Engine Temp is overheating

Post Sun Oct 11, 2015 11:05 am

Hi all...just got rid of the clunking noise and now my engine temp is overheating when I'm stuck in traffic and the temp goes all the way to 3/4, but when on a straight line the temp goes down to half point. Changed the water pump, viscous coupling, thermostat, did bleeding, checked the oil cap for mayonnaise (all is good there). Any Advice??

Just got new extra fans and planned to install them this coming Friday.
Help Please.

Thanks.

Post Sun Oct 11, 2015 12:46 pm

Are you sure that the car is actually overheating? It is normal for the gauge needle to move up a little when in traffic, in order to activate the viscous coupling.
The gauge is not linear - the whole centre section occupies just a few degrees, while the blue and red sections are compressed. There's a big difference between just before the 3/4 mark and just after it.
How old is the radiator? They don't last forever, and should be considered a long term service item.
Extra fans should not be necessary with a cooling system in good order. A standard E30 is not marginal on cooling.

Post Sun Oct 11, 2015 2:49 pm

I'm not actually sure if it is overheating, just basing my theories on the temp gauge going 3/4. making me panic. one time it actually reached almost to the red section (traffic was really bad and it was a hot day).
Not sure also how old the radiator is since i got my e30 just a year now and radiator looks new at that time. You think it needs cleaning, repair or just replace them with new ones?
The extra fan that i have now is not the OEM which came with car, i compared it to the other e30's here and they are small (maybe for japanese cars), the new one i got is the OEM for e30's here in jakarta, a lot bigger. will install and update you with it.

The gauge is not linear - the whole centre section occupies just a few degrees, while the blue and red sections are compressed. There's a big difference between just before the 3/4 mark and just after it.
Still need to fully understand what this means though.

Thanks a lot for your advice, really appreciate it.

Post Mon Oct 12, 2015 6:20 pm

whats the condition of the radiator are the fins flat? full of crud as that could be your issue. also does the temp go down if you bast the heaters on full wack with the fans full wack as that will cool it more

Post Tue Oct 13, 2015 3:48 am

Hey Yeti...radiator looks good and clean, as i said earlier, it"s looks new when i got the car. probably the previous owner changed it before selling.
not sure if i have heaters on since the car was intended to be marketed here on a hot tropical country, but will check anyways..thanks

Post Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:00 am

You could try disconnecting the radiator hoses and reverse flushing the radiator with a volume of water, some of the small passages can get scale blocking them, cutting down on the efficiency of the radiator.

Post Tue Oct 13, 2015 8:51 am

motormanmick wrote:You could try disconnecting the radiator hoses and reverse flushing the radiator with a volume of water, some of the small passages can get scale blocking them, cutting down on the efficiency of the radiator.

+1 - I do this every couple of changes of coolant and its amazing the amount of crap that comes out.

I had to resort to flushing out with soda crystals on my 190 and the results were horrific. The amount of crap that came out of my matrix was unreal.

Post Sat Oct 17, 2015 6:22 pm

motormanmick wrote:You could try disconnecting the radiator hoses and reverse flushing the radiator with a volume of water, some of the small passages can get scale blocking them, cutting down on the efficiency of the radiator.

Good advice..will definitely try this.
But i did install in the original extra fan and cleaned the AC condenser, now the temp is a little bit under half way and AC is a bit colder too..guess it worked but the temp gauge is on constant observation until i'm sure it's not going over.

Thanks guys.