Help, overheating problem at Streets of Willow!

[ryneen]

I went to Streets of Willow yesterday. It was a hot 95 degrees. I've only been to a few track events, and I haven't learned to look at my gauges on every straightaway. I sometimes forget. However, I looked down at my gauges in the middle of a session and the temperature gauge was ALMOST touching the redline. I freaked out, upshifted to 4th to get the revs to 1500 and maximum airflow to the radiator. It took over 3 minutes to get the needle to begin moving downward (this seamed like an eternity). I drove several more cool down laps to get it to return to normal.

I always heard that the NSX is excellent in regards to overheating and I naively didn't pay attention. Obviously the 95 degree air temp was a major contributor.

I'm going to take it to Autowave this week and have it checked out. However, does anyone have any thoughts if I hurt the motor? If so, how would I tell. I checked the oil. It looked clear and fine. The temperature never went into or past the red, just up next to it. It continues to run fine.

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[docjohn]

I only had that happen once and it was in line waiting to drag race,back about 5 yrs ago.We flushed the coolent lines as a precaution.In my case it might have been a gauge glitch because after I shut the motor off and restarted the gauge was fine.Since then I have never had temp gauge issues,and it is not a common complaint,meaning it was not due to conditions at the track.Now some folks have gotten into temp problems with radiater stone shields or other things blocking the radiater.

 

[apapada]

I've done hot laps in warmer temperatures than that and no cooling problems whatsoever. Make sure you dont have an air bubble in your coolant circuit, a malfunctionning thermostat or a faulty temperature sensor/gauge.

 

[Andrie Hartanto]

I have several overheating problems and I know a few who has encounter the same problem. If you drive the car hard enough, the radiator need upgrading. DAL car even with upgraded aluminum radiator still have overheating (see one of their race report posts).

 

[ryneen]

After the first overheating incident, I could only run 3 hot laps in a row and then the temp would start creeping upward to about 3/4. I would then run 1 cool down lap and start over. I never allowed it to get too high again.

My concern however, is if the motor could have been hurt when it nearly touched the redline on the first overheating incident? Does anyone know if getting the needle almost to the redline could cause damage? If so, how could I tell if there is motor damage?

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[NSXDreamer2]

I believed it was confirmed by Best Motoring editors

they had been doing a special episode every year to try to find out the best car of the year. Basically contrary to the avg. belief, the NA honda does have hot oil and water temp...

Their set up was like a 20 (maybe 30, I forgot, sorry.) laps and set up the alarming 130 degree (i believe it's in celcius) and both the integra R and nsx zero s had creeped up to such temp. around 6, 7th laps... meanwhile the evo and subaru and even RX7 had not going that hot... given they are turbocharged.

However, the funny thing is that it didn't slow them down at all, (Gan San had ignored the temp. and keep on driving to keep his pole position, which is not what they agree, they suppose to slow down and let the car run lower than 130 then go again.)while those turbo charged cars does slow down even when they are getting close to the 130 degree.

Both nsx and integra finishes the race with no problem... even though they had been run with high temp. but the GTR and Evo had a DNF...

 

[Peter Mills]

High Temp reading

I track my NSX about twenty-four day per year. Sometimes the temp gauge reads high sometimes it doesn't.
If you are running in traffic the car in front of you will change the directional flow of air over the NSX causing the temp to increase.
If you run your car with the license plate mounted on the front that will restrict the flow of air to the radiator.
Usually the temp drops back to normal during the cool down lap.
I don't think you have anything to worry about.

 

[VBNSX]

What about getting things like the mugen thermostat and radiator cap to help out the cooling system. Do you think that would really help any bit?

thanks,
-x-

 

[Andrie Hartanto]

What about getting things like the mugen thermostat and radiator cap to help out the cooling system. Do you think that would really help any bit?

thanks,
-x-

No, you need a good radiator.

My car don't have anything in front that can hinder the flow, other than type R bar. Same with Tom's car. Mike's car don't even have the front type R bar.

This also depends on the weather and the track. So far, the problem seem to hit hard at Thunderhill on hot days. Any other track in CA is ok. In Buttonwillow we get to creep higher than normal, but only slightly.

 

[ryneen]

Very few people were having severe overheating problems besides myself. So I'm thinking something might be wrong with my car. Howver, I still may end up upgrading my radiator. The temp gauge went to 9/10. Have any of you got the temp that high? If so, was there any damage to the motor?

 

[Peter Mills]

Over heating

I don't think it will harm your engine. My temp will drop almost immediately back to normal range once I let up on the gas.
I had my thermostrate replaced last year thinking that was the problem. The old thermostrate was fine and the situation remains
the same. Sometimes the gauge will peg it's self at full hot other times it stays normal.
Wait until you see your oil pressure guage drop to zero when running at high RPM's in third or fourth. Now that will scare you.

 

[ryneen]

My oil pressure gauge does drop to nearly zero. That scared the crap out of me before also. What is that all about?
Ryan

 

[Hrant]

I agree with Andrie, the only place in NorCal where we have seen the water temps rise is at Thunderhill, and in our cases during days where the ambient temps are over 90F. Removing the Dali radiator shield did not help. Taking a cool down lap or short shifting brings the temp back to normal but then it will go up quickly if you keep the revs high. This assumes you are running the recommended water/coolant mix. If you add more water it will help a little.

As for the oil pressure gauge, there has been extensive discussion on that a few years ago on these forums. I finally resolved that (thanks to Woodwork and Mark Johnson's recommendation) with a new sender which was covered under warranty, and since then it does not drop below the second marker.

HTH

 

[Andrie Hartanto]

Very few people were having severe overheating problems besides myself. So I'm thinking something might be wrong with my car. Howver, I still may end up upgrading my radiator. The temp gauge went to 9/10. Have any of you got the temp that high? If so, was there any damage to the motor?

I have a habit of always checking the gauges so I never get the temp that high. But I would think it is ok, as long as it was not pegged into red marker.

Regarding oil pressure, I'm not sure if Hrant solution really solve the problem or if it is a problem in the first place.

Mine has that problem even with baffling accusump. Tom's car with accusump and high volume comptech pump still has that problem. Ken's car with stock oiling system same thing.

I can only come to conclusion that there is something wrong with the sending unit.

 

[ryneen]

Thanks for all of your info everyone. I'm going to take it to Autowave tomorrow and have them check out my motor and cooling system. I'm praying that I didn't hurt my motor. I hope they are able to tell if I did. I think I'll have them replace my sending unit as well to hopefully solve my oil pressure problem.

Andrie, when are you taking your NSX to the track next?

Ryan

 

[SilverOne]

I was planning on going to this event that ryan went, but couldn't make it due to scheduling conflict. Overheating was one of my main concerns with events in the summer time. There is another event at Street of Willow in mid August I think, and I like to attend. Anything that I should/could do now to prevent overheating?

 

[2slow2speed]

Vented hood perhaps?

Thanks for all of your info everyone. I'm going to take it to Autowave tomorrow and have them check out my motor and cooling system. I'm praying that I didn't hurt my motor. I hope they are able to tell if I did. I think I'll have them replace my sending unit as well to hopefully solve my oil pressure problem.

Andrie, when are you taking your NSX to the track next?

Ryan

Hi Ryan,

Another option might be for you to get a Taitec Type-R style front hood for your car or a vented hood, the temperature used to go high very quickly on my car prior to the mod on hot days at Thunderhill with about 4 laps or so with my car.

Today for example it took about 7 to 8 laps of hard driving at 9/10th's to get the coolant temperature up high with ambient tempertures in the mid 90's at Thunderhill. Cooling down for a single lap usually solves the problem for another 3 to 4 laps so that should be ok given the average length of a session in a HPDE event.

I'm running my car with the Dali Radiator shield and the Taitec Type-R hood and a stock radiator. On cooler days I never have problems with the car.

Ken

BTW: I think that Andrie sold his NSX, but if you are willing he can probably drive your car and show you the limits of the car so that you can see how much potential your car has left. I learn quite a bit everytime that I let him drive my car and I sit quietly stealing "go fast" secrets by watching him

 

[Andrie Hartanto]

Andrie, when are you taking your NSX to the track next?

Ryan

I sold my NSX. However, I'm working on a ride for a race NSX and hopefully it will be done in a month or two.

 

[Andrie Hartanto]

Ken,

you should try to take the Dali shield off. That thing should make a huge difference. Don't put anything over the radiator. See if you still have overheating issue. If you do, maybe time to upgrade? If you are up on experimenting, the RSX radiator will fit with slight modifications. There are quite a few off the shelf aluminum radiator for RSX. In my experience, fluidyne and C&R makes best radiators out there.

 

[freelance201]

I had exactly the same problem when I was tracking my car at Bremerton Raceway.
The temp was close to 95 degrees.
The temp gauge almost went up to the red line area in the middle of my sessions and I had to drive it slowly for the temp to come down to normal.
It turns out that I have lots of bubbles in my coolant system, so I did coolant flush and bleed the coolant system at least three times just to make sure I get all the air out.
My car never had overheating problem anymore and I just got back from track day at PR yesterday.....and YES, it was close to 90 degrees at the track yesterday, and i was pushing my car hard.
So, try do this first. If the car still overheats, here are the list of other problems that could be causing it:
thermostat, low oil level (yes, this does cause overheating sometimes), blown head gasket (look for white foamy air from exhaust), eletrical problems.

 

[Ponyboy]

I've had a few cooling issues with my NSX and had once come pretty darn close to redlining it once. The issues were mostly resolved with a bleeding any air pockets out of the cooling system, getting rid of the crappy Mugen radiator cap (didn't work), and installing a whole new hi capacity radiator/oil cooler (Dali Racing). That seemed to resolve the issues though on the very hot days it'll still creep up one or two notches. Very hot meaning 100+ degrees.

Good luck on getting yours fixed!

 

[ryneen]

Thanks again for the info. I never even thought of bleeding the coolant system. I never checked to see if I had air in the system. This is probably one of my main problems.
Ryan

 

[freelance201]

plus, try the Red Line Water Wetter......this thing really works and will drop your temp by about 20-30 degrees.

 

[docjohn]

fwiw I also run with my heater on at max temp and the fan on medium at every track event regardless of ambient temps.Cabin temps don't get to bad because we run with windows down.

 

[MarkB]

With what years are all of the overheating problems associated?

I have an '03 w/ CTSC/I/H/E and have never had any temp or oil pressure issues. As many here know, the car is also FREQUENTLY tracked.