blubarisax Posted July 5, 2013 Share Posted July 5, 2013 So, my car overheated today at the track. Normally it runs a rock solid 80 deg Celsius. Today it was 95 deg F and very humid. The car was running between 100 and 120 deg C, bounced around a bit. It blew out a bit of coolant at one point and I pulled off the track. Looked like the reservoir was overfilled a little so I took some fluid out to bring it to the max full line. Fan works when car is idling. Could it just be hot? I was driving very hard and it's so hot. I ran two more sessions and while hot at some points, it stayed below 120 deg C. Maybe it's my thermostat, or maybe it's just hot out... Any ideas? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Overfilling can overpressurize the system on hot days but it has got to be really hot. Do you break the rules and run coolant mix or just plain water like the rules say? Did your overheating start while waiting on the dummy grid before going out on track? In those temps my car gets very hot because of the lack of any airflow - the fan alone is not enough. It then takes a while to bring the temps back down when driving. Your bigger issue was probably oil temps and you did not know it. With our Duratecs, oil temp is far higher than water temp and I red zone that before I overheat water temp in hot ambient temps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blubarisax Posted July 6, 2013 Author Share Posted July 6, 2013 I am running coolant mix, not sure what the shop put in, but it looks like 50-50 coolant water. I overheated 15 min into the session, not on the grid. The odd thing was that temps went up and down fairly quickly while at speed. I was chasing down a GT2, maybe that had something to do with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blubarisax Posted July 6, 2013 Author Share Posted July 6, 2013 Noticed a little oil film in the coolant tank. Head gasket? No bubbles in the coolant when starting it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blubarisax Posted July 6, 2013 Author Share Posted July 6, 2013 Noticed a little oil film in the coolant tank. Head gasket? No bubbles in the coolant when starting it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pi7ot Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 I would recommend that you pull the plugs and look for a plug and corresponding combustion chamber that has had the carbon stripped out by the burning coolant/water. It is still early days, so the plug won't yet have gunk on the threads, they'll be washed clean at this point. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slomove Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Thermostat stuck? Raceline water rail without bypass? Real oil film or just a sheen? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelD Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 When my car used to over heat on hot days I did the following: 1. remove all antifreeze 2. refill with water and water wetter 3. block all air from flowing around the radiator That was three years ago. So far, so good even sitting in traffic on 90 degrees. Oil cooler will be next upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlumba81 Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 If you were drafting the GT2 closely you would have had less airflow thru the radiator and the temps would climb until you got into clean air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blubarisax Posted July 6, 2013 Author Share Posted July 6, 2013 As it turns out, plug 1 must have overheated. The tip of the side electrode was gone. Replaced plugs, checked compression (all very close to 150 PSI) and ran two more sessions. It got hot at the end of the last session and blew out a little more coolant from the coolant cap. Perhaps I have air in the cooling system. The oil in the coolant was more like a few small droplets floating. Not enough oil to make a sheen really. The fan turns on at 80 C as it should. I will test the thermostat once the car is in the shop. Anyway, I made it through the day, had lots of fun with Tom playing cat and mouse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Clearly it is broken so you need to go out and buy a brand new engine from Cosworth. I can take your old engine off your hands.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S1Steve Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 (edited) Clearly it's not broken, I think you need a oil cooler and dump the 50-50 for distilled and waterwetter..... Hopefully.... Edited July 6, 2013 by S1Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slomove Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 ...... The tip of the side electrode was gone. ....... That would worry me. Are you sure the plugs have the correct heat range for your engine? Or maybe that cylinder possibly running very lean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlumba81 Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Is the #1 cylinder on the far end of the fuel rail? It might be not be getting enough fuel and getting lean enough to burn out the spark plug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blubarisax Posted July 7, 2013 Author Share Posted July 7, 2013 Not the best photo, but you get the idea. http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/ac336/blubarisax/spark_zps82ded579.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicemd Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 That looks like my spark plugs after my engine run lean on a trackday session.(due to alternator failure and a fuel pump that couldn't keep up) http://csr200.blogspot.se/2013/05/engine-damage.html Hope you are better off, my pistons and block was damaged and are now being replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 I wonder if Jude has hit upon the issue - vapor lock in the fuel rail due to heat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bsimon Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Could be a dodgy injector. I've seen this with pico types. They go lean at high frequency before failing completely. I've been told they can be spotted by checking the static resistance of the coil. Probably worth a quick check with a multimeter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowss7 Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Karl was definitely the fasted guy out there this weekend. The Porsche was actually a Cup Car, with the full wing and flares treatment. He came up on me pretty quickly and after holding him off in the turns for a bit, I let him pass and pointed Karl by to chase him. Karl was ALL over him. :driving::driving: He was right on his tail for several laps as I steadily fell behind. Karl, if you are replacing your motor for a supercharged one, then I want first crack at it. :drool: We did have some really fun sessions, I was definitely the mouse as Karl toyed with me down the straights. I could open a bit of a gap in turns 2,3,4, and 5 but he'd just reel me in on 6, I'd try to get away thru 7 and the light bulb, and then feel him breathing down my neck on the front straight. I swear I saw him making a cell phone call, and then put both hands behind his head like he was taking a nap. :smilielol5: It was brutally hot and humid, in the low 90s. Luckily, my new cool shirt bag system worked like a charm. I highly recommend one if you have to drive in weather like this. I didn't escape unscathed though. On the last session of the day yesterday, going down the front straight into turn one, my clutch went to the floor just as I tried to downshift into 5th. No clutch, I had to match revs to get the car back into gear. Once back in the paddock, I saw that the nut and clevis that connected the clutch fork to the slave cylinder were gone so that the clutch fork was unattached. I think that ended up being a good thing as after two days on track in the heat, I think if I had tried to do today as well, I'd be totally wiped out, not just beat. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blubarisax Posted July 7, 2013 Author Share Posted July 7, 2013 Thanks for all the tips. I pulled the new plug after running all day yesterday on it and it looked fine. I hope it's just vapor lock. That seems to make sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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