TheOdditie

iTrader: (1)

Alright i am slowly knocking things out on my 85 se. Next up is temperature, i have replaced the thermostat, temp sending unit , heater core, and radiator cap. So far the only time i have seen it past a quarte inch past the cold marks is when i took the fan off. any suggestions?

t_g_farrell

iTrader: (1)

Do you have a problem getting heat in the car or are you saying the engine never warms up
past 1/4 on the guage?

TheOdditie

iTrader: (1)

Sorry was in a rush typing that. I will get heat in the car eventually but takes awhile and the gauge never gets very far.

DivinDriver

iTrader: (15)

Takes bad traffic on a hot day, or long fast hot uphill pulls in the canyons, to get my water temp any higher than that, and my oil temp rarely gets above 175 or so in normal traffic.

I see that as a feature, not a bug.

DreamInRotary

iTrader: (49)

I would very much agree with this statement.

I'm from the land of the North and know how bad it can suck when it takes a vehicle a long time to warm up. But I've actually had my water temps in the overheating marks on the stock gauge, and over 250*F in my car. The thermostat was sticky and as soon as I replaced it they went back to normal. If you're looking for more heat you could always order a parts store thermostat that lets the coolant out of the engine at 210*F

TheOdditie

iTrader: (1)

Well I can get heat in the car, but I didn't think that was where the gauge normally should set at. I'm used to a temp gauge sitting more in the middle than just past cold.

This is where it normally sets:


I'm currently have a problem with the car running rich and I wasn't sure if it was because it wasn't getting up to temp or not. Good cause of it is probably the exhaust leak at the manifold from a busted stud.

t_g_farrell

iTrader: (1)

You have a good problem. My temp rarely goes to 1/3 and thats usually
running hard up and down the mountains. Most of the time its at 1/4.

Maybe your heater core is clogged. You could unhook the hoses
at the fiewall and try flushing it out or something.

TheOdditie

iTrader: (1)

Heater core is fine, like I said, i do get heat in the car, sometimes it takes awhile. Biggest thing was I wasn't sure thats where they normally sit.

And excuse the sharpie marks on the speedometer. I need to get some replacements because the orange is coming through the black all over it. Looks like someone got overspray on it.

And I have learned real quick, the gas gauge does not stay over there for very long. So far my best mileage is 18 mpg and thats 75% highway.

nitsua93

iTrader: (2)

My 1980 has never exceeded maybe 1/4 or 1/3 the gauge. Definitely runs rich though. I have an amazing exhaust leak and I'm rebuilding the carbs. If fixing the leak and the carbs makes it heat up more I'll let you know.

Rotor_Venom08

iTrader: (3)

So your heater isnt getting warm. Or your car is getting hot I'm confused
Have you bled the system Soto speak? Turn the heater on full blast with the car running and drown the radiator squeezing the hose and burping out any air. If your running the stock fan I'm surprised ota staying that cold you must live somewhere up north. I have an efan on my car in hot *** Houston tx and it stays around 1/4 freakeshly cold

TheOdditie

iTrader: (1)

sorry for the confusion. both kind of go hand in hand, car doesnt warm up you dont have a heater. but the question was more aimed at if that is the normal temperature on the gauge or if it should get a little higher. i like my vehicles to actually operate at the intended temperature rather than colder than what they are supposed to. i found part of the reason why it wasnt getting hot faster in the car, the right side vent was on fresh air and those things let a lot of air in.

i think a lot of the running rich problem stems from having an exhaust leak at the manifold right before the o2 sensor. i plan on getting the manifold stud fixed in the next few weeks and after removing the manifold myself this past week, a header is getting ordered shortly for it.

Rotor_Venom08

iTrader: (3)

yeah thats normal. mines usually stayed just before touching the temp symbol in the middle like right to the left of it like in the pic. but now with the efan it sits right after the second thick line almost all the time.

as far as the heater goes if the car is "warm" the heater will work noone on planet earth has a thought time warming up a rotary engine they get hot fast. you probably have air in the system and you probably have your vents open. sucking in outside air instead of hot air from the heater. either way past the thick lines is OT (operating temp) past 1/4 is running hot and 1/2 is overheating

TheOdditie

iTrader: (1)

Well I guess that means this is one less thing I have to worry about. Thanks for the info i am still learning whats normal on these engines.

DreamInRotary

iTrader: (49)

Just to put the one more nail in the coffin:




These pictures were taken within seconds of each other. On the Auto Meter gauge, it is electrical with the sensor only about 2" out from the thermostat (drilled and tapped the sensor into the actual metal neck of the thermostat, right after so I could measure the temp of the water coming out from the housing), and the stock gauge is showing where the coolant lets out at 180.

When I had my coolant temps at the top of that Auto Meter gauge (above 250*F) the original gauge was right at about the 4th hash mark on the stock gauge and would climb to the dashed hash marks indicating overheating.

I, to this day, think that I baked my beehive o-rings to crack and caused some issue to my engine by letting that happen a few times. I was a new rotary owner and didn't know that it shouldn't be that high (obviously, I knew it was running too hot when it hit that last mark) and left it alone for a while.

Sure glad I fixed it though, it could have ended my rotary career extremely early.

rx7lives

Hmmm, interesting. Since I live in Northern CA, it can get very hot in the summer and with the A/C on, the gauge can climb quite high. So, at the start of last summer, I cored the radiator, put in a 165° thermostat in (had to order that) a new water pump and it ran at a little below the halfway mark on a hot day with the A/C on, on freeway driving. The gauge rose a bit during street driving but nothing I thought to get worried about and it never crossed the halfway point which it used to do in traffic on a hot day with A/C. Since a good cooling system along with good coolant is cheap insurance I did all the work I mentioned above.

Anyways, I'd always wanted to try 'Water Wetter' and it does seem to work, it lowered the temperature so it was only going up to maybe 1/4 of the gauge. Granted, this was in the Autumn and it was cooler. Now, in the winter, I'm looking at a spare gauge I have sitting in my office and now, with the heater on full and outside temp going from mid 30s (rarely) to the mid 50s and 60s and it never seems to get to the 1/4 mark on the freeway or not. I've let it idle for a long time and still, it doesn't heat up. I get heat out of the vents but it seems to run cool. I should get a thermostat adapter for my Fluke MM and see what the temperature is, Water Wetter or not, the thermostat should keep the coolant at or around 165°.

When I was looking into Water Wetter, I found some threads that said it gunked up the radiator but I haven't seen evidence of that... yet.

Hmm, Granger has the probe for around $50 which is more than I want to spend but with summer's 110° temperatures down the road a bit, maybe I'll bite the bullet and get back to you. For all I know, the gauge or sender could be toast although I could smell if it was overheating but I'd rather be sure. I'll try to get an answer within a month or so. I might be able to borrow one or see if the local Kragens type stores has one of those cool infrared temperature guns to see what the outlet temp is on the top hose.

Oh yeah, I noticed all those cool three row aluminum radiators on Ebay and I bought one that was supposed to be a direct fit for my car and it had the right bolt pattern and top hose but it had the wrong diameter holes for the low water sensor at the top and same for the sensor on the bottom of the radiator that I have no idea what it does except cost over $100.00. Luckily, I'm looking at one I got from a P&P for a couple of dollars for two of them.
The radiator had great quality, I was disappointed it didn't fit (the lower hoses were off a bit as well). They refunded my money in a day and they sent me a UPS slip so I didn't have to pay for the shipping so it cost me nothing in the end. I'm still thinking of buying one though.

t_g_farrell

iTrader: (1)

If your not seeing the gauge stay at or below 1/3 then you have an issue and its running too
hot. One thing to check is the FMOC oil cooler lines if you have them. At one time my car started
hovering around the 1/2 mark consistently. I got the RB oil cooler lines, swapped them in,
problem solved. Most of the rotary cooling happens through the oil, not the coolant.

If you have a beehive, get a FMOC.

TheOdditie

iTrader: (1)

Thank you lindahlish. That right there answers everything for me.