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temp gauge & cooling question

A

andrew_churcher

New member
Hi All,

Being new to aircooled 911's I have a question about the temp gauge in the car and the oil cooling fan operation etc.

Coming back from the Porsche and Polo last Sunday i got stuck in a traffic jam. It took over 35 mins to get on the move sufficient for the spolier to rise and get some air cooling the engine. While stuck in traffic I noticed that once the temp gauge hit 3/4 i expected it to fall once the air cooling fan kicked in. The gauge did stay at the 3/4 mark for quite a while but instead of falling it rose to about the 10oclock mark and i was seriously concerned about the temp at this pt. Fortunately i got onto the M40 and the car cooled to back under a 1/4 (first white line).

Anyway - I did a fair bit of reading and my understanding is that the cooling fan is suppposed to kick in and lower the oil temp back to a normal level (say half way or under). This didnt happen (plus it was a hot and humid day).

I did a check this Friday evening (outside air temp much cooler) and after a 25min drive i let the car idle for about 8 mins....the car hit 3/4 mark on the temp gauge and i heard and felt the oil fan kick in (felt under the right front fender for air flow) and this lowered the gauge temp down to halfway (as i thought it was supposed to but didnt in the preivious scenario).

So - it appears that thermostat opens (right fender was/is warm)....oil cooler fan kicks in when its supposed to...but when i needed it the most (stuck in traffic and no where to go basically to turn engine off)....it didnt seem to cool the car.

Anyway - if anyone has any advice for me....then that would be appreciated. I guess i want confidence that if stuck in traffic then the car will cool itself and not overheat. Is this to be expected in hot and humid conditions when stuck idle for 30-40mins in traffic?

Best Rgds,

Andrew
 
When I recently replaced my oil cooler I was amazed at just how much muck & crud had collected behind the oil cooler in the old one.

It could be worth checking yours and perhaps giving it a good clean. It will involve some effort though - removing the front bumper under tray, the fan etc.
 
Bodywork looks great - still not running right though. New plugs and valve clearance adjustment planned for this week. I'm dreading it may be the HT leads.

Shame I missed you at P&P. I arrived at 3pm and must have just missed you. I was late due to fitting a new O2 sensor & decat pipe [:)]

BTW To clean the oil cooler you might be better off removing the front bumper. Its not that big a job and you'll get good access to the cooler.
 
Andrew,

When you're stuck in traffic on a hot day, cooling is helped by raising the spoiler manually (or rather, electrically via the switch on the centre console). I found this helped quite a bit when stuck on a sweltering, stationary autobahn with the aircon on.

Regards
James
 
Hi Andrew
You say the oil cooling fan was running BUT what happens is the slow speed of the fan dose not run and it may need a new ballast
resistor 964-616-521-01 £40. so you are nearly boling before the fast speed of the fan comes in. and allso the fan houseing dose warp and can jam the slow speed fan..

Charles
 

I'm surprised to hear that your temp guage went to 3/4, I'm not saying that there's a problem it's just that mine never goes past the half way mark, even stuck in traffic, my fan cuts in just before the 9 O'clock position and lowers the temp down a bit until the same thing happens again, possibly your temp sender unit on the cooler is faulty, might be worth doing an experiment, let it heat up, notice what temp the fan cuts in and the temp it stops and let it do this a few times to check for consistency.

Maybe other members can advise you as to how far their temp guage goes up when stationary for a while.

You can access your cooler by removing the inner wheel lining, the sender is on the top left hand side.
 
Agree with that - sounds like the low speed fan is not working. Replacing the ballast resistor will sort this. It's an easy DIY.
 
thanks for all the responses guys. I dropped it into RPM Technik yesterday and they are going to diagnose and fix. My immobiliser is playing up as well so they will look at that as well.

Charles - lovely 3.2 carrera you have. Just reading the article on them/it in latest Porsche 911 world mag. What colour is it? I saw one yesterday in a lovely greeny/grey colour....has to be the best colour i have seen for that car. Looks similar to your car colour.

Anyway - I will let you know how it all goes.

Rgds,
 
All - just an update. Diagnosed fault was a temp sensor on the way out. Part was £20 with some labour. All good so far but will monitor it if stuck in traffic again etc.

Thanks again for all the replies.

AC
 
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