And I really thought I had figured it out .....

[ChrisZang]

Over the last 12 or so months I was posting about my mysterious overheating issues (coolant and oil). Last weekend I thought I had made the breakthrough:

Around 1 year ago (or so) I had installed wire mesh in the 3 openings in the front of the radiators so that the car would no longer catch leaves and debris.
The wire mesh were supposed to be designed for car radiators but I examined them last week and figured out that they slowed the airflow by maybe 50% (test with a hair dryer). That would mean that even at normal speed not enough air would flow through the radiators.
So I got rid of them, and alas the coolant temp no longer stared spiking.
Success?
Not really: Today on a normal drive in 70F weather, the oil temp went to 230F and the oil pressure dropped very low when idling (which confirms that the oil thermometer was reading correctly).

So it seems that I no longer have an issue with coolant getting too hot but the oil temp is still going out of control

So next step, replace the oil cooler?

(It's an "S" so I already have the larger oil cooler)

[Steve Tinker]

Chris, it could still be a coolant problem.... I can't remember what you have already done to solve this mystery
1) Have you removed the front bumper assembly and split the A/C and coolant rads to clean out all the debris that accumulates between them??
2) If your coolant pump has a lot of miles on it, the impeller can wear (break off?) making the pump inefficient.
3) A low temp thermoastat fron Flat6 / LN Engineering could help too.
Sorry if I'm repeating what you have already tried.

[san rensho]

Originally Posted by ChrisZang

Over the last 12 or so months I was posting about my mysterious overheating issues (coolant and oil). Last weekend I thought I had made the breakthrough:

Around 1 year ago (or so) I had installed wire mesh in the 3 openings in the front of the radiators so that the car would no longer catch leaves and debris.
The wire mesh were supposed to be designed for car radiators but I examined them last week and figured out that they slowed the airflow by maybe 50% (test with a hair dryer). That would mean that even at normal speed not enough air would flow through the radiators.
So I got rid of them, and alas the coolant temp no longer stared spiking.
Success?
Not really: Today on a normal drive in 70F weather, the oil temp went to 230F and the oil pressure dropped very low when idling (which confirms that the oil thermometer was reading correctly).

So it seems that I no longer have an issue with coolant getting too hot but the oil temp is still going out of control

So next step, replace the oil cooler?

(It's an "S" so I already have the larger oil cooler)

I'm not sure you have a problem, 230 is about 106-108C, which in stop and go traffic, is probably ok. Oil temp is usually 5-10C higher than water temp. When you say oil pressure is very low, how low is it?

[ChrisZang]

Originally Posted by Steve Tinker

Chris, it could still be a coolant problem.... I can't remember what you have already done to solve this mystery
1) Have you removed the front bumper assembly and split the A/C and coolant rads to clean out all the debris that accumulates between them??
2) If your coolant pump has a lot of miles on it, the impeller can wear (break off?) making the pump inefficient.
3) A low temp thermoastat fron Flat6 / LN Engineering could help too.
Sorry if I'm repeating what you have already tried.

Thanks, done all of it already

[ChrisZang]

Originally Posted by san rensho

I'm not sure you have a problem, 230 is about 106-108C, which in stop and go traffic, is probably ok. Oil temp is usually 5-10C higher than water temp. When you say oil pressure is very low, how low is it?

Usually when idling it's around 2 bar (on my 996 cluster), 1 bar is what I consider low

[jsceash]

Have you replaced the pressure piston and regulating spring. This was in an oil or starvation thread.
Piston: 997.107.125.01 ($ 5.00)
Spring: 996.107.127.53 ($10.00)
Gasket: 996.107.123.50 ($ 2.00)

[ChrisZang]

Originally Posted by jsceash

Have you replaced the pressure piston and regulating spring. This was in an oil or starvation thread.
Piston: 997.107.125.01 ($ 5.00)
Spring: 996.107.127.53 ($10.00)
Gasket: 996.107.123.50 ($ 2.00)

Yep, done it at my last oil change
I also checked the oil cooler today and it comes up to temp, so it seems to be doing it's job

[ChrisZang]

Well,

maybe I am panicing...
My next track day is May 12th @ Infineon, then I'll see....