Ok, so twice the S has overheated on me in the last few months.

Once in a large motorway jam and yesterday while I left it idling while talking to a friend. I think I have diagnosed the problem down to a faulty fan switch as the fans will kick in when I turn on the a/c and the thermostat seems fine as it never overheats when moving.

So I am going to replace the fan switch now as I am a little paranoid and always run the a/c and heat when I am in stop-start traffic

Question is should I buy the OEM fan switch or upgrade to a mugen fan switch and thermostat (and probably rad cap also).

The car is mostly a weekend car and hopefully will get a few trackdays next year

I have done a full search on this and only ended up with more conflicting opinions then when I started.

 

just replace the thermostat (the one which controls the fan rather than the internal readout one - dunno which is which but you could always replace both??

i'm also assuming there are 2

you could also put an override switch in which allows manual control. should you be paranoid.

i wouldn't bother using mugen components for this, didn't someone like AE have a problem with a mugen stat?

 

I was thinking about replacing the fan switch only, but when I priced it at honda I was surprised to find it cost more than the mugen item. (Bloody overpriced Honda Ireland)

So I was just wondering since the Mugen is cheaper is there any value to getting since I have to spend the money anyway

 

If your doing one, I'd do the other as well. You need to drain the coolant out of the system, so you might as well do both at the same time.

No harm in getting the rad cap as well

 

My only concern is that, with the weather in this part of the world being constantly on the cool side, would the mugen item mean that the engine will take longer to warm up and will the oil even reach optimum operating temperature during normal driving

 

There's no point getting the mugen stuff. Makes the engine run slightly cooler but unless your going to get the Mugen Ecu, intake and exhaust etc there's no benefit to your engine running slightly cooler.

 

it won't take any longer to warm up, but the thermostat and fan switch etc will mean that the engine runs slightly cooler.

 

i had the same problem - new switch and job done. forget what I paid now - was <

 

with j8mie

Don't just do one of the cooling modes as they "work together"
Would be worth doing a flush at the sametime as you are emptying it anyway

 

I was deciding between

* Honda fan switch

or

* Mugen fan switch, thermostat and rad cap.

I'm leaning towards the honda part unless someone can convince me that oil will still reach operating temperature during normal driving even though the coolant is kept a little cooler.

Thanks for all the input