Guest szlash280z Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 my engine was showing really hot on my temp gauge, I wanted to verify it so off the advise I got on the boards here and there I got a digital meat thermometer. The Gauge showed close to 250*, Thermometer said 173*. I switched out the temp sender and now it reads normal, but it is still showing a little bit hotter than my NA did. I want a new electric fan, I don't think my 16" single is cutting it, it wouldn't cut it in traffic with the NA either. I don't have any A/C. and I do have an oil cooler. Does anyone know if the oil temp switch in the turbo oil pan will work as a gauge sender? I know it was originally to turn on the oil cooler fan, so I think it is just a switch instead of a sender. I wonder if I can put a sending unit in the oil pan switches place, then run a selector switch between it and the coolant gauge so I could toggle between them...? sounds like a cool idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 173 isn't that bad at all. It could depend a lot on your thermostat too. There are 160, 180 and I think 190 deg thermostats. The temp on my motor will hover at about 180, which is about right where it's supposed to be, from what I know. During low RPM freeway cruising, or driving around at night, it will hang out at 160ish, and if I get on the boost a lot on a hot day, it will get up to 190ish. That's a bit warm but still acceptable, and I think you shouldn't worry about your temps at all. Where does it get to if you get on the boost a few times? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest szlash280z Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 my memory is saying that the needle points between the P in the word TEMP when I am really getting on it and at idle. I haven't measured what the coolant temp is after I changed out the sending unit. I have a new water pump, new 180* thermostat and the radiator is reletively new. I verified that the 'Stat works, but not with a thermometer. I just have water in the radiator now, no Coolant because I have had to remove the radiator so many times while trying to do stuff and coolant is expensive. maybe with coolant the car will run cooler... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperZ Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 I don't have any A/C. and I do have an oil cooler. Does anyone know if the oil temp switch in the turbo oil pan will work as a gauge sender? I know it was originally to turn on the oil cooler fan, so I think it is just a switch instead of a sender. I wonder if I can put a sending unit in the oil pan switches place, then run a selector switch between it and the coolant gauge so I could toggle between them...? sounds like a cool idea. The sender in the turbo pan is an oil TEMPERATURE sender for the oil temp gauge. I didn't realize the oil cooler had a fan, my old donor 280ZX didn't have one specifically for the oil cooler. Are you referring to the fuel rail fan? That is controlled by a temperature sender in the thermostat housing and a timer circuit under the dash - it may work well for a cooler fan... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest szlash280z Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 the 83 car I got this engine from had a small dedicated fan that mounted to the oil cooler. so that thing is a temp gauge sender and not a switch huh? I guess I have to read my FSM about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 I'd switch to the 160 deg thermostat, but then again I live in SoCal and it's really hot here right now. My temp gauge stays right around the middle point during daytime driving, it may go up by 1/8 or so if I"m in traffic, or have been putting the pedal down too much. At night it will usually stay about 1/8 shy of midway. Another trick, if you're on the freeway and running warm, is to pop your hood. It will open like 1.5", but will still stay closed and wont fly up. Doing this always brings the temp back down for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest szlash280z Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 shouldn't the car run normal with the 180* stat? I don't know if the stat would really have much effect on it because it still runs a little bit hot when at idle with the hood up. I will take a temp reading tonight after driving it around and see if it really is too hot. how hot is too hot anyway? my electric fan doesn't cover the whole radiator and I don't have a shroud for the half it doesn't cover. A stat is cheaper than a whole new fan setup, but I needed a thinner fan anyway. I will test the coolant tonight, and if it really is hot, maybe I will try the stat change. it's kinda hard to see in this pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 yes even in 100+ degree weather the 160 deg thermostat made a difference, from the 180. The motor should run fine at 180, however, when you suddenly get on the boost, I guess the temps can rise faster than the thermostat can react, hence you will get temperature spikes. With the 180, my temp gauge had gotten as high as 2/3 of the way up, which is way too hot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperZ Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 I can see how a 160* thermostat can help protect against temperature spikes from doing short boost runs, but I'd like to make a couple points on that topic... The ECU make not be out of warm up mode if the engine is running at 160*, and you will not get proper fueling. I could be wrong on this, I'm not sure. Additionally, if you are already running hotter than the thermostat under normal driving conditions (ie: not boosting), a colder thermostat will not cool your car. The radiator is already heat soaked trying to dissipate the engine heat, and the thermostat is wide open. If you try to lower the temperature of the 'stat, you have done nothing to improve the cooling system's ability to shed heat; your 160* 'stat will be wide open too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody 82 ZXT Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 With proper functioning radiator, waterpump and fan your car should be fine with a 180* thermostat. You may need to have your radiator recored or simply replaced. I run a stock turbo 3 row radiator with the factory fan and have no proublem with cooling. This is in Dallas with the temps getting pretty high durning most of the year but, during the summer it gets real hot. Make sure your radiator is not cloged with junk and replace the thermostat with a 180* unit from Nissan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest szlash280z Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 My radiator had been recored about 2 years ago because the stock fan went flying off when the water pump died on the NA motor. I didn't put very many miles on it (less than 5K in the 4 years I have owned this Z). I guess I can try to back flush it just to make sure, it could have a lot of scale and stuff from the Turbo motor, it didn't have freeze plugs for a long time, so the cooling passages probably rusted a little bit. I figure that my fan probably doesn't flow the required CFM, so that is not helping. I still want a thinner dual fan setup because I can't even change my alternator belt with the fan I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted August 14, 2003 Share Posted August 14, 2003 I agree sleeper to be honest it didnt make sense to me why changing to a 160 helped the motor run cooler overall, the 180 that was in there before was brand new and was letting it get way too hot... even with the 160 it will still get to about 180ish degrees, but as I said before with the 180 it would get much higher, like 200-210. Maybe the 180 was faulty? Either way with the 160 it gets right to where it should be, middle of the temp gauge, verified with a thermometer at about 180 degrees after a run around the block. On boost on a warm day it will get up a little higher, maybe to 190 or so. Only thing that makes sense to me is the possibility that the temps can change so rapidly with a turbo motor, and there's some 'lag' there as to how fast the thermostats can open or close?? does anyone know how fast it takes them to adjust from fully open to fully closed or vice versa? Otherwise I can only think the 180 was faulty.. since the 160 is doing fine I'll leave it, will wait and see how it does when the weather cools back down and go from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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