How hot is too hot?

1063 Views 12 Replies 9 Participants Last post by misfit6794, Jun 15, 2007

Lesley's93STS

Discussion Starter · Jun 13, 2007 (Edited)

It was 33 celcius here yesterday. In traffic, my car reached 112 celcius / 234f. Once I got rolling after half an hour of start stop start stop, it went back down to 106.

I'm worried. This seems waaaaayyyyy too hot. I know normal is approx. 102-106c. But nothing "bad" happened that I noticed. It ran like it does when the engine is cold.

Too hot? Or not?

ETA the car usually runs between 102-106. The hottest I've seen it is 107. Also, how will I know if my fans come on to cool the car? Will I hear them?

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Ranger

· #2 · Jun 13, 2007

You probably won't hear the fans unless you are parked with the window open. You can test them by turning on the A/C as they always run with the A/C on.

234F is a tad on the high side. Make sure you have good air flow through the condenser (not clogged with dead bugs).

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Cadillacboy

· #3 · Jun 13, 2007

The thread title is lol
I also think your car is too hot .There was a thread on the Northstar Discussion Forum as I recall saying hot hot hot ...
However I still don't think your situation is that urgent

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Richie

· #4 · Jun 13, 2007

Lesley's93STS said:
It was 33 celcius here yesterday. In traffic, my car reached 112 celcius / 234f. Once I got rolling after half an hour of start stop start stop, it went back down to 106.

I'm worried. This seems waaaaayyyyy too hot. I know normal is approx. 102-106c. But nothing "bad" happened that I noticed. It ran like it does when the engine is cold.

Too hot? Or not?

ETA the car usually runs between 102-106. The hottest I've seen it is 107. Also, how will I know if my fans come on to cool the car? Will I hear them?

That doesn't sound extremely hot especially if you were stuck in traffic. The fans don't kick in until about 230 F, so if you're saying the temperature dropped as soon as you started moving, it sounds like it's okay. A car isn't considerred to be overheating until it hits about 250 F, so you're well below that. Ideally, it should run in the 205 - 215 F range, but under severe conditions, it can go up to 230 F. As long as the fans kick in, you shouldn't have a problem.

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misfit6794

· #5 · Jun 14, 2007

Yea it is a little on the hot side, but if it doesn't hit that temp on a regular basis I wouldn't worry too much about it. You may definetly want to flush the coolant if it has been done in the past 2 years, also check to see if there is debris on the radiator.

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Ranger

· #6 · Jun 14, 2007

Fans come on at 224 or 225.

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rockybalboa11

· #7 · Jun 14, 2007

mine sits between 205f-215f usually.

highest i've ever seen it go is 218f

well, thats not true. when the radiator started leaking, it was more like 250 ;-)

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z06bigbird

· #8 · Jun 14, 2007

197 consistantly on a 97 SDV.

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adamh21

· #9 · Jun 14, 2007

I have a 98 SLS and it heats up a lot when stuck in traffic especially after highway driving, IE on the way to vegas slowdown to go over the hoover dam. I wouldnt worry about it too much, but I would take a look at your oil, especially if it is over 1500 miles old, temps like that have a tendency to fry your oil and you may want to think about changing it sooner than the 3000 mile mark

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Lesley's93STS

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jun 14, 2007

I drive half city, half highway every day. On the highway yesterday, the hottest the car got was 94 Celsius. Then in traffic, it was up to 106-107.

Since it’s not consistently HOT I won't worry.

Oil is good - changed maybe 6 weeks ago. And I really can't believe how clean the oil stays in this engine. I'm used to seeing black, tar like substance.

Thanks for the tips!

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Ranger

· #11 · Jun 14, 2007

Those temps will not even come close to "frying" oil. Todays oils are MUCH better than that. Don't worry about that unless you completely overheat and that is at about 265f.

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Gearheaad43

· #12 · Jun 14, 2007

My 97 STS stay at around 199F.... Inthe hot of summer in Georgia it will SOMETIME go to 220F in heavy traffic and then back down to 212F quickly, Which is how I know the fans are working properly.

When the water pump belt tensioner pulley started to go south, the engine temp where up to 234F on a couple of occasions. That is when I began to suspect something (Along with the rattling noise when accelerating.)

Let me give you an excellent example of how Mechanics can screw people who do not know much about cars....

While the water pump pulley was going, I had the STS at a Firestone Tire Dealer to rotate/balance tires. Well they are also a full service center. The Techs there will go over a few things on EVERY car and top off fluids.

The Tech comes to get me in the waiting area and proceeds to tell me that I need a new front serpentine belt tensioner because he could "Hear" the rattling. So I asked how much to replace, and he quoted me $250 bucks for a new Tensioner & belt. I told him I would take care of it and to just perform the Bal./Rot on the tires and give the car back to me.. I got home, Looked at the engine, saw the powdery dust around the Water Pump tensioner wheel, called Autozone, got a W.P. Tensioner, new Goodyear Gaterback WP belt, Front serpentine Belt tensioner, Serpertine belt, AND the Tensioner pulley...... Installed all that myself and it only cost me $175 bucks!!!!

What if I let Firestone do as they wanted, they would have charged me 250 buck for something that was not even broken, then they probably would have noticed the WP Tensioner only AFTER they replaced the Front belt tensioner.

How much money do you think that would have come up to??

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misfit6794

· #13 · Jun 15, 2007

Just goes to show you, you can't trust anyone that has an interest in your money

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