It appears I am having a huge cooling issue with my Cavalier now that it is supercharged. To compare:
Before it would linger right under 195 (the middle) and if at idle would rarely heat up. With the a/c it would be closer to the next line under 195 and stay there.
After the supercharger if left idling it will hit hit 225 within minutes and kick on the fan which can barely keep up. With yhe A/C on it will drop at i
first to the line under 195, but as you drive it will fluctuate between that line and 195. And in stop and go traffic it will stay at195, sometimes almost creeping over it.
Plus on another note a few friends went on a trip to Show Low, on the way back there is this curvy up and down hill highway. We were doing some "spirited drivin" and at one point going up hill pushing the Cavalier into the 90s the temperature started slowly climbing over 195... never seen do that before when rolling that fast.
Now I know I'm boosted and the car will run hotter. What I'm trying to see is if this is normal amongst other fellow supercharged ecotec owners. What have you done to improve cooling efficiency. What supporting modifications can I make to improve cooling? A larger radiator would be great like the Griffin, but they are special order/custom made.
A twin fan setup would also help keep it cool and cool faster when getting hot, but I haven't heard any details on it. Does anyone know the cfm on the stock fan?
Current mods are:
3.1" pulley
Cobra Heat Exchanger with GM dual pass endplate
Both intercooler and cooling system are 35% Dex-Cool/65% Distilled Water with RedLine Water Wetter.
Live in Phoenix, AZ
Also my exhaust is pretty much stock. LSJ header to the stock 2.0" downpipe to a Borla 2.0" cat-back exhaust. Someone metioned that a restricted exhaust can cause the engine temps to go up, true?
im supercharged in phx, and i have no issues. warms up faster, and idles at 195, drives about a line or two below 195. only heats up if i sit at idle for linger then 5-6 minutes, then the fan kicks in and brings it right back to 195.
Why have you and I never meet EvoFire, lol. Some questions, what pulley, what intercooler, and what exhaust? Also how does it act with the A/C on?
No problems here, but i never really let the car idle in one spot for long.
its an old concept. time for something new to take the reigns. - Z yaaaa
stock pulley, about to pulley down. no heat exchanger yet. about to put on the cobra one. exhaust is about to be redone as my muffler is blown through, and it sounds like crap. i havent used my A/C since i put the blower on.
there is a car wash "meet" to night at 67th and thunderbird. iw ill probably be there around 930ish.
Mine runs a couple notches below 195 when movin, goes to 195 sittin at idle for awhile
z28guy(KGM BEOTCH)
I think the weather had something to do with it. It started doing this
right before I pulley down, put on the intercooler, and dropped the LSJ header on. Once everything was put on the pattern remained the same, so I don't think the new mods were really the problem.
Well since everyone so far seems to be doing alright, it must be something with my car. The thermostat has been changed so the only things left in the cooling system are the water pump and radiator, but I figure the water pump would be pretty obvious. Any ideas on what it could be and how to fix it?
Any supporting mods you guys think might help that are "affordable". I know a bigger radiator would be nice, but I don't exactly have ~$500 laying around. Any info on twin fan setups, stock cfm/air flow?
Would a less restictive exhaust or a ZZP Stage 3 heat exchanger help?
Note: I know that exhaust is getting toasty. I walked under my car today and it radiated heat like crazy around the downpipe like never before, lol. and the exhaust tips I can feel the heat through my pants when I walk by. I know for a fact it wasn't this hot before, lol.
EvoFire, sounds like fun, I'll swing by and check it. I'll be the dude with the white 4-door family car with SS badges. Will you be at the QT? Chevron? Different corner?
post pics of your car man. we will be at the carwash next to QT
z28guy wrote:Mine runs a couple notches below 195 when movin, goes to 195 sittin at idle for awhile
Yeah that sounds like how it is at night when the temps are cooler, but what do you consider a while?
EvoFire wrote:post pics of your car man. we will be at the carwash next to QT
Not sure how to post pics. Thought you needed to be a premium member. I now where that is. My car needs a car wash from the Show Low trip anyways.
Yeah it won't stay cool with the A/C on and idling. Just had to shut her down cause the temps went over 195. Damn what can I do?
see where the needle is in the pic? that is about where mine is ALL the time. and that is perfectly fine. the middle of the temp gauge is 195. when it gets to about 2 "lines" hotter then where this pic shows, the fan should kick on. is your fan working?
mine will go above 196 if it's hot out and i'm sitting in traffic. a/c is not going to help cool your motor. run the heat (although it sucks if it's hot outside) to draw heat out of the engine compartment)
mine has only done it once or twice but with the heat exchanger in front of the radiator, I can't say i'm surprised.
Ya i noticed a jump in coolant temp after installing my saab kit and brought this up a while ago. I was going to run the Royal Purple "ICE" in the coolant but was unsure that it would be ok for the turbo as mine is oil and coolant cooled. I have a Flex - a - lite dual fan fits great covers whole radiator and it cools really well but I am thinking I am riding the line too and thats just at idle.
Jason
I have total stock pontiac sunfire with the blower kit. when my car was runing warm i added watter wetter. even though i added watter wetter the car would still climb to 197 199. The orange Gm coolant states its has to be changed every 5 years. Keep in the car only has 30,000 miles on it. My advice change the coolant with gm orange coolant.
mine would sit at 190ish while driving mid 190s at low speed or idle, without any changes to the PCM yea it would wait till 225 to start cooling things off, with HPT I set my fans to kick on at 205 and the higher fans at 215, rarely even sitting during summer for a half hour would it ever go above 210
1989 Turbo Trans Am #82, 2007 Cobalt SS G85
I saw his car last night, had about 30 minutes to look over it, he compared his to mine, and i dont think there is any thing wrong with it. he purchased the complete GMPP kit, so there are no parts missing, everything is there and looked to be hooked up right. there were 3-4 of us there that agree. Jesus your discription of what is wrong is IMO things you DO NOT need to worry about. your car will run a bit different, and in a different temp range with the blower. drive it, see what its doing, and re-adjust what normal is in your mind man. i think your car is ok with the temps is is running.
I think I am going to try the royal purple because my motor i personally built myself top to bottom, and I didn't want the dexcool in it but i guess for the sake of cooling the aluminum maybe ill have to go back to it. I thought that the dexcool had adverse effects on the engine and corrosion.
dont get the dexcool then. get the one that is compatable with both kinds of coolant. thats what i put in mne when i did my blower install. it was still an orange color, but said right on the bottle that it would work with all coolant.
remember guys everycar will run different with the exact same mods. soa few degrees temperature variance between cars isnt a big deal. if u have no idiot lights then i really wouldnt worry.
why are you worried about 195? 195 is normal for an obd2 vehicle. there is nothing wrong with your vehicle. if you temp gets above 230 at idle and keeps climbing then i would start to worry.
JOE L wrote:why are you worried about 195? 195 is normal for an obd2 vehicle. there is nothing wrong with your vehicle. if you temp gets above 230 at idle and keeps climbing then i would start to worry.
almost word for word what i told him last night.....
Mine stays at 195 when I'm moving. If I'm idling for a while it will climb to around 225, then the fan kick in and cools it back down. Turning on the a/c kicks on your fan and helps cool it down from what I have experienced. Now on the other hand, I have watched another blown eco stay at 195 idling for a long period of time without the gauge moving. I convinced myself that I may have air trapped somewhere causing warmer temps, but I haven't taken the time to try to bleed it out.
Save your money. It might be worth something someday.
heres is mine
zzp s3 heat exchanger
dual ic endplate
ls1 fuel regulator 32 psi
one step colder spark plugs ngks gap 0.32
stock m62 pulley
80lbs deka injectors
at idel is between 14.5 and 15.6 500 rpms
pacesetter headers 4 to 1
3 inch from header all the way back no cat
its auto so it runs a little hotter a little above 195 mark all the time
car has been on full boost and with the ac on and has no lag at all.
What are you running for commanded afr and what are you running for spark advance? Those two thing will effect how hot your car gets. I'm running a 2.8 pulley and I have no issue with heat, it hits 195 and stays there unless I idle for a real long time and its hot out then it bumps up to 200 and kicks right back down when the fan comes on.
1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by:
Kronos Performance
WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer
