FMIC & Overheating Prob.
 

Hey guys I need a little help. I just recently did a custom fmic and now I am having some overheating issues.

To start with while I am driving around town my temps stay pretty steady. They run anywhere from 85 to 90 degrees F. The fans kick in when they should and everything is running fine.

My problems start when I get on the highway.

At a cruising speed of around 35 - 40 its fine.

But when I get up to about 55 - 80 my temps rise up to about 92 - 96 degrees F.

Before I had my older smic I had the radiator in the stock location and made a pan below the engine to force air through the radiator.

Now that I have my FMIC I still have a underbelly pan that I made out of 18 guage aluminum.

Do you think I have an airflow problem to the radiator now?

I got some pics attached.

you can see in the last pic I am trying to get a template for each side of the radiator to the intercooler to try and redirect air through the radiator.

I will also make those out of aluminum when I get the correct template cut out.

Also should I make a template for above the radiator ? Any suggestions or help is appreciated. Even if you want to make fun of me for only spending about $600 on a front mount.

hmmmm, it seems pretty strange, I run a similar setup and I'm useing the stock RAD ( see pic) and I have never run high temps yet . Maybe the IC is too thick ( core) or something?

i thought it was reverse..like at cruising speeds where you will find yourself in the overheating state..and on the highway, it gets cooler..

i have a greddy fmic with the stock rad and even now in the blazing hot summer, city driving, i have NEVER seen temps go past 190..its pretty unbelieveable if you ask me..


maybe if you make custom ducting, it would help out but i still think your situation is a bit odd..

Nice setup. My intercooler core is 3" thick. That is what most of the Greddy's are from what i've read.

Another thing I didn't mention.

When I am out on the highway and my temps finally steady off as soon as I get a little bit of load on the engine ( going uphill ) the temps rocket up above 100 degrees F. On my way home from my parents place over Fathers day weekend it hit 107 degrees F.

spekdah, I noticed you don't have your ac heat exchanger in front of your radiator. Where is it mounted?

Mine is in front of my radiator. Do you think that has something to do with my heating issues?

bump

greddy 2row fmic with fluidyne radiator, a/c condenser in place. Driving around local roads at low speed on a hot california day, water temp will go up to 94 deg which is when the fan kicks in, driving on the highway at 70mph, temp is steady at 92-93deg. Full throttle autox action, temp will reach over 100deg.
Those are my temp readings.

Hows the radiator neck water level when cold? If it's low, you might have some air buble to bleed out, common with vertical radiator installation. Also check for leaks. Check to see if the fans are working.

I just checked it out this morning and it was low about a cup or so. I added it to the filler neck.

Is there a certain way I should be trying to burp the system?

Is it a little tougher to get all the air out of the system when you relocate your radiator to an upright location?

keep working on that ducting as it will help.

make sure your coolant is topped off and all the air is out of the system. search for burp for the procedure to bleed air out of the system. bascially it involves removing the rad cap and squeezing the rad hose to burp all the air pockets out. this procedure can take 1/2-1 hour.

What are you reading this from, a PFC? Those numbers sound like they are in Celcius, not Farenheit. Just being sure you're aware...

Other than ducting, have you flushed the coolant lately? Thermostat? Radiator Caps? Have a fan switch (are the fans on at these higher temps?)?

^^good call

i noticed how he posts 92-98 F..i know he meant C though..

but yeah, that was another thing i was gonna ask, if the system was properly burped..

well unfortunatley i'm in the exact same position, after front mount install i'm getting those exact same temps on the freeway at 80mph cruzing speeds. If I try to go up a mountian i can get upwards of 110C. I am also at 5300ft where the air is thinner and cooling is less effective.

My temps stay under control as long as it's 60-70F outside but I see those near 100C once it gets to 85+F outside. (sorry for the unit mismatch, I'm reading off the PFC and I know outside temps better in F).

What are your intake temps? When it gets hot outside i see 60C and sometimes 70C after a warm start. At that point the car runs like crap and I loose 2psi of boost due to the hotter air.

Oh, also I have not yet returned the underbelly pan. I have a fluadine radiator, an HKS ft mount. I run evans coolant

The AC has been removed from my FD

THATS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY I DONT uSE FRONT MOUNTS,
iTS LIKE A BIG ROCK BLOCKING AIRFLOW TO THE ENGINE BAY (INCLUDING THE RADIATOR)

Yes it takes awhile to bleed the air out once the radiator is in vertical position, unless you weld a bleeder hole on top of the radiator. Just keep driving it and filling it up when cold, bubbles will be gone eventually.

I live in Houstin and have a Blitz FMIC and do not have any overheating problems.
So FMICs are not the problem. The design and install is the problem.

My radiator has the A/C condensor coil mounted on it as the stock unit is, but this combo is angled to the verticle FMIC at about 45 degrees. Air also goes around the side of the FMIC allowing another route to the radiator.

From your picture, it APPEARS that you have a close three in one sandwich of:
(1)IC, (2) A/CV EVAP coil, and (3) radiator. If so, that is the problem. The radiator can only get air from what exactly goes through the IC. A very bad design/install!

And that little bit that is above the IC, has no direct air souce to cool it and is almost useless.

To keep an FD cool on tyhe highway with a vertical Rad/IC, you MUST have the belly pan in place and a foam strip that goes from the belly pan to the radiator. Also, all ways for the air to go around the side of the radaitor and over the top MUST be sealed. FD's do not have a lot of frontal area, so every CFM of air that flows in the front MUST be forced through the Rad. I had an FD with vertical Rad/AC/ FMIC. After fixing all the air flow bypasses, the car ran 90C on the higway with the ACon in FLa heat. Get those air bypasses closed off and a belly pan in place and you'll see, much better

You try manually running your fans on med-high setting when you notice temps exceed 90C?

I noticed it helps keeps temps lower on the freeway whether the car is under load or not

I always thought the SMIC Large or Medium is the best setup regarding functionality and ease of setup.

if your fluid is low remove the filler neck and fill up to the rim. put the palm of your hand over it, making sure no air can get in there and squeeze the hose directly below and to the right a little bit a couple of times. remove your hand from the filler neck, fluid should have gone down a bit repeat until it does not go down anymore. do this a couple of times after you drive your car......hope this works

I just noticed that I have been saying degrees F when it is degrees C.
Sorry, I should stop seeing how long i can hold my breathe and save a couple of brain cells

cewrx7r1,

Do you happen to have any pics of your engine bay so I can see what your talking about having your radiator still at an angle?


How does air go around your fmic?

To answer some of the other questions,

I haven't checked out my intake temps yet. If I go out tonite i'll check em but there is a storm on the way so I probally won't go out.

Out on the highway I tried both running my fans and not running them. It seemed as if it did warm up a little more when my fans weren't running.

I just went and took off the filler neck, made sure it was full, covered the filler withm my palm, and pumped the upper radiator hose.

I did it for quite a while and my levels were the same. Should it be full now?