I finally got another deactivated android phone off craigslist as my other one bit the dust a few months back. While driving around with it, I noticed that my coolant temps are really high, over 218F if in traffic or just idling. On the highway driving at 70, they range between 199-205 depending on how hard I'm on the pedal, the temps change pretty quickly. City driving brings it back to 215.6F. Thats with the A/C off on a 66F day. If I turn the A/C on, the temps go down to 199.6 and stay there pretty consistently, maybe a bit lower. I had the coolant flushed at 36k miles at the dealer, recently I've been noticing the level slightly dropping. 3 or 4 months ago, I got some distilled water to add to the coolant reservoir to bring it to the top mark of the cold fill range (car stone cold). Now when cleaning under the hood 2 days ago, I noticed that the level was nearly at the bottom mark of the cold fill range (car stone cold). I don't think I have a leak anywhere, I would've seen it, where is it going?

Coolant look clean in color (no oil spots) and vice versa w oil?  Any smell of coolant at any time (inside cabin, outside, driving, idling, stopped ...)?  Steam out the exhaust?  How much distilled water did you have to put in last time?  Fill it up with coolant this time and see if it's still a problem.  Could simply have boiled out if coolant was too diluted. If the problem continues, could be a head gasket or turbo water jacketing leak.

Quote from: SHOdded on February 04, 2015, 11:50:14 PM
Coolant look clean in color (no oil spots) and vice versa w oil?  Any smell of coolant at any time (inside cabin, outside, driving, idling, stopped ...)?  Steam out the exhaust?  How much distilled water did you have to put in last time?  Fill it up with coolant this time and see if it's still a problem.  Could simply have boiled out if coolant was too diluted. If the problem continues, could be a head gasket or turbo water jacketing leak.

Coolant looks clean, no oil. Do have some white smoke out the exhaust, but have attributed that to normal condensation in the exhaust system. I only added maybe a quarter gallon of water tops, if that. I'll see if I can get just a little coolant from my dealer because a whole jug is like $35.


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AGREE with SHOdded,you probably added to much water thats why your seeing elevated temps,a 50/50 coolant,water mixture is normal,get a bottle of water wetter to help subside those high temps. http://www.amazon.com/Red-Line-80204-Water-Wetter/dp/B000CPI5ZK/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1423148277&sr=1-1&keywords=water+wetter

Actually more water is better for cooling but the downside is you lose freeze protection by having more water in the system. In areas where it is extremely hot a 60/40 water to coolant is reccomened

note, that water alone will corrode the internals, and possible evaporate. but i agree, will cool better.

true

Quote from: ZSHO on February 05, 2015, 10:08:19 AM
AGREE with SHOdded,you probably added to much water thats why your seeing elevated temps,a 50/50 coolant,water mixture is normal,get a bottle of water wetter to help subside those high temps. http://www.amazon.com/Red-Line-80204-Water-Wetter/dp/B000CPI5ZK/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1423148277&sr=1-1&keywords=water+wetter

I really didn't add much water. It was a little above the bottom of the cold fill range and I just brought it up to just below the top of the cold fill range. Almost nothing.


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That's not going to affect anything substantially. Just raises your freezing point. The coolant system is pressurized to raise the boiling point. That's why you don't open the radiator cap when it's hot on old cars.

Quote from: wasinger3000 on February 05, 2015, 01:27:40 PM
That's not going to affect anything substantially. Just raises your freezing point. The coolant system is pressurized to raise the boiling point. That's why you don't open the radiator cap when it's hot on old cars.

could it be a bad cooling cap not holding pressure causing my coolant to boil? Still doesn't explain the high temps


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Quote from: jtoddk98 on February 05, 2015, 01:43:20 PM

Quote from: wasinger3000 on February 05, 2015, 01:27:40 PM
That's not going to affect anything substantially. Just raises your freezing point. The coolant system is pressurized to raise the boiling point. That's why you don't open the radiator cap when it's hot on old cars.

could it be a bad cooling cap not holding pressure causing my coolant to boil? Still doesn't explain the high temps


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I'm not sure if it would boil until 230 ish. You should buy one of those cheap antifreeze testers that has the boiling point gauge on one side. Then see what it says just so we can eliminate the coolant variable.

Since coolant temp drops with a/c on (which makes your radiator fans turn on) I suspect your fans are not turning on automatically to cool the radiator when temps are hot and you are probably boiling off some coolant.

Quote from: 66 Galaxie on February 05, 2015, 02:28:59 PM
Since coolant temp drops with a/c on (which makes your radiator fans turn on) I suspect your fans are not turning on automatically to cool the radiator when temps are hot and you are probably boiling off some coolant.

the fans do turn on automatically at about 218F. I'll pick up a coolant tester tonight and see how that turns out.


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I would also check for any potential leaks around the thermostat housing,sometimes the gasket for the stat gets worn out and can form a small leak especially if original.

The desired coolant temp in my stock calibration says 212. So if your strategy is like mine your fans won't come on until that temp. But there are different coolant temp sensors. There is a head temp and a temp closer to the radiator.

I've seen the head temp be 10 degrees hotter than the lower radiator temp. So if you are reading head temp then 218 wouldn't scare me at all.

Is your temp gauge in the middle when at operating temp?