SC Still running HOT UGH!!! What could be wrong?

[Ferrariguyma]

My 1978 RoW SC was running at 11 o' clock on the oil temp gauge with the factory trombone oil cooler at 70 mph on a 80 degree outside temp day. To try to bring the temps down I did the following:

Added:
Elephant racing wide mouth oil cooler
ER recommended electric fan
ER ribbed oil lines
NEW Thermostat
Bumper mounted oil cooler scoop

Today on the breakfast run my temps were between 100 and 120 (9 o'clock and 10 o'clock on the gauge) this is at 40 mph in mid-high 80's temp day. Every other 911 was running at 8 o'clock on their oil temp gauges. My 911 never got below 100c all day. Even on the highway at 80mph.

I am at my wits end as to what could be causing such high temps. Their are no nests, dead mice or anything blocking the internal oil cooler or fins. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance,

Andrew

[Paulporsche]

Are you sure your timing is not advanced too far, or your mixture too lean?

[patkeefe]

Did you check the thermostat in the case?

[Ferrariguyma]

I have not checked the mixture.

[equality72521]

Check the mixture. I had a hot running issue and richened it up. High temp problem gone.

[Miguel Antonett]

Does it just happened, or it's been like that since...?

[Gogar]

Are you sure your gauge is working properly?

Buy a $10 digital meat thermometer and insert the probe in your oil tank and see if everything matches up.

[Joe Bob]

Yup....check that gauge. It could be FUBAR'd.....

[Ferrariguyma]

No this is not new occurance. The car has been running hot since all of the changes.

I think checking the mixture and the gauge are next.

Thanks

[OldTee]

If you dont have a Harbor Freight laser digital temp guage I suggest the $30 investment will be worth it. Then use it to check your oil lines up to the front oil cooler. My problem, mostly solved, was the large temperature thermstat on the back of the engine. Pain to get to, had to pull the engine but good mechanics have replaced it by just lowering the engine,, didn't work for me so I invested another 30 minutes and dropped it. Check your heater hoses also and your fan belt.

[Joeaksa]

Might want to pull the fan and alternator off and look on top of the cylinders.

I had the same situation years ago and found this:



A mouse had built a nest on top of my left bank of cylinders. No air and very high oil temps cooked the engine.

Its worth checking out.

[Deschodt]

Cool, a thread I can relate to... I've had similar issues with my 83 since I bought her 10+ years ago. For the record, she's got 175K miles now (85K of my doing, with countless track days) and doesn't seem too bothered by the fact she's ran hot all her life !

I've installed a carrera cooler, a temps activated bosch fan, replaced a crushed oil line, checked thermostat operation, checked the flow of the cooler, replaced the main engine cooler thermostat as well, played with timing, checked mixture, fan belt tension, backdated the heat/cleaned up the engine bay, checked for rats nests and the presence of the cylinder air diverters, even installed the Heetsheets (good for a few degrees) and ran with the bumper lights removed with ducting to the cooler. In other words, check, check, check, check.... only thing I have not done is the cool collar ;-) Still runs hot... I mean almost 1/2 way up the gauge on a summer day, fan on. Oh yeah, checked the gauge was accurate too... Track days not doable in summer, we get in the red after 20 minutes...

I'm thinking maybe the engine's like that, maybe it's got to do with tired piston rings or something? She's starting to eat oil near the porsche recommendation... Mostly, I stopped caring because I tried everything I could think of short of a rebuild.

PS: My mechanic, for grins, mounted a spare nose cooler (RS style) temporarily (valance off) and I ran it like that for a while, it made *very* little difference and looked craptastic, obviously. Now I just run it as is and wait for it to blow, which I bet it never will... It's just very very sensitive to outside temps ;-) For giggles, it's 90/95F now, it'll run almost horizontal temps on the gauge at 85 mph sustained -but if I hit one of the famous FL rain showers, the rain brings temps down to "damn cold" in one minute ! I'm starting to believe in the swamp cooler thread ! (I do, actually, it's just not practical for a daily driver)

[Ferrariguyma]

Well your post will make me feel a little better should "richening" up the mixture not change the temps. My car has 70,000 miles and does not burn or leak any only. The engine pulls strong and does not make any "off" noises.

I am really hoping its just the mixture.

Thanks reading your post put me at ease a little about this "temp"
problem.

Andrew

[Deschodt]

Note that I am not saying "Do Nothing". Do check all the above if you can. I'm saying sometimes, they run a little hot and you'll never know why ;-)

[mca]

Subscribed.

I am troubleshooting the same issues. Never ran hot until this summer - 10 o'clock on 85 degree days without pushing it.

Going to check gage accuracy and mixture as well.

Best of luck,
Craig

[Mike Stanko]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

A mouse had built a nest on top of my left bank of cylinders. No air and very high oil temps cooked the engine.

Joeaska,

Unbelievable.

Thanks for posting this as I've had mice literally pack the air intake on my Geo Prism with acorns. No way I'm gonna let them little varmints turn my 911 engine into a food pantry and mess hall!

Mike

[rbutts]

Have you checked the tin and seal around the engine compartment , and any big holes that might be unplugged? You don't wan't hot air from the headers/heat exchangers making into the engine compartment.

[mca]

Andrew -

Any results? Follow-up?

[stlrj]

Seems my 78 3.0 would run hot too until I installed the bigger 2.7 fan and air flow meter. I never had any problems with it running too hot after that.


Cheers,

Jose'

[Trotskyite]

I have been having a lot of problems with my '82. Subscribed.