Hey all, new to the 4v world and have a few questions.
The car in question is a 97 cobra. IMRC delete, EGR delete, COP swap, and more that I'm probably missing.
Now, I bought this car a little over a week ago, and ran into an overheating issue driving it home on the interstate messing around with a buddy in his SRT8 charger. I had found the radiator cap had failed, and not allowed any cooling system pressure to build, and would leak. After blowing most of my coolant out and overheating I got pulled over and let the car cool down for a little bit. The scanner I had with me showed ECT of around 235°f. Plenty hot, and possibly warping heads. After that whole fiasco, I got the cooling system re-filled and burped after replacing cap. I had done some diagnosing and believed to have had a plugged radiator as well in which I swapped out with an OE replacement for now.
Now that I have a little history of my personal experience, onto my question. I'm seeing coolant temps of 196-210°f while cruising, or under light acceleration. The temps spike to 220°f under a pull, but immediately come back down. Ambiant air temps have been anywhere from 20-40°f on the days I've driven it. From what I have read, the factory thermostat is 192°f. The temperatures ive seen, and am seeing seem to be a bit on the high side. The fan is kicking on and off like I believe its supposed to. I dont want to just slap a thermostat in and hope for the best. I'm not certain I didnt warp a head, and blow a head gasket. I plan on tearing the engine down at some point in the future and installing forged internals for boost. However I'd rather it be later than sooner. I'm a diesel tech by trade and have no issues diagnosing things. However, these cars are a whole new ball of wax for me. Thanks guys.
The car in question is a 97 cobra. IMRC delete, EGR delete, COP swap, and more that I'm probably missing.
Now, I bought this car a little over a week ago, and ran into an overheating issue driving it home on the interstate messing around with a buddy in his SRT8 charger. I had found the radiator cap had failed, and not allowed any cooling system pressure to build, and would leak. After blowing most of my coolant out and overheating I got pulled over and let the car cool down for a little bit. The scanner I had with me showed ECT of around 235°f. Plenty hot, and possibly warping heads. After that whole fiasco, I got the cooling system re-filled and burped after replacing cap. I had done some diagnosing and believed to have had a plugged radiator as well in which I swapped out with an OE replacement for now.
Now that I have a little history of my personal experience, onto my question. I'm seeing coolant temps of 196-210°f while cruising, or under light acceleration. The temps spike to 220°f under a pull, but immediately come back down. Ambiant air temps have been anywhere from 20-40°f on the days I've driven it. From what I have read, the factory thermostat is 192°f. The temperatures ive seen, and am seeing seem to be a bit on the high side. The fan is kicking on and off like I believe its supposed to. I dont want to just slap a thermostat in and hope for the best. I'm not certain I didnt warp a head, and blow a head gasket. I plan on tearing the engine down at some point in the future and installing forged internals for boost. However I'd rather it be later than sooner. I'm a diesel tech by trade and have no issues diagnosing things. However, these cars are a whole new ball of wax for me. Thanks guys.