Engine Heat with AC On Options

[HardHead93]

It got a little warm today in southern New Mexico so today was the first day I drove the 3sgte swapped Celica in stop and go traffic with the AC on. Normally without the AC on, the engine temps bounce between 189 and 199 degrees F. When I turned the AC on it climbed to 209 degrees in the course of 5 minutes before I turned the AC off. Once I turned the AC off the temp quickly dropped back into the normal range in about another 2-3 minutes. I am reading the temps off an aftermarket water temp gauge with the sensor on the upper radiator hose. Below is a picture of the type of gauge I am using. It is a Glowshift MaxTow water temp gauge.


When that gauge reads 215 degrees the stock dummy temp gauge in the car starts moving towards the H. I am running an Ebay 2-row radiator with aftermarket fans and I have a FMIC. Should I keep the aftermarket fans or go back to a stock radiator with stock fans? Also, the Ebay radiator is pretty dirty from constantly taking it in and out of the car during the build process, could that be the culprit? Is there something else I should check on that may be causing the engine temps to climb with he AC on? Below is a picture of the 2 different radiators.


Is there really an advantage to running a 2 row radiator with a 3sgte?

This post has been edited by HardHead93: Mar 17, 2017 - 7:33 PM

[Bitter]

It shouldn't be hard to use some aluminum bar stock to make a bracket to bolt to the studs and then bolt the fans to the bar stock, should you later desire the bigger radiator.

[HardHead93]

So I ran the stock radiator with the stock fans yesterday and the heat issue during stop and go driving with the AC on got better but then I started having worse heat issues with sustained driving on the freeway. My water temps were climbing to 213-215 degrees F when before the highest they would go with freeway driving was 204. I think this is pointing to an air flow issue. If I don't figure out how to get more air to the radiator it doesn't matter what fans or radiator I am using. After doing some research and talking to a couple of people I know with turbo cars (they drive Honda Civics but I will forgive them ), it looks like the front mount intercooler is blocking air flow to the radiator.




When I installed the intercooler I kept the crash bar in place because the fog lights attach to it. A lot of FMIC installs on our cars have removed that bar. I can see that being a culprit for blocking air flow. Is that true? If I remove the crash bar, is there a way to mount the fog light brackets so I can keep them? The whole point of my turbo build was to have a more powerful engine but not at the cost of losing functionality (fog lights, cruise control, AC, etc.). As you can see from the first picture I also installed an additional bumper duct to help with cooling but it is not enough. I have switched back to the 2-row radiator because it seems to cool the best for the majority of the type of driving I do. Any ideas for fixing this problem would be greatly appreciated.

This post has been edited by HardHead93: Mar 19, 2017 - 11:12 AM