Water Temperature R400?

[subirg]

Chaps

Took my Duratec R400 to Spa and the Ring recently. Legendary trip! However, I had potential water temp issues... When running steady on the road, water temp was holding in the high 80s. On track it went up to mid 90s. In stationary traffic (ambient temp circa 30), water temp went to 105...! Is this normal? Coolant levels were fine, and the fan was cutting in around 80. My car was factory built in mid '07 and I haven't made any mods. Any input/ideas? Don't want my head to go pop any time soon.... too much fun to be had!

[mic]

The factory settings allow for idle temperatures to be like that. As long as the fan is controlling it there should be no problem. The fan is cutting in to early if it is starting at 80 degrees. The stat will not be open at that temperature.

Edited by mic on Friday 24th July 20:18

[David Long]

I had lots of issues with my R400(Duratec)cooling fan running all the time and high indicated temperatures. I wasn't happy with Caterhams's suggestion that some of them "just do it" so I fitted a 82C thermostat from Raceco - problem solved. The ECU seemed to be mismatched to the standard thermostat and, if you're not looking for economy, running a bit cooler is not a problem.

Edited by David Long on Friday 24th July 22:12

[kiko]

Running cars below their target temp not makes the fuel ,leage drop but that's not the only problem. The wear is increased exponentially. This is not only of public knoledgr but back in the days at uni I had group of friends do an assignment on this and the results were very clear.

[David Long]

kiko said:

Running cars below their target temp not makes the fuel ,leage drop but that's not the only problem. The wear is increased exponentially. This is not only of public knoledgr but back in the days at uni I had group of friends do an assignment on this and the results were very clear.

82c was the standard temp on many engines for many years. With modern synthetic oils I don't think the extra wear at that temperature is significant. In its standard form, the Duratec may be designed to run at higher temperature to increase efficiency, but I would rather err on the side of safety when producing and extra 60 BHP. You also have to ask, why are 82C thermostats made for the Duratec?

[kiko]

David,

Not saying 82ºC is too low, just wanted to make people aware that engines shouldn't be ran at low temp like folks who remove the thermostat and stuff! It´s due to clearances and different expansion rates of different alloys.

Edited by kiko on Monday 27th July 23:03

[subirg]

So in the interests of moving this thread along, does anyone know what the correct water temperature range is for the Duratec R400???

[markiebabes]

Hi
Have you looked on Ministers site? http://www.minister-power.com/index.htm

look under customer support, left hand side index .


HTH

Mark

Edited by markiebabes on Tuesday 28th July 15:45

[subirg]

Mark - the Minister site is very interesting... Thanks for the link. I checked their data, and they suggest 75+/- 5deg C track or 80 +/- 5 on the road. Mine is obviously way way above this... Anybody else see temps in the 90s on track reaching into the low 100s when at a standstill on a warm day? How can I increase cooling? Am I worrying un-necessarily?

[David Long]

I wouldn't be too concerned - if you look at the Caterham handbook (you can download it from their website) they quote 110C as normal. Having talked to them about this problem, they say that the cooling is running to the Ford spec. It is just that the engine tuning companies run at lower temperature to maximise power and give a bit of headroom. The reason I put a lower thermostat in was to cure the fan running all the time - it was easier than sorting out the ECU.

Edited by David Long on Tuesday 28th July 20:10

[Mkindy]

subirg said:

Mark - the Minister site is very interesting... Thanks for the link. I checked their data, and they suggest 75+/- 5deg C track or 80 +/- 5 on the road. Mine is obviously way way above this... Anybody else see temps in the 90s on track reaching into the low 100s when at a standstill on a warm day? How can I increase cooling? Am I worrying un-necessarily?

This sounds about the same as mine, running a 210 raceline duratec last year in traffic in the south of france (35 deg) the low 100s was quite regular in city traffic etc.

I just tried to turn the engine off if it looked like I would be sitting in traffic for any length of time. As it never happens in the UK I have not bothered to look into improving the cooling.