First week of roadster ownership.....

69ner · Post by **69ner** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 12:53 pm

Hey guys/gals..well just had about a week of ownership and i must say this car is a blast to drive...feel like driving it everyday but the back of my neck is telling me NO!

Well anyway i encountered my first dilema the other day....lets say my first drive on the freeway was not what i expected. After cruising in stop and go traffic the temp gauge was reading ok, the temp was not getting hot or anything. Well as traffic started to die down i was able to open her up a little, cruising about 65-70 mph...while enjoying the ride, i was not paying any attention to the temp gauge. Next thing you know, temp has already started to go up up and up, reaching the 250 mark...i quickly exit...pull over and the car was steaming from the hood! I let her sit for about an hour before i open up the radiator cap and reserve to fill up with water. To my disbelief, i had to fill up the whole system, including both tanks with about 7 16oz water bottles! Ok so now i start driving home when everything has cooled...the temp then reads at about a little bit right of the middle marker on my temp gauge when driving on the freeway and about middle to slightly left of the middle marker when driving local. Do these readings sound right, or do i have a major cooling problem!!

toolsnob · Post by **toolsnob** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 1:29 pm

The readings you described are typical of a stock drivetrain, in numbers it should be around 180-195.

What concerns me is you stated you overheated, where did all the coolant go? or did you just buy it and run it without checking? You need to go over the car completely checking everything because you don't know what the prior owner forgot to do or did their way. These were cheap cars and treated as such, so take Sunday to put it up on jackstands and just check everything for a couple of hours.

And grease the front end!

69ner · Post by **69ner** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 1:41 am

well...i did go over the car and check it over a bit but not extensive...i did check the reserve tank but didnt check the main therefore that would be the reason for the boil over. I will take your advice and do a more extensive check.....i was so caught up in the moment that simple things like radiator fluid was over looked!!

Post by **dbrick** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 9:35 pm

A few random thoughts and questions...

Did I read that right, they normally run a little hotter at, say 70 MPH steady speed than 40 MPH steady? That sounds a little strange. I could see running hot at 100+ MPH or in something like an autocross because of the amount of fuel being burned ETC.

At normal highway speed, 50-70 MPH, I'm guessing that is where the air scoop would make a difference. Also, would the 7 blade fan actually be hurting airflow at that speed? What fan is on the car now, and is there a shroud?

I went to the thermostatic electric fan, so I'll find out as soon as it is actully on the road. I am thinking of adding a low pitch light weight engine fan and shroud just to keep the electric from running all the time, it's LOUD. I have to fab a lower air scoop too and open up the hood scoop.

69ner · Post by **69ner** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 1:31 am

well guys today i completly took out the radiator and had it sent out cause i had found some build up under the radiator cap....turns out that the radiator was all clogged up with some kind of material that resembled "mud" as the guy put it, probably rust build up...well the radiator shop cleaned it out and said it was still in good running order with no leaks...well see what happens when i get it back tommorw

Post by **spl310** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 6:04 am

If the radiator was full, then the block will have it's share. Do yourself a favor and flush the block before you put the radiator back in. Open the drain on the block if you can get to it - it is above the starter behind the header.

69ner · Post by **69ner** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 11:24 am

right on, i will look into that and do accordingly thanks for the tip!

Post by **dbrick** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 11:11 pm

If it looks ugly, or if the drain hole keeps plugging with chunks, consider pulling a freeze out plug on the passenger side, can look right into the coolant jacket and the big chunks can flush out. Remove the thermostat and replace it too if you want to be thorough, a bad overheat can damage the thermostat, and it flushes better with it out.

I removed all the freeze plugs and had an amazing amount of stuff come out of the block, but then again, rusty flaky foriegn material seems to breed in every closed area of my car.
If it was a bad overheat, you may want to do a compression check and check for coolant in the oil.