brief overheating on the track

[jtower]

running at mid ohio this weekend, today i noticed that the temp gauge would spike in the red zone for a few seconds then return fairly quickly to normal. this repeated on a regular basis, maybe every 60 sec or so. never seen it happen in street driving. two things i can think of:

1. thermostat cycling between open and closed (my mechanics suggestion). i can't imagine why this would be the case, thermostats usually only fail open, but he knows a lot more about it than i do.

2. an air bubble in the system is circulating and the gauge spikes when the bubble hits it. as the system was recently flushed (to replace a broken hose) this seems reasonably likely. anyone have instructions for bleeding/burping the cooling system?

thanks for the help!

 

[CL65 Captain]

Bleed the system.... follow the instructions in the service manual as you are suppose to do it in the correct order.

Or do what I did when out at the track... find the steepest hill and back up it and bleed the one on the radiator (easiest one to get to). Worked for me.

 

[jtower]

Bleed the system.... follow the instructions in the service manual as you are suppose to do it in the correct order.

Or do what I did when out at the track... find the steepest hill and back up it and bleed the one on the radiator (easiest one to get to). Worked for me.

heh, will do. earlier today when i was checking out something on the front of the car i asked a friend to make sure the reservior wasn't dry, he said it was fine. turns out it was pretty low (i have a black tank so it's little hard to tell sometimes). added half a gallon of water, that may be all it needs. i'll find out tomorrow.

and in an interesting confluence of events, the club assigned ken sax as my instructor (i've never driven mid-ohio before), he's here in his integra type-r. nice to finally meet him! and i did laps with another nsx owner (warren from missouri) who is here in his corvette.

 

[CL65 Captain]

Now I remember why I never drive with the BMW Club....

Fees: $395 BMW CCA Members
$435 Nonmembers (fee includes $40 membership to BMW CCA)

I have to say that sets a new outrageously high fee for Mid Ohio, previously held by Chin Motorsports.

 

[jtower]

Now I remember why I never drive with the BMW Club....

Fees: $395 BMW CCA Members
$435 Nonmembers (fee includes $40 membership to BMW CCA)

I have to say that sets a new outrageously high fee for Mid Ohio, previously held by Chin Motorsports.

chin still is the priciest club around, $549 for two days. however i understand that you get a lot more track time with chin so the price/lap is similar. and if you factor in the cost of travel etc it might even work out to less money per lap run. i got invited to the instructor day for this event so it's a three day weekend for me, it was like an extra hundred bucks or something but we ended up with five 45 min sessions today, well worth it.

 

[CL65 Captain]

Still a ripoff even for Mid Ohio.