Water Temperature

[deadlydave86]

Hey guys,

Ive noticed that when I first start to drive my car and the temp needle sits around the quarter mark my car seems to have a lot more power. After a few minutes of driving the needle gets to half way between the quarter and half and the power seems to drop significantly. I live in Townsville and it is pretty hot here at the moment so when ever I drive the needle site around the quarter to half mark some time in traffic it sits almost on half. Is there any way that I can make the car run cooler? What is the optimum running temperature for my car? It is completely stock BA.

Cheers Dave

[XRSCAR]

Mine sits just below half way after 15-20 minutes of driving and im from Melbourne, I believe just below half way is the general running temperature.

Ofcourse turbos run better when the air is cooler also :D

[Jake F6]

Has anyine got experiences with lower temp thermostat?

Does car run cooler and meake better power?

[MrBean]

Be careful of lower temp thermostats.

Below 82.5 deg C operating temp, the (mechanical) wear-curve is very exponential, and not recommended at all.

What you may be expereincing is heat-soak, with inefficient intercooler, or at least a to small intercooler, and no good heat extraction from under the bonnet.

[TOM1111]

mine ALWAYS sits just below half way apart from when I first start it

and no power difference

Edited 23/03/08 10:49 AM by TOM1111

[straughsberry]

Has anyine got experiences with lower temp thermostat?

Does car run cooler and meake better power?

I have a Triton highflow 180 thermostat (82.5c) fitted. You need to get the fans to come on earlier accordingly in the edit. Mine runs 1 needle thicknes above 1/4 normally moving 1 or 2 needle thicknesses at most. In the 38c temps of last recent Melbourne weather, giving it some stick and driving in peak hour traffic, the needle only moves to about 3 needle thicknesses above 1/4 or about a halfway to 1/2 from a 1/4. You will always have heatsoak but a thermostat will help to lower operating temps.

[XRPete]

mine sits at just under half at normal temp. Can't notice any power difference when the car is still warming up. Get the fans switched on earlier with a tune. It works wonders

[JETFPV]

Mine sits at about a needle to 2 needle sticks above 1/4 and if im giving it a repeated hard time it will go up to just under half but once cruising it will come back down to just over 1/4 again.

On my autometer cobalt guage it sez the temp at that level is about 190-195F and when im giving it a repeated hard time as mentioned above it might climb to 210F at most but come back down whilst cruising.

[veczar]

Hey guys,

Ive noticed that when I first start to drive my car and the temp needle sits around the quarter mark my car seems to have a lot more power. After a few minutes of driving the needle gets to half way between the quarter and half and the power seems to drop significantly. I live in Townsville and it is pretty hot here at the moment so when ever I drive the needle site around the quarter to half mark some time in traffic it sits almost on half. Is there any way that I can make the car run cooler? What is the optimum running temperature for my car? It is completely stock BA.

Cheers Dave

For good component life I don't think you should drive until the temp is at its normal range. Usually about 5 mins.

[phantom xr6t]

when I was working in townsville in Jan my temp run just under the half way mark all the time, when I moved back to the tablelands in atherton it runs just over the 1/4 mark, didnt notice much of a power drop that I can remember and it was very hot then.