over heating problems

[91frppgt]

a few weeks back, my car over-heated sitting in traffic. this is the first problem i have ever had with the car. anyways, i pull over and check everything out..let the car sit for a while, turned on the heater and it got back to operating temp. i thought maybe the temp gauge was messing up, no biggie... i planed on replacing it anyways.

so yesterday we are sitting in traffic, a/c on windows up and i notice my a/c start to blow hot air, look at the temp gauge and its starting to climb. turn the heater on, windows down and get it off the road asap. now i'm starting to get pissed...
but it gets better, i just got back from the dealer and they won't warranty it. the car has 50k miles on it, I was told the POWERTRAIN warranty was 5 years/60k miles.

cliffnotes: driving down the highway a/c on, car runs within operating temp, but sitting in traffic the car will overheat. I do have a 160 thermistat i never put in.

any of you guys have any suggestions on what it could be?

 

[ski]

Does the cooling fan run when the car is at a standstill with the engine running? (Note that the fan should run at low speed from 214 F - 224 F, and at high speed at 225 F and higher.)

 

[chad9350]

Make sure fans are connected... I see you have pulleys... who did the install? Make sure they reconnected fans.

Fans may also become disconnected from high pressure washing under and the such...


Hope this helps...

 

[o0Dan0o]

I'd set the fan turn-on temps to something lower, and make sure that they are working correctly. When is the last time you had the radiator flushed? That has always helped my temps out on my other cars.

If all else fails, go with a bigger radiator. You might need it anyway if you go with FI.
Dan

 

[91frppgt]

ah ha!

ok, so i put the stock tune back in and it is fine. i let the car sit for 30+ with the a/c full blast and it ran fine.

the fan comes on @ 160, and the high speed fan comes on @ 172. the place that tuned it set it up like that with their tune. the problem is its not kicking the high speed fan on @ 172, causing it to slowly over heat!

 

[UrbanRedneck]

yeah it deff. sounded like a fan problem, or low coolant but you checked that I assume. I'd be pissed if they set the fans up wrong and caused overheating.

 

[o0Dan0o]

160 and 172 sound too low to me. I mean the T-stat opens at 180, so starting the fans bellow that isn't doing much good. I have mine set at 184 and 190, though I may change that for track days.
Dan

 

[91frppgt]

well my t-stat opens @ 160....

however i've been running this tune for 20k miles or so. When I put the stock tune in the car, it does fine. When I put the other tune in the car it won't kick on the fans, i'm assuming this is a tuning problem?

I hope its not a problem with the car...

 

[AlloyGT]

Gotta be the tune. If it was the car, I don't think the fans would kick on with the stock tune.

 

[o0Dan0o]

well my t-stat opens @ 160....

however i've been running this tune for 20k miles or so. When I put the stock tune in the car, it does fine. When I put the other tune in the car it won't kick on the fans, i'm assuming this is a tuning problem?

I hope its not a problem with the car...

Ahh, your first post said you hadn't installed that yet.

Yeah, somethings up with that tune. I'd e-mail it back to whomever tuned it and get them to check it.
Dan