip, it was only 95F this morning.

Yesterday it was 116F and my climate control coolant temp showed 113C thats 235F with the AC blasting. Thats a new record for my car, the dash gauge was at the next line past 180.

[jakkay968911]

Hi,

After days of driving, I have found that the water temperature is about 10-20 F higher in city driving than highway. Is that normal?

The picture below is the city driving reading. Highway reading is just above 180F.

When the temp needle is covering the right edge of the 0 of the 180 mark, my HVAC LED readout indicates 104 degrees Centigrade. That translates to 220 degrees Farenhiet. I would imagine all guages are a little different, as there must be some tolerence for error. On a hot day in Chicago my temp usually moves from 96 to 98 degrees Centigrade. This is in moderate traffic. When arriving home and backing into my garage it does go up to the 104 reading briefly. This is on my 2001 996 Carrera now with 37K, manual 6 speed. Had radiators cleaned , flushed, coolant tank and cap replaced less than a year ago because I thought this was kinda high. Nothing changed at all regarding the temp readings though.

[mcmike27]

S, my 98 986 runs exactly like yours when it's HOT. We just took it on a 3 day trip here in the northeast with temps in the low to mid 90's and it was very consistent like in your pic. I did on the last coolant flush add the 160 t-stat for L&N and I upgraded to the 996 larger oil-coolant tower as it's twice the size as the original on my 986. When running on the highway the needle drops down between the 8 and the 0. On cooler days at highway speeds it stays between the 1 and the 8. Yours looks to be right in the 'normal' zone. A good idea is to take off the front bumber every couple of years and clean the rad and /ac condeseners.

Good luck

m2

[smak]

Good to gather more data from the board. I am planning to take the bumper off and press wash it this weekend.

[carsareart]

My cars temp is normally between the 8 and the 0. I have taken my bumper off and cleaned and straightned the fins on the radiators and condensors. My temp does go higher when at the autocross, this last weekend it got as high as just over 1/2 way through the 0. I have been running water wetter for the last few years. So far so good.