How Hot is TOO Hot?

My 94 RMW smells "hot" all the time. Since I've replaced the temp sensor I've been monitoring the digital temp readout. At normal driving speeds it varies between 164-167 degrees... sitting at a stop light it'll climb to 175-178 depending on the light length.... I'm wondering is it getting too hot and how hot is too hot? What I can do about the smell? No matter how long the trip, it smells.

thanks,

Mark

Mark if you are smelling it that much you may have a leaking/seeping heater core. That's the only reason I can think you'd smell it like that....unless you have a bad leak somewhere.

My 96 never goes above halfway on the temp gauge...even in traffic when it was 112 degrees here this summer, with a boat on the back and a/c pumping like mad. It will vary a little when moving and stopping, but never gets close to hot.

Does your car have the towing package with the engine driven fan, or does it only the two electric fans. I've read that the ones with just the electric fans show a higher temp on the gauge before both the fans both kick on to high speed. Supposedly you see more of a temp swing with only the electric fans. I'm sure others will chime in on that.

My Roady has the engine-driven fan and the one electric fan.

-Mike

Mark:

Instead of using 06 to read your temp, use 24. 06 takes the reading from the gauge sender (drivers side head) while 24 takes the temp from the same place as your PCM (waterpump). Note the temp will be in celsius (mine reads 92C-100C, have programmed the fans to turn on at 100C). This is more accurate and is the sender that initiates your fan turn-on. Stock programming will allow the temps to go to 125C (257F) before fan turn-on and thats too high.

Does your odor smelll like coolent or just that hot smell you get from hot metal. If it smells like coolant, you have a leak somewhere. If it just smells hot I wouldn't worry about it to much unless it's accompanied with smoke. Your temp readings seem normal or if anything a little low.

Bill

Mike - I've got the same set-up as you do with the trailer package, engine-driven fan and the one electric fan. I'm getting my reading from the diagnostic readout from my Climate Control and not on the instrument cluster.

Bill - Thanks. I've been using 06... at lunch I'll switch over to 24 and see what I get when I take a ride.

It DOES smell like hot coolant (which sounds like an oxi-moron) but I'm not getting any smoke. My goal now is to stop ALL of the leaks. It leaks trans-fluid, oil AND coolant. I've already replaced the trans gasket so it's gotta be somewhere else.

I'll check the heater connection and then the heater core. Would the pass side carpet be damp or sticky too?

Thanks guys!

Mark

convert2diesel wrote:

Mark:

Instead of using 06 to read your temp, use 24. 06 takes the reading from the gauge sender (drivers side head) while 24 takes the temp from the same place as your PCM (waterpump). Note the temp will be in celsius (mine reads 92C-100C, have programmed the fans to turn on at 100C). This is more accurate and is the sender that initiates your fan turn-on. Stock programming will allow the temps to go to 125C (257F) before fan turn-on and thats too high.

Does your odor smelll like coolent or just that hot smell you get from hot metal. If it smells like coolant, you have a leak somewhere. If it just smells hot I wouldn't worry about it to much unless it's accompanied with smoke. Your temp readings seem normal or if anything a little low.

Bill

Went for a 15 minute ride at lunch. Sat in traffic, stop lights, stretches of 50mph and it varied between 85 and 90... take into consideration that it's only about 60 degrees out today too... that seems way lower than the readings you're getting. Are you running dual electric fans?

Motor isn't hot if you are accurately describing the temps,.
antifreeze smell could be coming from the heater core,.

Nick