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radiator too hot?


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Well with the AZ Summer here and my first time going through it with the Z, Im concerned about the cooling effects on the car with the outside temp being 110 out.

 

I have a 3 row aluminum radiator (Champion) and 2x 12" Proform 67012 fans. The Summit kit with these fans, only had a thermostat that turns the fans on at 185 which appears to be right around the beginning of the M on the stock temp gauge. I swapped out my thermostat (aftermarket) which had a very small diameter compared to the OEM NIssan and put a 160 thermostat in. I went all ghetto and built my own fan shroud out of Aluminum tape around the fans which has helped some but not enough to turn the fans off in street driving. On the HWY it comes right down to the middle and stays there. I am guessing its getting up to 190-200 and the fans run constantly on the street. I did NOT have these problems when it was cooler out. The temp gauge was actually below the E.

 

Should I be concerned? My rule of thumb has been anything over the middle of the stock gauge should be looked into.

 

After reading some previous posts, back in 2010 ZYA ran a single 12" fan and says the 160 degree thermostat is too cool for these cars and ran a 192 thermostat to keep more radiator fluid in the radiator so it could cool it longer. Tony ran even smaller fans 2x 10" fans and had no problems with a 160 (not sure if it was being raced in socal or not?) Im wondering if the 185 fan switch is just too high, and by that time its already doomed? Or is it the thermostat thats causing the problem? There is a lot of variables in this to check, so I am hoping someone in AZ or another high heat area has already figured out the right combination.

 

EDIT: On a side note this was a very dumb topic header. I dont know what I was thinking

Edited by AZGhost623
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I can get the heat out. I bought a competition hood scoop, and I made it functional, and works quite well. You can put your hand on the side of it the hood scoop and you can feel the heat coming right out. So stagnant heat I dont think is the problem.

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Check KTM's answer to your problem. Having your fans come on too late will put you into runaway.

I went through Phoenix in June at mid-day around 120F towing an 800# trailer (and got the "71 in a 65" ticket leaving Tucson to verify my speed in metro areas) without EVER exceeding 190F (let's say one needle width to the right of dead Center on the stock gauge, generally it was one needle width to the left of dead Center )...

 

That was a used three core from the junkyard.

 

Going down the road was right there, always, and it stayed there to around 35mph. If I got into stop-n-go on surface streets at which point it would get to the right of Center point, the fans kick on, and it drops to left of Center.

 

My Turbo car was similar the fans turned on 10F above the stasis point of the radiator on a 110F Palm-Springs Day driving (lugging) the engine in fifth at 35 mph.

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