normal miata coolant operating temperature?

Can someone tell me what is the normal safe coolant temperature range
for the miata?

Thanks!

Pat

In article >,
pws > wrote:

> Can someone tell me what is the normal safe coolant temperature range
> for the miata?

Approx. 185F to 206F.

---
Lanny Chambers
'94C, St. Louis
http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html

Lanny Chambers wrote:
> In article >,
> pws > wrote:
>
>
>>Can someone tell me what is the normal safe coolant temperature range
>>for the miata?
>
>
> Approx. 185F to 206F.
>
> ---
> Lanny Chambers
> '94C, St. Louis
> http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html

Cool,
I finally hooked up the Tec3 computer again and it does show the coolant
temperature, along with just about anything else you can imagine that
the engine is doing. When my gauge is reading 3/4 of the way to hot,
(halfway between the middle point and the upper end), which had me
worried, the temp is showing at 199F on the computer.

BTW, the temp reading when the gauge was at the halfway point was only 7
degrees F cooler, (193F), than when it reaches the 3/4 point. I guess I
have been worrying about nothing, the car is running fine.

Thanks!

Pat

pws wrote:
> Lanny Chambers wrote:
>
>> In article >,
>> pws > wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Can someone tell me what is the normal safe coolant temperature range
>>> for the miata?
>>
>>
>>
>> Approx. 185F to 206F.
>>
>> ---
>> Lanny Chambers
>> '94C, St. Louis
>> http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html
>
>
> Cool,
> I finally hooked up the Tec3 computer again and it does show the coolant
> temperature, along with just about anything else you can imagine that
> the engine is doing. When my gauge is reading 3/4 of the way to hot,
> (halfway between the middle point and the upper end), which had me
> worried, the temp is showing at 199F on the computer.
>
> BTW, the temp reading when the gauge was at the halfway point was only 7
> degrees F cooler, (193F), than when it reaches the 3/4 point. I guess I
> have been worrying about nothing, the car is running fine.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Pat

Err, make that 6 degrees F cooler.

pat

Pat, The "best" temp is 212.5 F for the "best" power. ( same for oil
temp, if you can keep it there !) When I was racing stockcars, we ran
the water coils thru the oil pan and then a "controled" cooler on the
oil to get it to stay at that temp.
NOW, as far a "street car", 190 to 200 is about as good as you can hope
to hold. IF you "boost" the engine, then all of those temps are too
high. ( you will produce too much heat for the combustion chamber just
from that.)

One of the reasons for your pressure cap on the rad. is so you can get
the heat without boil-off.

Bruce RED '91

In article >,
(BRUCE HASKIN) wrote:

> When I was racing stockcars, we ran
> the water coils thru the oil pan and then a "controled" cooler on the
> oil to get it to stay at that temp.

Many Miata owners don't know that their cars have something similar from
the factory. Coolant circulates through a heat exchanger in the oil
filter mounting boss. Since the water heats more quickly than the oil in
a cold engine, it helps bring the oil up to temperature sooner. And it
also stabilizes the oil temp in a hot engine. But calling it an "oil
cooler" isn't strictly accurate. The object isn't to keep everything as
cool as possible; every engine is designed to operate in a specific
temperature range, as Bruce says, and for longevity the goal is to get
there quickly and stay there.

---
Lanny Chambers
'94C, St. Louis
http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html

BRUCE HASKIN wrote:
> Pat, The "best" temp is 212.5 F for the "best" power. ( same for oil
> temp, if you can keep it there !) When I was racing stockcars, we ran
> the water coils thru the oil pan and then a "controled" cooler on the
> oil to get it to stay at that temp.
> NOW, as far a "street car", 190 to 200 is about as good as you can hope
> to hold. IF you "boost" the engine, then all of those temps are too
> high. ( you will produce too much heat for the combustion chamber just
> from that.)
>
> One of the reasons for your pressure cap on the rad. is so you can get
> the heat without boil-off.
>
> Bruce RED '91
>

Bruce,
what do you mean by "boost" the engine? This is a street car,(barely),
runs on normal premium gas, etc., but it is running 9 pounds of boost
with a turbo and I was going to increase that to 11 or 12 to play around
with it a little.

FWIW, this car has a '99 head on a '94 block and has had the coolant
system rerouted to exit at the rear of the head. It also has an
almost-new FM aluminim radiator in it, as well as no A/C, so I was
surprised to see it running what appeared to be hot. Seeing your figure
of 212.5 F makes me feel better, I don't think that the car ever got
quite that high even when it was 104 degrees F out and I was idling in
the sun at a long light.
The car's cooling system was working better than my body's that day,
heatstroke was approaching quickly. ;-)

Thanks, as always, your advice is much appreciated!

Pat

Lanny Chambers wrote:

>
>
> Many Miata owners don't know that their cars have something similar from
> the factory. Coolant circulates through a heat exchanger in the oil
> filter mounting boss. Since the water heats more quickly than the oil in
> a cold engine, it helps bring the oil up to temperature sooner. And it
> also stabilizes the oil temp in a hot engine. But calling it an "oil
> cooler" isn't strictly accurate. The object isn't to keep everything as
> cool as possible; every engine is designed to operate in a specific
> temperature range, as Bruce says, and for longevity the goal is to get
> there quickly and stay there.
>
> ---
> Lanny Chambers
> '94C, St. Louis
> http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html

So does this mean that my car should actually be running more
efficiently at the current higher temperatures than when it was colder
outside and was not getting above 93 degrees F? Or would this be offset
by the increased air intake temperatures during the hotter weather? The
car does have a large intercooler, FWIW.

Pat

In article >,
pws > wrote:

> So does this mean that my car should actually be running more
> efficiently at the current higher temperatures than when it was colder
> outside and was not getting above 93 degrees F?

Don't confuse coolant temps with intake temps. Cool intake air is always
good, but engine internals are designed to run within a specific range,
so metal-to-metal clearances will be optimal. Cooling systems are
engineered to maintain the correct coolant temp across any ambient
temperatures the car will see.

---
Lanny Chambers
'94C, St. Louis
http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html

Lanny Chambers wrote:

>
> Don't confuse coolant temps with intake temps. Cool intake air is always
> good, but engine internals are designed to run within a specific range,
> so metal-to-metal clearances will be optimal. Cooling systems are
> engineered to maintain the correct coolant temp across any ambient
> temperatures the car will see.
>
> ---
> Lanny Chambers
> '94C, St. Louis
> http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html

Ok, that makes sense to me. Thanks again for your explanation.

I took the car out yesterday and ran it hard, then came back and checked
everything and it was all ok. I guess I will either have to live with
the gauge reaching the 3/4 mark as the normal operating temperature or
else have it recalibrated.

Pat