Sorry but i am a noob. I need to know if my 1986 s4 NA came stock with an oil cooler. The car seems to not have one and i think that is a problem. Also the stock temp gauge on the cluster goes half way to hot is this normal for a s4 NA?

 

If you don't have an oil cooler, I'm sure your engine would have been toast by now. And the temp gauge is normal.

 

Ok appreciate it. I'll go check again.

 

It should look like a small intercooler between the radiator and front bumper.

 

No!
S4 cars should only have the temperature go up to 1/4! If it's hitting 1/2 you have a problem! [engine mildly overheating, bad gauge, bad wiring, bad sensor]
Does your car push coolant into the overflow tank?

Also, you can trace the oil lines to the cooler.. The easy one to see is on the front cover of the engine coming off at an angle and going kinda under the battery tray.

 

Woops. I thought S4 cars were the ones that were about halfway up. It's been a few years since I've had a running FC and almost 10 years since I had a running S4.

 

Wow.. Been a while..

I forgot to add this last night: you are correct for S5 cars. S4s are just weird XD

 

At least the S4's water temp gauge actually works.

 

EDIT: they kinda work.

They still aren't linear gauges, but they are better than the s5's

Running halfway up should be fine, given that it is summer and it's a little hotter outside. 1/4 of the way up on my s4's stock gauge reads about 180* on my aftermarket temp gauge. 1/2 way up reads 205* They are all a little different though, it seems from years of corrosion, electrical gremlins, etc.

Heck, I've ran these cars up to 240* on the track occasionally. Granted the next couple of laps were slow to let the engine cool back down, but it takes a lot to cook these engines.

 

WTF! It does push coolant into the overflow tank. What does this mean?

 

I noticed a small leak under the radiator cap but above the thermostat housing but im not sure what it is.

 

It could be the plastic housing for the radiator cap has a crack. Got me. Can't see from here.

Metal housing radiator caps can be had from Mazdatrix or Racing Beat.

 

I bled the system for about an hour the other day when it was pushing all my coolant into the reservoir. Now it looks like it's actually taking coolant out of the reservoir. About an hour after I had driven it after bleeding it, it took almost all the fluid out of the res which doesn't sound normal either but at least it's not doing the opposite and overheating anymore. Try bleeding the system first, if that doesn't work it seems it could be anything from a bad rad cap to a leak in the engine. Make sure you buy a jug of coolant before you start though, while bleeding a lot of coolant will end up on the ground due to the stupid system that doesn't have a proper placement of the rad cap in the 86's.

 

uh oh..
Read through this and tell us if it sounds like your problem: http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/2n...l_failure.html

 

ok i think its the radiator cap housing. I filled up the radiator while the bleeder screw was off and when i started it up no white smoke came out of the mufflers and i drove it for a while and no signs of overheating. So ima replace the rad cap housing like hailers said then go from there.