Engine temperature

[david.avrahami@]

1987 Carrera coupe. I have recently returned from a 2400 miles drive and I observed that the temperature gauge on a summer warm day (not hot) is pointing to the middle of the scale or just very slightly above...
In the past, the engine temperature gauge, once the car reached its warm state, the dial arm pointed quite below the middle.
Can someone explain why and what should be done or is it normal....car has 83.000 miles.

[tharbert]

Rodents like to make nests on the cooling fins. You may want to take a look. I found a good little nest above my #3 when I tore the engine down. It was impossible to see just by looking through the fan.

[O' yeah"74]

Experiencing a very similar problem with my '74. No evidence of rodents, but I can't see behind the fan. I'm a newb, how difficult is it to remove the cooling fan? Would you mind sharing the process of fan removal, although I'm sure it's in a thread somewhere on this forum.

Thanks,
Dustin

[Lyle O]

I have an '87 also. I find that middle is normal in summer. In the fall or spring, when ambient temps are cooler, however, there is a noticeable drop in the operating temp. You should check that your front cooling fan is operational. When I got my car some years ago, that was not working. In my case it was the fan that had broken at the shaft. There could be other reasons for non-functional cooler up there, like thermostat, electrical connections, etc. When that fan works as intended, it helps keeps the temp from moving into the upper regions of the gage.

[TheSt|G]

You can also retrofit the surprisingly effective front bumper intake for the passenger side fender oil cooler.

[GH85Carrera]

I drove out to Monterey, CA and back last month. With outside temps below 90 my temps stayed at 185 to 210. In Needles, CA the outside temp was 108 and the oil temp got to 220. I converted my gauge to numbers many years ago and I don't know for sure the stock gauge has the same range.



The temp at 9 to 10 o'clock is getting high but for short periods is no big deal.

[rwest]

When was the last time you tuned it up? Proper timing, fuel mixture etc., can make for temp. differences.

[Josh D]

For another point of reference, this is my gauge yesterday afternoon after a 30 min commute of both highway and surface streets in 110* ambient. I was running A/C and I have the factory 28 row oil cooler.

This is about 225*-230* and verified previously with an IR thermometer.

[SCadaddle]

Anyone have experience with that "scoop" on an SC with the stock trombone cooler?

[TheSt|G]

Originally Posted by SCadaddle

Anyone have experience with that "scoop" on an SC with the stock trombone cooler?

I was chatting with a local SC owner who had one, said it knocked his temps down noticeably.

[Len 911]

Just put one on my car , Still in the garage haven't had it out to test yet, I have read up on them and nothing bad was said about it, Just alot of people saying it lowered the temp that was noticable. Can't hurt to have one

[88911coupe]

I did the oil cooler fan bypass (do a search..little to hard to explain) and I can manually switch on the fan when I see temps creeping up when we have really hot days and I'm running the AC. It really knocks the temps down.
However, this does not really address your actual question which, as far as I can tell, is why would your temps suddenly start running higher than in the past under the same conditions. On the Motronic cars (like yours and mine) we have somewhat limited options on doing what is commonly called a "tune up" since its all set internally and does not really get out of adjustment. You may want to look at your plugs since they can offer good info on engine running conditions.

[dixbu]

Normal

[Typ616]

David,
Did you do basic troubleshooting? It's hard to tell if that's normal or not, you don't say how hard you might have been driving. Just above the middle wouldn't bother me, but if it's a new development in similar conditions as before, then maybe there's an issue... Did you check that your oil lines under the right side of the car are hot ? (thermostat opens) Did you check that the fan on your front fender oil cooler turns on when the car is hot ? I'd start with that. Might wanna invest in a cheap IR temps gun to shoot the oil lines and various parts of the engine.

[david.avrahami@]

Thanks guys...
Typ616, please explain what is the an IR TEMPERATURE GUN? how do you use it and where do you get it?.
Oil consumption is normal and there are no leaks.
I will check the lines and see if they are hot.