Hi everyone,
I have a 97 Cobra with 102,xxx miles on it.
Bought it about 1 year ago.
Only driven occassionally, on the weekends.
When I bought the car, it had a very slow drip of antifreeze from the lower thermostat housing.
No problem, took the car on around town trips and all was well (just a few drops of liquid at end of trip).
One day, the seal between the lower thermostat housing components blew and I lost all the antifreeze.
After being a new housing and thermostat, I filled up the radiator with new PEAK pre-diluted 50/50 mixture.
I know the car can take 5-6 gallons or so, so as I got to almost that amount, the upper radiator seemed full, so I stopped putting in more coolant.
No low coolant light, all seems well, but... the car runs hot.
What I mean by that is using the SCT programmer I have (it has built in engine sensor reporting capabilities), I can see the coolant temperature runs between 200-230 degrees (varying in that range over the course of a 50 mile drive, never staying high or low... just varying.
This temperature is confirmed by the stock engine temperature gauge in the dash cluster (regularly showing the needle at or just above the "L" in the word "NORMAL".
So I started thinking... what is the new thermostat I put in the new housing was not opening?
If it weren't, wouldn't the car run well above 230?
Is the coolant not full? There is no room to put any more coolant into the upper radiator reservoir and there is no low coolant light on any more.
I figure this must have something to do with the replacement of the lower thermostat housing and thermostat and coolant filling.
That being said, I guess it could just be a coincidence and perhaps the upper thermostat is the problem.
What do you guys think?
I have a 97 Cobra with 102,xxx miles on it.
Bought it about 1 year ago.
Only driven occassionally, on the weekends.
When I bought the car, it had a very slow drip of antifreeze from the lower thermostat housing.
No problem, took the car on around town trips and all was well (just a few drops of liquid at end of trip).
One day, the seal between the lower thermostat housing components blew and I lost all the antifreeze.
After being a new housing and thermostat, I filled up the radiator with new PEAK pre-diluted 50/50 mixture.
I know the car can take 5-6 gallons or so, so as I got to almost that amount, the upper radiator seemed full, so I stopped putting in more coolant.
No low coolant light, all seems well, but... the car runs hot.
What I mean by that is using the SCT programmer I have (it has built in engine sensor reporting capabilities), I can see the coolant temperature runs between 200-230 degrees (varying in that range over the course of a 50 mile drive, never staying high or low... just varying.
This temperature is confirmed by the stock engine temperature gauge in the dash cluster (regularly showing the needle at or just above the "L" in the word "NORMAL".
So I started thinking... what is the new thermostat I put in the new housing was not opening?
If it weren't, wouldn't the car run well above 230?
Is the coolant not full? There is no room to put any more coolant into the upper radiator reservoir and there is no low coolant light on any more.
I figure this must have something to do with the replacement of the lower thermostat housing and thermostat and coolant filling.
That being said, I guess it could just be a coincidence and perhaps the upper thermostat is the problem.
What do you guys think?