wheres everyone's temperature at?

[86turbo]

Mine seems to hover around 95 in normal weather, (70 or so Farenheit) but the weather's been hot around 100F lately, and my temperature is right below the first notch to the right of the 90 mark (I'd assume that's around 100). I don't know how accurate this is though, my temp and fuel guages rise in proportion to the amount of revs the car has, and I have to hit the dash to get them to come back down. What's the normal temp. for a G turbo, in normal weather and heat?

[Skerd]

Not sure about the G specs. But my temperature was way high almost 3 years ago. A new radiator and fans fixed it perfectly. Now the needle is straight up almost all the time no matter what. This corresponds to 85C if my memory of the gauge face is correct.

[njcpa]

Yesterday I was in stop and go traffic and my temp went over 110 and up to 120. As soon as I got moving again, it stayed at 85-90, which is where it has been most of the time.

[lotusguy]

Hi,

An often overlooked maintenance item is cleaning the radiator. Due to the low-slung nature of it, it gets clogged rather easily with fine dust, plant debris etc., between the fins, nearly invisible to see.

I would suggest that annually one clean the radiator by removing the under panel and forcing pressurised water through the radiator to blow all the accumulated debris through the way it came in. This alone can result in significantly lower operating temperatures. Happy Motoring! ...Jim'85TE

[hilly]

If the temp and fuel gauge slowly rise out of normal position and a whack to the top of the dash brings them back to normal, then it sounds like the dash voltage regulator is on it's way out.

It is located in the dash pod and it is just bi-metalic strip with a contact to the voltage supply, with a small heater coil wound around it which the supply current runs through. As the current passes through it, the coil heats up and bends the strip, opening a contact and so stopping the current allowing the coil to cool. As it cools the contact is made again the whole process repeats. This is how the regulation effect is generated and occurs over about 2 second intervals. You don't see it on the gauges as their reaction time is so long.

As they age the contact gets burns and welded shut by the current spikes and whacking the dash shakes it all loose.

Just buy a new one as they are not that expensive.

When i get around to it I hope to make a semiconductor version of it to stop mine doing the same again.

Hmmmmm, that post turned out long than I expected......


Andy
1981 S3

[greezmunky]

You have to get under the car and make sure all 3 fans are coming on. Mine is an S4 but even in bad traffic on a hot day the temp never went over 90. Esprits have a solid cooling system but like everything else on the car its a high maintenance item and wont work well with a blown fan or a radiator full of dirt.

[rlearp]

I don't get over about 91C, on a scorching hot day. If I saw much over 95C I'd be wondering and if I saw over 100C I'd be damn concerned. Follow Jim's advice, flush your system too, look for signs of corrosion in the tank and system. If it is there do a pressure flush to get out as much as you possibly can, this can really work wonders in some cases.

[86turbo]

thanks for the advice, thought there was something odd going on. Just flushed the coolant system, brought temp down a few degrees, but not enough. I'll check out the fans and clean the radiator as you all advised, hopefully I'll have this problem fixed.
Dan

[DrieStone]

I'm in the same boat with the '83. It's always running above the "middle" 90, and usually hovering around the next tick and occasionally (sitting in traffic) above that. I've seen it get close to the second tick a couple of times which worries me.

I also did a coolant flush recently, and have verified that all 3 fans turn. Probably time to follow Jim's suggestion for "blowing out" the radiator.

Of course an added disadvantage is that at some point in the car's history someone hacked a paint job and there is serious overspray. on the radiator.

Is there a cross reference for the radiator, or perhaps a good aftermarket radiator for the G cars?

[95LOTUS]

lotusguy said:

Hi, An often overlooked maintenance item is cleaning the radiator. Due to the low-slung nature of it, it gets clogged rather easily with fine dust, plant debris etc., between the fins, nearly invisible to see. I would suggest that annually one clean the radiator by removing the under panel and forcing pressurised water through the radiator to blow all the accumulated debris through the way it came in. This alone can result in significantly lower operating temperatures. Happy Motoring! ...Jim'85TE

Thanks for the reminder, Jim...I'll be doing that this weekend. It gets HOT here during the AZ summers!

BTW, glad to see you're still with us!

As far as my temps go, it usually peaks at around 95C, but is typically 85-90C without the AC on as long as I'm not stuck in traffic. The Esprit really likes to be moving to stay cool.

Bill
'95 S4S

[kylie]

95LOTUS said:

lotusguy said: Hi, An often overlooked maintenance item is cleaning the radiator. Due to the low-slung nature of it, it gets clogged rather easily with fine dust, plant debris etc., between the fins, nearly invisible to see. I would suggest that annually one clean the radiator by removing the under panel and forcing pressurised water through the radiator to blow all the accumulated debris through the way it came in. This alone can result in significantly lower operating temperatures. Happy Motoring! ...Jim'85TE Thanks for the reminder, Jim...I'll be doing that this weekend. It gets HOT here during the AZ summers! BTW, glad to see you're still with us! As far as my temps go, it usually peaks at around 95C, but is typically 85-90C without the AC on as long as I'm not stuck in traffic. The Esprit really likes to be moving to stay cool. Bill '95 S4S

agreed, soon as you get moving more air gets pushed through the sysyem, cooling it down. But never had it reach over 95.

[moriarty]

You should not see temps much over 95C - if you let the car idle until it reaches this temp, you should hear the main radiator cooling fans come on and the temp drop rapidly to 80C, the fans then turn off. Check this with the aircon off.

If its not doing this, check the wiring to the fan thermostat on the thermostat housing outlet pipe - top one I think. Ive had these wires break several times due to poor strain relief.

[86turbo]

my radiator is cleaned, and all three fans do come on. However, the fans don't click on and off, they go on when the temperature reaches 90 or so, and don't go off until I turn the car off. How likely is it that my gauge is inaccurate? My fuel gauge only reads from slightly right of middle (same place as the temp guage reads, relatively) to full, and will not read lower than that even if I slap the dash. Since both gauges are controlled by the same voltage regulator, could that simply be my problem? Also, my car has been running very well lately and my mechanic (who has serviced the car longer than I have owned it) has never mentioned any problems with the cooling system.
Dan

>> Edited by 86turbo on Monday 24th May 03:44

[lotusguy]

86turbo said:

my radiator is cleaned, and all three fans do come on. However, the fans don't click on and off, they go on when the temperature reaches 90 or so, and don't go off until I turn the car off. How likely is it that my gauge is inaccurate? My fuel gauge only reads from slightly right of middle (same place as the temp guage reads, relatively) to full, and will not read lower than that even if I slap the dash. Since both gauges are controlled by the same voltage regulator, could that simply be my problem? Also, my car has been running very well lately and my mechanic (who has serviced the car longer than I have owned it) has never mentioned any problems with the cooling system. Dan >> Edited by 86turbo on Monday 24th May 03:44

Hi,

It's very likely to be a problem with the Voltage Stabilizer, a cheap part, but a drag to replace. Also, the temp sender on the Waterpump could be faulty or have a corroded connection or bad ground.

Your fans are not governed in anyway by the temperature indicating system. The temp gauge is governed by the temperature sender located in the 'T'stat housing on the waterpump while the fans' operation is governed by the 'otter' switch located on the upright coolant pipe which runs along the right side firewall.

If the fans don't de-energize once the coolant temp has been sufficiently lowered by the fans, I would suspect first a faulty fan relay and next a faulty 'Otter' switch. The relay is cheaper, so check this first by substituting a like relay from another circuit and see if the fans operate properly. If not, perform the continuity test on the 'Otter' switch which I previously described. Happy Motoring! ...Jim'85TE