My previous FC warmed up fine in 20 degree weather. The ones prior to that did fine on those cold days down south as well. I can't see a reason this one should be any different... does that not make sense?

Yes this is my second auto to manual swap car from over the years.. I did not personally perform this one though..

Can't wait to see what happens after this ' new ' oil cooler. And moving the temp sender.

This oil cooler has been sitting for a number of years stagnant. How can I clean it out without a hot tank?

 

you might pull out the thermostat and test it like they do in the FSM. really i think we're out of ideas, so its time to go to square one and recheck everything you can

 

So guys, any updates? My Fc has been doing the same thing, over cooling, in the past week or so just not as badly as O/P's. Mine will get right under the normal temp that it normally gets to and it takes it a while to warm up. After about forty-five minutes to an hour or me driving hard constantly will it reach full temp on the stock gauge. I know running her a little bit more lean has helped a bit but I dislike having to constantly adjust the afr. Oh by the way, it's a completely stock 86 GXL... Stock for now at least...

 

Sounds like you've got a bad thermostat and it has failed in a partially open position. And/or your fan clutch is going.

 

I just got a new thermostat about three months ago... Along with new water pump.. Before that it was running with the stock original water pump and no thermostat (Thank god I bought it when I did )

 

Thermostats can fail at any time.. many things can. If you've got the time, you could pull it out and test it.

 

I think a primary injector in my rear rotor went out so I'm gonna have to fix that first and then check my thermostat, or do it at the same time while I'm working on getting that injector problem sorted.

 

I'd start by ohming the injector itself out. If its within spec, back probe your ecu to make sure the drivers are working. After that you are left with the wiring itself.. in which case checking for continuity is where its at. All that diagnostic work, and only three tools are needed. A digital multi meter.. the factory service manual.. and the search function on this forum. Tis a beautiful thing.

Edit: ooh, sadface... primary injector. So you'll need a few more tools haha my bad...

 

What are the sizes for our primary and secondary injectors? (Dumb question I know) but I keep finding everyone saying 460cc but it never says whether that's for the primaries or secondaries.. I ask because I have some Puerto Rican friends that say our secondaries are 550cc and I'm confused.. (It's more of a useless knowledge thing, not really a necessity) but yea, I'll def take your advice and put it to use!! Thanks haha also, do you know what the symptoms of a bad primary might be like on one of our engines? Because mine made a weird yet soft clanging sound and began misfiring BAD and just suddenly began losing a whole lotta power but it wasn't smoking or giving the "dead rotary" symptoms or anything like that, and upon doing a quick check I learned it is still sparking and when playing with the timing it began to sort of heal.. It had no power from 1000 to 3500 rpms and around 3800 (which is when the secondaries are said to fire) it would start to smooth out but after 6000 rpm it would act like nothing was wrong and pull hard.. Made for an interesting ride home I must say.. Oh and I can turn it off and let it cool off and then turn it on and it'll take maybe three or four seconds longer than usual to start up but it'll fire right up and hold a super low and choppy idle and do the same things I listed above. Sorry for the super long post and thread jack.

 

All four injectors in your NA are 460's.

 

Start by ohming out the injectors and ensuring the ground under the intake manifold - which will be off anyway - is solid. Set your timing back to where it is supposed to be.

As for the starting issue.. probably a combination of things.. neglected preventative maintenance and whatnot. One issue at a time :-)

 

The startup/low choppy idle only happened after the possible injector problem, I brought that up because normally when people talk about the "dead rotary symptoms", as I call it, they ask about how the startup is or so it is in the threads I'm subbed to. Once I get home from school I'll get to work on it and report back or actually.. I'll just start a thread so I can quit thread jacking, thanks for all the help though!!

 

bumping this old thread since it might be what i am facing as of now. anyone got a pic of their temp gauge when all this was happening?

This is where mine sits:


s4 88 gtu na. replaced thermostat with mazda oem. bought a new temp sensor for the rear block. stock s4 radiator. i just bought an auto meter water gauge. gonna hook it up tomorrow, but was wondering if anyone's temp reads the same as mine. i drove the car on 1 hour and 40mins one way trip and another hour and 40mins back home before. no problems, but i am not convinced this is accurate. it never climbs higher than what is in the picture.

 

Weird, definitely get that aftermarket gauge hooked up so you can monitor its behavior during idle, highway cruise, acceleration load, etc. Actual numbers would also be great, since readings from the gauge cluster is about as much use as hemorrhoid cream in this situation.

By the way, Acesanugal, did you ever figure out what was the problem with the overcooling? Reading through the thread, it seems that:

a) another check over of the cooling systems (both water and oil) is needed or
b) it may be caused by something else that hasn't been considered yet

It's a total shot in the dark, but you said fuel economy has been crap, so maybe its pissing so much fuel that the excess is cooling the motor? I can't think of much else that would excessively cool an idling car with the fan disconnected.

 

Sorry for the blurry picture. Taken at night before driving the car hard. When the car is fully warmed up, it sits at 180 on the auto meter gauge. Took it for a 30 minute drive on the highway as well. I still have my stock gauge wired up as well and it is reading at the same location on my previous picture. I am guessing this is correct as it is. Going to leave both gauges working just to monitor the rear block coolant and the coolant at the upper radiator hose. I am using a temp sender adapter that goes between the upper radiator hose (requires cutting the hose in half and attaching the adapter in between).