Whats everyone using to cool their mk2 on track? standard rad or uprated? Any help will be greatly appreciated
Standard rad, full Samco hose kit with heater valve nonsense removed. Coolant flushed & replaced with Water wetter. Std water-oil cooler removed & replaced with Mocal sandwich plate & oil cooler.
What's the heater valve nonsense? I've just removed my stat completely after over heating issues at Donington which I think were down to the stat failing.
I think the heater valve referred to is the one going to the heater matrix and is designed to prevent excess pressure building up in the matrix. but its not required if youve fitted a later designed heater matrix. but do correct me if im wrong.
The fan cowling helps lots to, dont remove it. It slows the airflow to make the rad work more efficiently.
So are mine. Talking of cooling, not meaning to hi-jack the thread but is related. I'm having massive issues with my 16v racer. During the first race at donington on the last couple of laps the oil temp (on a separate gauge) went up to 145-50 degrees but the standard water temp stayed at quarter/ half and the fan never kicked in. The engine even hesitated and tick over sat at 3k until I turned it off. It also spat water out from the header tank. In between the races we thought it was the thermostat so tried to replace but the crappy plastic housing had warped so couldn't get a seal, hence not doing the 2nd race. Since then I've replaced the housing and removed the stat completly. However having ran the car on the driveway the oil temp still goes up to 120 and the water temp not even to quarter! In qualifying it was fine and the only thing I changed was to raise the rev limit slightly so that could have an affect on temps, so will be lowering that again. Any advice or tips on what it could be? Next steps are to replace all 3 water temp senders and the oil temp sender to see if that affects anything. Cheers
Are you actually running a proper oil cooler? I used to see over 130 degrees oil temp with a 13 row cooler so if you've not got one then I'd say you probably would be getting up to 145 - 150 degrees. Get one if you've not got one, I now run a 25 row one and the oil temp only gets up to about 116 degrees after 15 mins racing. I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to completely remove the stat but can't remember why, maybe worth doing a search in the 16v engine section. It'd be a good idea to replace your senders and what type of gauges are you using, mechanical or electrical? I run a seperate electrical water temp gauge and thought my car was over heating one day, turned out my alternator had gone wrong and was overcharging the battery and that was giving more voltage to the gauge making it read higher!
Cooling issues 150 oil temp !!!! Crikey! If the oil is at 150 and the water at 1/4 to a half I would suspect a dodgy gauge. We run 8v rads and 16 row oil coolers with the std oil cooler removed and temps stay sensible. What confuses me is the engine hesitation, water spitting and high tick over - I wonder u have a seperate running problem. R u and 8 or 16v and was the oil new b4 donington,? if so did it look black afterwards?
Mechanical gauges FTW! Good advice on the oil coolers.. I run a 19 row and see 115 degrees after 15 mins race.. Over 100 But under 120 is a good place to be oil temps wise.. And between 70-90 water temps. In a pack or closely behind people when racing the water temps sometimes rise to 95 and 120 oil due to the flow being reduced.
Thanks for feedback Yes I'm running a separate 16 row oil cooler and it's a 16v. I've bypassed the standard oil cooler too. Oil was new for donington and still clear. Thing is it ran fine at three races in one day at snetterton with no high tempatures and including in qualifying at donington. I'm using electric vgauges and the water sender for that gauge is brand new. I've also taken water pump off and apart and it seems fine. Next steps are to get capillary gauges to eliminate any electrical issues. Issue is that it still spits water out of the expansion tank just sitting on the drive and after letting it bleed. Also not heating inside the car either which points to airlock still or knackered matrix?
