FMIC and heat
 

I have a large Front Mount Intercooler in my car. After about 15 mins of highway speeds the temp guage starts to creep up. Occassionally it will drop back to normal. I suspected the thermostat so replaced that but the issue remains.

The intercooler is effectively blocking the radiator. Do any of you guys have this problem? Is there a specific distance from the radiator that the IC should be mounted?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Andy

Re: FMIC and heat
 

What temp is your thermostat? If you are using a stocker, I would say first thing and cheapest/easiest thing to do is a high-flow 180*.

Re: FMIC and heat
 

It's a stocker. I will switch it out again, thanks for the advice.

Re: FMIC and heat
 

Napa has the 180* for about $10.

Add a few drops of dishsoap to your coolant too, it'll reduce the surface tension of the water.

Re: FMIC and heat
 

Thanks. Never heard of the dishsoap theory, very interesting. I assume it does not matter what brand of dishsoap...

Re: FMIC and heat
 

DAWN
You should know and love DAWN if you are working on DSMs.

Re: FMIC and heat
 

Is there anything that DAWN does not do? ;)

Re: FMIC and heat
 

Great lubricant for getting on intercooler piping too!

Re: FMIC and heat
 

Also, try making some ducting for your radiator if you have some spare time one day. Maybe take a thin sheet of alum. and make a little "ramp" or scoop under the car directing air behind the intercooler, infront of the radiator.

Re: FMIC and heat
 

This is what I was thinking about doing, hoping that something already existed as a bolt-on.

Re: FMIC and heat
 

+1 for dish soap! I use Ajax though, I think it's like a dime cheaper then Dawn!

Re: FMIC and heat
 

Sorry to get off track but, no way dish soap to the coolent?!:eek: I have never heard of that. Just a couple of drops? Like 1,2,3?

Re: FMIC and heat
 

two drops

Re: FMIC and heat
 

Your intercooler shouldn't give you problems. If it does, then you should wire up the electric fans to stay running everytime the car is started. That works for me.

Re: FMIC and heat
 

I've had overheating with my 2g forever, and let me tell you what finally fixed it: fans! I put in an aluminum radiator, various thermostats, new hoses, new coolant, water wetter, dish soap, ice, naked pix of AJ's mom, etc. All helped, but none really SOLVED the problem! What finally did was FANS. I picked up one of those dual fan units from flex-a-lite for about $350 and wired them into a seperate fused circut and relay so they run all the time when the car is on, and there's an on/off switch in the cockpit if I really wanna turn them off for some reason. Expensive, yes, but I can drive the shit out of the car now w/ the A/C on, and it will never overheat. This is with Buschur's 11x24x3.5 intercooler core in front of it, about as big as you would go (practically).

Re: FMIC and heat
 

I went through the same thing with my 1g, but finally discovered my stock gauge was bad. After replacing almost everything cooling related, i got a new auto meter temp gauge and everythings great.

Re: FMIC and heat
 

Im going throught the same thing but i just got a new radiator mine was getting corroded from being here in mn. when i did that i removed the ac condensor from infront of the radiator. im using 70water 30coolant 1bottle of water wetter. im going to try this out if it dosnt work im going to make a sheet metal air dam under the radiator to push air into the radiator

Re: FMIC and heat
 

I would guess that the air dam/air splitter would work better then fans. But haveing the fans run all the time is possably just directing the air where you want it to go. Last I checked fans will only move a little air, atleast compared to wind speed above 10mph. So it would need direction ither with fans or an air splitter.

~John

Re: FMIC and heat
 

Those are some great points. I have not got a Front mount yet. Is there any way to tilt the fmic so they both get air.

What about a fan to push the air.

Re: FMIC and heat
 

I have a 14" that turns on normally when the temp reaches whatever temp triggers it. And a 10" where the AC fan used to be, which is wired to be constantly on while the car is on. I add a couple drops of AJAX just because it can't hurt. I never have overheating problems anymore. And both fans are el cheapo's from Checker.