Barry,

Yep, I have the Coatal Metals grill. I saw the numbers that David McCune has on his website and expect that my temps will be on the high side due to AZ weather, AC, grill cover, but I would have expected to find the fans running anytime I hit 4 bars. If it is normal for them not to run, then I am glad that I am getting a new thermoswitch from Mingster!

Thanks,
Tanq

 

This whole 4 bar thing confuses me.

Why are 4 bars such a bad thing?!

If we had analog gages would we even be having this conversation? Hey my temp guage moved a 16th of an inch....would that be worthy of discussion?

Maybe I'm not taking this seriously enough but I just don't see the big deal. You know the 4th bar lights up when the car exceed a certain temp.......lets just say for arguments sake say 220F. So When I'm running at 3 bars at 219F everything is fine and when the 4th bar kicks on at 220F all the sudden we have a problem? I think it's a bit more about the method of delivery than about the temp itself.

FWIW I have AutoX'ed my car a great deal this year. I've pulled a 600lb trailer for 3 hours without a break at 75mph at 90 degrees with the Mcune grill. I've never seen 4 bars but I also can't say that I have spent alot of time focused on the temp guage....but if I did I wouldn't be suprised. The car is under load at a high ambient temp. And I dobt I would be that alarmed if it did happen.

Hope this didn't come off as a rant just my opinion.......

What do you think?

 

Observation has established three bars as the norm. The post was about the water temp being above the norm, the reasons, and the attempt to return to the norm. All makes sense to me.

 

Ahhh the Norm.

 

Mack,

The original threads regarding the temperature started because NO ONE had seen 4 bars before. When one particular car was the only one that had lit its 4th bar, something is a little odd, right? Possibly that owner would be concerned?

When a series of 5 or 6 cars, all in similar conditions, with similar mods, are the only cars that have seen a 4th bar, that might mean something, too, right? Somehow, I am betting that you would be concerned if it was your car that was hitting 4 bars occasionally when 99.5% of the S2000's never do.

 

I'm betting that only .5% actually drive their cars hard enough to see 4 ........OK well maybe ony 5% either way I think my question was valid. I'm not trying to dis anyone elses concerns just speaking for myself. I do hope if your concerned you get some resolution to your problem. As for me I drive the car pretty hard and as I said before considering that I wouldn't be that concerned.

Remember this is just "my" opinion.

 

I wasn't driving hard then I saw 4 bars. It was standard highway driving, followed by standard driving down a city street. I doubt that I hit VTEC more than once (ok, maybe twice) during those 18 miles.

I took my grill cover off this afternoon. I am going to try this for a couple of weeks and see how my car reacts.

 

Tanqueray-

Good luck!

 

Unless someone has seen something that I haven't, I think that one can say, "Among this board's members, no S2000 with an unobstructed radiator has ever seen four bars in any conditions. Several board members with grills on the front have."

I'm sure that, if the observation is correct, it likely to be statistically significant. Reaching statistical signifcance does not guarantee practical application.

Add that four bar observation to the fact that about ten F20C engines have failed with what might be a cooling or oiling problem in the block, I don't think it hurts for us...as a group...to be observant!

 

Barry-

I agree and wouldn't suggest that we ignore the issue just that the issue here seems to be easily prevented. Don't cover the primary cooling source with anything if your concerned about your car running hot.

I still feel the gauge leads us to be MORE aware of temp variations in the engine. Another bar is a big deal a few millimeter movememnt of an analog guage might not get much discussion. We may be only talking about a very few degrees variation. Are a few degrees really a big deal. I don't know.

I'll be interested in seeing the results of xvipers data.

http://www.s2000online.com/forums/showthre...&threadid=19725

I think it might help put some concrete data to what has been to this point speculation as to whether or not there really is a problem.

Thanks