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?

Ok I just unhooked my coolant line that goes to the throttle body and placed my palm on the filler neck and slowly pumped it.

I was only half way throught my first pump and coolant came out of the throttle body coolant line.

SOOOO, that means I should be good on coolant.

Now its just figuring out how to get air through the rad.

You know how the stock radiator fits in the engine bay. If you tilt the top up and back enough to slide a 4" thick IC vertically in front of it, then that is how it is.

I took out the two plastic side pieces in the nose, have custon blocking plates on the side so air can not escape to the oil coolers, etc. See pic with yellow corners where some air can go around the IC to also enter the rad?

I also have the single shark mod to push the bottom of the nose down about 1".
Got this from Brad Barber the road racer.

I also use M2 steet/comp radiator, 25% Dexcool, 75% distilled water, Water Wetter; PFC fan controls set at 86,86,88, fan mod switch, radiator ducting, and
Mazdaspeed replica hood. All help to keep 370+RWHP cool.

I've been thinking of fabricating air guides as well, but there is not alot of room down there for attachment points. Btw, where did you get the foams?

your rad. is too thick the air is not going threw it ... i have a sim set up with the stock rad and it does not run hot. . koyos are not very good with front mounts. there fine if left in stock location. see if someone will trade you for a fluidyne.. your car is not over heating in cruzing b/c the engine probably isnt reving as high. the car will realy alot on teh fans now with this set up and that rad.

I'm bringing this one back from the dead.

Still the same problems.

I went for a cruise tonight. Nice cool night. Probably around 65-70 F out.

Well, with a little spirited driving around town (anywhere from 25 to 40 mph) the water temps stayed at a nice 89 to 95 F. Then I went out on the highway towards my buddies house. Only a 60 mph speed limit, but your climbing some hills on the way out.

Well in 5th gear doing about 60 mph up the hill, I maintained about 2-3 psi. Right away my temps sky rocketed to about 103 F. All this on a cool evening.

This is absolutely baffeling me.

Coolant levels are fine.

Tomorrow I will see if there is a stock T-Stat somewhere in town and swap it out to see if there is any changes.

As one member mentioned, he said I should try a Fluidyne radiator instead of the Koyo I am running now. Is there any reason the Fluidyne would cool any better?

Thanks for the help, Josh


And also, I should mention that my AC does not work. I accidentially broke a line doing my FMIC install. So driving around town I have the fan speed set on 1 with the AC button on to turn the fans on.

You are suffering from a lack of cooling capacity. In order of importance:

1. Definitely get the stock OE thermostat - Call Ray Crowe at Malloy Mazda for the best price: 888-533-3400

2. Assuming the thermostat is installed and working properly, the next most likely culprit is a partially-blocked radiator (I had a Ford Escort that did pretty much what you are describing, and a new radiator fixed it). Any tube that is blocked flows no coolant. If half the tubes are blocked, you are working with only half of the radiator. Temperatures will soar as more cooling is required due to more engine output.

3. Air flow and air ducting is also a suspect - did you ever get the areas around the radiator sealed properly?

I haven't made anything permanent yet for the ducting.

But with the templates that I was using I did not see much of a change.

Would it be a good idea for me to toally flush the coolant system?

If so, should I take it to a garage to have it done or just do it at my house.

I have also been curious to throw a pressure test on the cooling system just to make sure that there isn't any leaks or anything.

After driving around yesterday I checked my coolant this morning before work and it was a little low, but it seems like I am always adding coolant.

I don't believe any is leaking into the rotors (no smoke or signs), but I could be wrong.

1. Yes, but if the blockage is severe, this may not clear it.

2. They may have the same problem. A good radiator shop can "boil-out" the rad (after it is out of the car), but this can cause damage if the rad is corroded or otherwise marginal.

3. Your coolant loss is not severe enough (IMO) to be the cause of your overheating problem. It also doesn't sound severe enough to be a bad coolant seal. It is probably a result of running hot, not a cause. However, a pressure test could detect other incipient problems, and is probably a good idea, anyway.

Do you have the stock thermostat, or is yours a generic aftermarket one (often known to cause problems)?

I have never changed the T-stat so I am guessing it is OEM.

I just got off the phone with our local Mazda dealership and they do not have an OEM t-stat in stock.

So, I will probably contact Ray @ Malloy and have him ship one out.

I have a greddy front mount, and i have never had this problem. I recently over the winter put 2 pull fans mounted on the back of my intercooler. I switched to evans, which is supposed to raise your temps a bit, and did notice a few degrees drop. On a very hot day in traffic the car runs about 92. On the highway, about 86.

After this many years with one thermostat, it would not be surprising if it were not opening completely - that could definitely cause your problem. If the new thermostat doesn't fix the overheating, then worry about the other things.

I ordered one from Ray and should have it on Friday. So I have a little project to work on this weekend. I will also try and fabricate up some kind of duct from the intercooler to the radiator.

Thanks for the help guys. I will let you know how it turns out. Hopefully this will solve my problems. Josh

Any undates im in the SAME shoes your in... I have a Greddy FMIC and a Koyo rad.