Overheating issue

[Enano]

Whenever I turn my a/c on, after a while the cars temp gauge starts to go way past the middle. I have an 88 and my temp never passes the 1/2 mark its always below it like a bit over 1/4.

I have an aftermarket aluminum radiator and dual e-fans. I was thinking maybe since the condensor fan turns on and the condensor has to get cool too its not enough and its too hot and it overheats?

Also, I've been losing coolant lately when I run it hard, but I don't smoke at ALL from the tailpipe. My reservoir was bubbling today when the car overheated because of the a/c problem.

Ideas? I'm not sure on the headgasket but my bolts ARE torqued past 85 ft/lbs and the head is brand new so I think I do have a MHG. Motor only has 101k orginial miles 7M-GTE.

 

[theprodigy79]

Sounds like you may have a tear in one of your coolant hoses, or possibly a loose hose connection somewhere... check all your hoses and the underside of your car for drips or wetness. It could be a small tear that opens up when your drive hard, so make sure you look thoroughly.

Check your oil just to make sure it looks alright (check under your oil cap as well to make sure there's no sludge of any type), and also check the fluid in the radiator to make sure it's alright. Make sure there's fluid in the reservoir as well.

If you can't find anything with all that, do a leak down test. From there, a compression test...

 

[IndigoMKII]

Get rid of your dual e-fans and go back to the clutch fan setup. The clutch fan setup pulls probably more than 2x the CFM of your e-fans.

You're probably losing coolant when the res bubbles over.

Also, how new is your thermostat?

 

[Enano]

I lose coolant after driving hard yes, but I can do 20 pulls back to back and the car will not overheat. It only overheats when my a.c is on. My thermostat should be the original one from factory so 101k miles on it I would imagine. I don't see any steam or any smells to under the hood so I'm thinking maybe the turbo is burning the water/coolant? I have a small leak at my feed line to the turbo

Edit: oil line to the turbo not water. Could it cause anything?

 

[Van]

Edit: oil line to the turbo not water. Could it cause anything?

It may cause a fire from oil on hot exhaust parts! Get that taken care of soon.
How old is your radiator cap? If it isn't holding pressure as it should it needs to be replaced.

 

[Enano]

Its fairly new it came with the aluminum radiator i bought. i meant anything like the turbo overheating and burning water because of not enough oil etc.

 

[Nick M]

It only overheats when my a.c is on.

You don't have an A/C problem. But this is the problem. Do you know how A/C works, in general? Heat is taken from your cabin, and dumped in front of the radiator. And your set up, however you have it, is not good enough for the heat. For the record, this never happens on a car with the stock system that isn't broken.

 

[CyFi6]

You don't have an A/C problem. But this is the problem. Do you know how A/C works, in general? Heat is taken from your cabin, and dumped in front of the radiator. And your set up, however you have it, is not good enough for the heat. For the record, this never happens on a car with the stock system that isn't broken.

While mostly true I do want to point out that overheating (going into the red zone of the gauge) can happen with a completely stock system under some surprisingly common situations. If OP is overheating in stop and go traffic it may not be something he can fix, though the electric fans probably aren't doing anything to help.

 

[jetjock]

What Nick said. My car in stock form never overheated under any conditions ac or not. In most cases people should just leave the damn cooling system alone because, like all passenger vehicles sold in the US, it has met or exceeded NHTSA testing criteria.

 

[IndigoMKII]

What Nick said. My car in stock form never overheated under any conditions ac or not. In most cases people should just leave the damn cooling system alone because, like all passenger vehicles sold in the US, it has met or exceeded NHTSA testing criteria.

How long do you think the stock cooling system will handle high revs and a bigger turbo? With the correct modifications made to attempt at keeping excess heat out of the engine bay. Full flow oil cooler, ceramic coated manifold/turbine and exhaust wrapped downpipe.

 

[jetjock]

Not easy to pin that down but with the supporting mods you mentioned it should handle up to 300 HP. Putting stuff like a aluminum rad in before that is a waste and does more harm than good by reducing coolant flow. E-fans are a step back any time. Generally speaking, people would have less problems with the car if they'd stop trying to make it "better".

 

[Nick M]

Copper transfers heate better than aluminum. Maybe you could get these guys to build you a radiator.