Turn your fans off whille on the highway. They actually slow down the air going into the radiator. You dont need fans going 45+ miles per hour. I had my fans hooked up to where they always ran. It would sit at 180 all the time no matter how fast i was going. I unhooked the fans and tuned them to kick on at 210 degrees. Now the car runs 160-170 going down the highway and 180-210 in traffic which i am very happy with.

 

mine runs 190-210 constantly until i am at idle for a while...then it goes to 225 and the fans kick on. highway driving it sits around 175-185

 

Thats what its supposed to run with the stock fan settings.

 

I turned the high fan off on the highway and it got even hotter lol

 

Thats weird, did you still have a low speed fan on?

If your not running hotter than 225 then i wouldnt worry, but i do understand you being curious. My car does have a stock water pump so im not sure if that would have anything to do with the differences.

 

The electric water pump doesnt even circulate the water in the radiator like it should/used to. im guessing the radiator could be clogged up

 

How old is the E water pump?

If its not old, then I would say radiator too... Coolant look real bad?

 

You didnt mix the pink and green antifreeze together did you? They dont mix at all. We changed my moms minivans antifreeze from pink to green and didnt get all the pink out, and we got this brown goo all in the resevoir.

 

its under a year old (the pump). Radiator was repaired (split in half, dipped in that acid cleaning **** and welded back together) - but anything could of happened. Maybe some fins bent or maybe something clogged the radiator up. car has been sitting for a couple of months while doing the head swap so anything could happen i suppose. Coolant looks fine. I run (and always ran) straight distilled water with some h2opump lubricant. All my friends use this too with great success. My car used to run cool at all times, city and highway, 180 or below

 

K, well, you DO know water boils at 200ºF right? I'd run some coolant in it simply to keep it from boiling and making things worse.

 

Water does. Distilled water has a greater heat tolerance than both water and coolant, which is why I used it over regular water, also because it has no minnerals or corrosive properties.

 

Distilled water doesnt have anything to do with its boiling boint, h2o at sea level (0 bar) will boil at 212 degrees. Your coolant system is pressurized, thats why it doesnt boil until 260ish. Just FWIW.

( I do believe water has better heat transfer (specific heat) properties than coolant, so maybe thats what you were saying)

I would pull the radiator, I'd bet youve got some leaves/a bag / something in front of her thats causeing some of your issues. How is your coolant level?

 

Actually if you boil two pots at once, one with regular hose/sink water and one with distilled water, you will see where I am coming from. No leaves/bags inbetween the rad and condensor (first thing i checked). Coolant level is perfect, I do not lose any coolant. System is bled thouroughly. I bet its something stupid as hell. I'm going to change the radiator and see if it helps any

 

I agree with your summary that containments in tap water (chlorine, metal's, ect) can have an effect on boiling temp. The idea I was trying to convey was that the hottest water can be without boiling at 1 atm is 212 degrees F. I see what your point though. The reason that "distilled" water, or strait water as it were, cools "better" than coolant is because of its ability to store and transfer heat without "changeing stages" (aka boiling). I think its called Volumetric heat capacity, dont quote me on that though.

That being neither here nor there, If your airdam is intact, the rad has coolant in it and is intact, the only other part of the cooling system is flow. If the pump is new(er) and still operation correctly, perhaps you are correct in assuming there is some kind of flow restriction in the rad. If you have another on hand just swap her out and see what she does.

 

I do know that water has better heat transfer properties than coolant, but I'd still be weary of it if you're worried about your temps.

 

check the wiring connections on the water pump and the amp draw. a clamp on meter works great. i didnt see anywhere in the thread that you changed the thermostat. just look up the specs on you pump to see how many amps its supposed to operate at. good luck

 

I also upgraded the amp wire to a 2-gauge (big mother f***er) lol and and the fans and h2opump spin a bit faster, but its still getting a bit hot on the highway. Thermostat is brand new. Fans and e-water pump are working at the correct amperage. Im gonna change the rad and see what that does

 

one thing is saw last saturday was a incorrectly bypassed throttle body. they just plugged off the lines coming from the back of the heads. He said his car had been running different. Im guessing that its finnaly starting to warp the heads. He was getting overheating conditions as well. So check the coolant lines as well maybe you will catch something. good luck again

 

lol nah coolant lines are fine