Radiator coolant additives

[overdrivex]

those laser temperature readers are awesome. i got mine when i was heavy into 1/8 scale on-road racing. the key was to get you car you run as lean as possible while staying within operating temperature so not to melt the aluminum piston in the nitro engines. back to subject.... they are pretty accurate for measuring surface temps. would be a great way to see what temp your car is actually running at.

[Walter Moore]

I used a meat thermometer to set the thermostat for my electric fans so that the fan would come on when the water temperature in the radiator hit 180 degrees.

(That may not be the optimal temperature to set the fan's turn-on point for, but it seems like I don't need the fan if the engine's thermostat isn't open.)

Anyway, I noticed that my dash temperature gauge reads about 2/3 scale when the coolant temperature in the radiator is 180 degrees F.

I have to run anti-freeze in my engine because my garage isn't heated and it gets very cold here in the winter. It's either run anti-freeze, or drain the coolant before I put it away for the winter.

(And frankly I like to start the car from time to time in the winter just to keep everything working.)

[Bruce Palmer]

Walter,

Do you know what temp your fan turns off at, 180 or something lower?

[Walter Moore]

Nearly all temperature switches have a dead band, like the pressure switch on an air compressor.

I know that it turns off well below 180, but I don't remember how far below 180.

I didn't power the fan off of the key. The temperature switch is active all the time, and I constantly get helpful people telling me that my car mysteriously "started" while they were walking past it... Which of course was the plan, let the electric fans blow out the engine heat during the hot soak phase after I park the thing.

They usually only cycle two or three times before the engine cools down enough to keep them from coming on. Of course if I lived in Arizona I probably could not leave it that way. Here in the mid-west it seems to work fine.

[rtaylor]

I like the laser gun idea. I am going to find someone that has one. Seems like you would have to take the read from the thermostat housing, as opposed to the radiator, does this make sense? If not there perhaps from the metal tube for the heater hose? But temp may drop at this location.

[Bruce Palmer]

...and found a company that makes reversible temperature strips. They have one strip with 8 gradients between 160 and 230 F which would be ideal for what we are talking about. If somebody wanted to buy a package of ten and sell 'em here for $5 you could make a little money and 10 guys could see where they are at gauge wise. They are reusable.....

[blue fairlady]

Dear all when you mentioned using Mob 1 , which grade are you using, 15W-50 or 5W-40???

[deadflo]

I have also had issues with my 240Z temp guage reading at about 2/3 (toward the hot end) when the outside temperatures begin to warm up. I usually drive her on a Saturday morning. In the summer that's usually around 70 degrees outside. At that outside temp, the temp gauge reads just over the middle mark,but when the outside temp gets to about 80, it starts to read at 2/3.

Now that I have taken the 280 ZX out of winter storage and started to drive to work occasionally, it also has started to read at 2/3 on a hot day. I have had this car for 20 years, and this is the first time this has occurred. I put Nissan thermostats on both cars just last year. The 240 has the summer (170) stat, the ZX the normal one.

I guess I am wondering if the temp sensors go bad over time, or if crap in the radiators have built up over time, and I should look into replacing them?

It seems like a good number of us are seeing these higher readings on our temp guages as of late, but I wonder about the effect of the warmer daytime temps as well.

[esprist]

I like the laser gun idea. I am going to find someone that has one. Seems like you would have to take the read from the thermostat housing, as opposed to the radiator, does this make sense? If not there perhaps from the metal tube for the heater hose? But temp may drop at this location.

This one is on sale at $39.93

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=96451

Try this, you will be addicted to using this at your kitchen, too!

Esprist

[TomoHawk]

HIguys,

I finally got to switch over to the Water Wetter this summer, so I can cruise some race tracks.  I just drained the cooling system via the drain at the bottom of the radiator, then filled it with distilled water and added the Water Wetter.  I don't think the entire contents of the cooling system was emptied, as I only put 2 gallons (8 quarts) back in, so there was probably some antifreeze still in the mix.  In the spring, I will drain it again and add distilled water and fresh Water Wetter, so it should be more of an optimal situation.

The good news is that since I made the change to Water Wetter, I noticed the coolant gauge was always  a bit lower than usual.  Usually the needle is at the center of the operating range (185 degrees)  but now it is slightly lower.  I'd say it was the usual 15 degrees cooler.  I'm assuming the thermostat is working, because the engine warms up quickly instead of taking a long while, as if it was removed ( we used to do that with the muscle cars.)

A question:

Will the Water Wetter coolant freeze in the winter under average Ohio winter (0-30 degrees F) conditions?  The vehicle will not be driven- only stored.

I think I will look into changing the stock fan to a flex-fan, but do you still use the clutch with the flex-fan?

 

 

 

 

 

[Mark Maras]

 No clutch needed with the flex-fan. You will need a spacer to set the fan as close to the radiator as possible.

[TomoHawk]

Since the clutch seems to be the right size for the spacer, do you think it would hurt to leave it in there?