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Car runs hot during a race

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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 04:11 PM
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Car runs hot during a race

I started my car today, let it sit for 2mins, drove 5mins to wash it, washed it and came out, seen one of my friends in a bimmer wave at me that i wanted to race, so i chased him and raced him, i noticed when i raced him the temp guage went pretty hot, to 3/4 the way if not even a little more, but when i eased off the gas and slowed down the temp went down, whats with this?...



P.S. normall it runs between 1/2 and sometimes 3/4 up the temp guage but it just looked as if it was a wee bit highed during the somewhat short sprint....

P.S.S. i beat the bimmer, it was a newer 525i

Last edited by Street Racer; Jan 18, 2005 at 04:16 PM.
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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 04:42 PM
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ANYONE have ANY idea's?!?
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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 04:44 PM
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You are running your car harder and then wondering why the heat is rising?
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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 05:26 PM
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it tends to do that after the car idles for a while and then you drive it hard because mine has the same problem except my temp. goes almost all the way up. after the car idles for a while shift at 3000rpm to give it some relief

also make sure you have plenty of anti freeze.
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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 05:30 PM
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mine usually runs at about 1/4 the way up the gauge, both 7s ive owned have done that. Id check or replace your thermostat and maybe even flush coolant.
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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 05:38 PM
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you got 50/50 mix of distilled water and antifreeze? 100% antifreeze or 100% water cools worse than 50/50 mix, 100% antifreeze freezes at 0* degrees. Do you have the under carriage tray on? anything blocking the radiator, still got the fan shroud? its not normal, it shouldn't heat up like that. good luck, and good kill
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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 05:57 PM
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I'll throw in another "Check/replace your thermostat." My '7 was getting a bit hot on the highway and when being driven hard (over halfway up, normally runs at 1/4-1/3). Replaced the thermostat, and it's back to normal, only time I've seen it get over halfway up was during a minute long autoX run in 1st gear, "in the beeper zone" almost the entire time.

-=Russ=-
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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 06:05 PM
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Exclamation

t-stat is probably the most common cause
belly pan / fan shroud would be some others i would consider to be related to
this particular issue being that (im assuming) you were doing higher than normal speeds at the time of the increase in temperature.
the belly pan is the main thing that FORCES air through the rad and when your flying the belly pan will make the car cool better (since you are going faster) to compensate for the elevated rpm
although these puppies commonly overheat, its one problem you should never ignore or pass off as "they all do it" cuz a few too many degrees a few too many
times will leave you looking for a rebuild
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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 06:06 PM
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Originally Posted by alphaxxn
You are running your car harder and then wondering why the heat is rising?
Thats a pretty ignorant statement.

Could be a slew of things.
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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 06:14 PM
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mine does the same thing sorta

temp WILL NEVER .. EVER EVER EVER .. go above 1/4 under normal conditions

but if i get on the interstate and hit it hard in 4th gear going wide open, it will creep up to about half way if i stay heavy on the throttle for longer than a minute

i just assumed it was cause im missing the engine underpan. Im gonna go ahead and buy a few thermostats though as thier so cheap and its always good to have extras
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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 06:46 PM
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Originally Posted by Defiant FC3S
it tends to do that after the car idles for a while and then you drive it hard because mine has the same problem except my temp. goes almost all the way up. after the car idles for a while shift at 3000rpm to give it some relief

also make sure you have plenty of anti freeze.
wrong

if he adds more antifreeze, it would make it hotter
antifreeze suks at transfering heat compared to water
do a 50/50 mixture like he is suppose to...
pure water wont be good in canada

new thermostat and refill it with new fluid should be the fix

fixed my problem

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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 07:05 PM
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not sure if this works on rotarys but alot of road racers with piston engines run a 70% water, 30% coolant mix with 2 drops of Palmolive (dish soap) added so the system transfers heat more effeciantally. meh my .02
edit: by road racing i ment like HPDEs and events run on a closed race couse, i dont condone street racing becasue i personally think it's pritty stupid
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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 07:09 PM
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Originally Posted by onePOINTthree
not sure if this works on rotarys but alot of road racers with piston engines run a 70% water, 30% coolant mix with 2 drops of Palmolive (dish soap) added so the system transfers heat more effeciantally. meh my .02
edit: by road racing i ment like HPDEs and events run on a closed race couse, i dont condone street racing becasue i personally think it's pritty stupid
on my bbc, i run straight water with water wetter... cools well, but too bad he lives in canada... might be bad if it freezes
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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 07:27 PM
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yeah thats the problem up here in the great white north BTW if you cant figure out why you add dish soap, it's becasue it breaks the surface tension of the water, thus making the heat transfer more effentally. I know this works great in hondas and i see no reason why it wouldnt in a mazda rotary
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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 08:21 PM
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Did you remvove your airpump? And not take action to prevent a slipping belt at high rpms?
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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 10:38 PM
  #16  
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i recently got the car and first thing i was going to do was thermostat, havent had time to get around to it yet, it normally runs around 1/2 too 3/4, i'm gunna replace it and put in new 50/50 and hope it works, i believe i got a 175degree thermostat, around there anyways, thanx for all your imput guys!...

yeah it's winter here up in alberta, but for some reason were having dayz of +2-+8.... it's nice.... dry roads....

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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 11:10 PM
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replace the t-stat, flush the system and add some water wetter, if it still has the problem then you may have a semi plugged radiator.
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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 11:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Street Racer
i recently got the car and first thing i was going to do was thermostat, havent had time to get around to it yet, it normally runs around 1/2 too 3/4, i'm gunna replace it and put in new 50/50 and hope it works, i believe i got a 175degree thermostat, around there anyways, thanx for all your imput guys!...

yeah it's winter here up in alberta, but for some reason were having dayz of +2-+8.... it's nice.... dry roads....


I was running a 180f thermostat. and the Needle hardly got off the cold mark, I then took less than ten minutes and stuck a 195f on and now its about 1/4 way up which is Normal from what i understand...Unless im pushing it and it gets close to the halfway point, if your really running a 175f neither its not a 175f thermostat or its not working right cause when i was using a 180 the car ran to cold. but the dude that has a photo of his temp gauge with the needle way up there like that, Never happends with me unless im low on water or somthing plugged up
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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 11:24 PM
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Originally Posted by Adam
I was running a 180f thermostat. and the Needle hardly got off the cold mark, I then took less than ten minutes and stuck a 195f on and now its about 1/4 way up which is Normal from what i understand...Unless im pushing it and it gets close to the halfway point, if your really running a 175f neither its not a 175f thermostat or its not working right cause when i was using a 180 the car ran to cold. but the dude that has a photo of his temp gauge with the needle way up there like that, Never happends with me unless im low on water or somthing plugged up
Something was wrong with your setup then, like the thermostat was faulty and stuck open all the time, because the stock thermostat is 175-180º somewhere in there. Running a 195º thermostat is not proper and you should be running more than 1/4, so that's still weird.

To the original thread starter, put in the 175º thermostat, flush the coolant and replace it with new stuff, and you should be fine. If not something else is wrong with your cooling system, good luck.
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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 11:37 PM
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Originally Posted by Street Racer
I started my car today, let it sit for 2mins, drove 5mins to wash it, washed it and came out, seen one of my friends in a bimmer wave at me that i wanted to race, so i chased him and raced him, i noticed when i raced him the temp guage went pretty hot, to 3/4 the way if not even a little more, but when i eased off the gas and slowed down the temp went down, whats with this?...



P.S. normall it runs between 1/2 and sometimes 3/4 up the temp guage but it just looked as if it was a wee bit highed during the somewhat short sprint....

P.S.S. i beat the bimmer, it was a newer 525i
Wow, that's pretty hot... My two rex's ran normally 1/4-1/3 up on the stock gauge. 1/2+ is usually not good. Just for peace of mind (yours) I'd suggest you try to avoid at all costs allowing your car to get that hot (i.e. don't race until you get it fixed). Perhaps look into getting a thermostat that opens at a lower temp. and getting your coolant system cleaned. I'd say just be careful, you definitely don't want to destroy your internal coolant seals.
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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 11:41 PM
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Originally Posted by dDuB
Something was wrong with your setup then, like the thermostat was faulty and stuck open all the time, because the stock thermostat is 175-180º somewhere in there. Running a 195º thermostat is not proper and you should be running more than 1/4, so that's still weird.

To the original thread starter, put in the 175º thermostat, flush the coolant and replace it with new stuff, and you should be fine. If not something else is wrong with your cooling system, good luck.

Well maybe my ***** messed up then. Ill check it with a digi thermometer incase. But the needle seems correct. wierd though
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Old Jan 18, 2005 | 11:53 PM
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Originally Posted by Fitness Stain
but if i get on the interstate and hit it hard in 4th gear going wide open, it will creep up to about half way if i stay heavy on the throttle for longer than a minute
Um... correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't a minute of WOT in 4th be putting you at or near the ~135mph top speed of a NA FC (and if you were a turbo, a minute of WOT would involve 5th, and somewhere around 150-160mph)?

-=Russ=-
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Old Jan 19, 2005 | 12:18 AM
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i dont think you should trust the stock gague much!
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Old Jan 19, 2005 | 12:21 AM
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Originally Posted by Adam
Well maybe my ***** messed up then. Ill check it with a digi thermometer incase. But the needle seems correct. wierd though
Yah that is weird, because 195º should be too hot of a thermostat and the car would, or should, be running hot, but yet you're still not. I dunno that's weird. My electronic water temp gauge when at 195º, which only happened once when I was setting up the e-fan, is about half way. More than 195º starts going past half way.
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Old Jan 19, 2005 | 01:40 AM
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yeah, i already have the thermostat, it's 175 or so, not sure.... i'm kinda worried about how hot it runs right now, i tend to drive it for an hour or so in traffic and around town without really stopping or letting it kool down and it runs at approx 1/2 and sometimes near 3/4, i'll get the t-stat changed asap aswell as the coolant.... i dont want this engine to blow.... it runs amazing and i want it to stay that way!...

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