High CHTs

Tman228

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First off, thank you for tuning in.

So I have been dealing with this problem for a year now, and my car has been to 6 different shops now. No results. Please give me your opinions and advice.

The problem I am having is that my gauges are showing my Cylinder Head Temperature at 230° F. I start the car, drive for a bit and the temperature eventually reaches 230. Usually within a few minutes regardless of city or highway. Just a little back ground on the car, I have a Mishimoto Aluminum Performance Radiator, 180 Black Magic Xtreme fan, and a 180° Thermostat. Now, I got here because when I first got the car I started noticing the gauges looked higher & after comparing them to a friend with a similar set up they were. So I took the car to a shop & they told me I needed a larger radiator to help compensate for the heat down here on the coast. So I got the radiator, the shop went to install it & ran into a problem when the stock fan wouldn’t be able to fit in combination. The shop gave me a call and told me I needed these 2 mini fans with no shroud to make the fit. I agreed because of my ignorance & wanting to fix this issue. I picked the car up & on the way home I noticed that the CHT was about 5° lower than before. The shop had mentioned that it was running perfectly fine so I was annoyed when I had seen the gauges. Now here I am a year later still dealing with this problem, running in a circle with multiple shops telling me to replace the same things. I have done everything they asked & yet the problem persists. I have no coolant in the oil, I don’t have any water leaking from the exhaust, the upper radiator hose is not swollen. I am completely beat at this point. I have used a thermal laser gun on different parts of the engine. If anyone needs them I can post them if it helps. I’ll go ahead and say that the Upper radiator hose is at 160-170°F at operating & lower is 95-100°F. Any additional information needed, I will absolutely try my best to post.

Radiator- https://www.americanmuscle.com/mishimoto-mustang-radiator-2005.html

Fan-
https://www.jegs.com/i/Flex-A-Lite/400/180/10002/-1

BEA68BC7-89C7-4DDE-B151-0CF1F3BC918B.jpeg
 

Juice

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I don't even know what my CHTs are. But I can tell you there are many safeties built into the PCM, and if it was an issue you would have at minimum, a check engine light. 213F coolant and 230 CHT sounds about right. Yes, it is a bit on the high side, but it is summer time.

Do you have any pending faults? (no idea if the Nguage can read pendings)

If the car is tuned, and they disabled some temp protection, than that is another story.
 

Tman228

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I have no faults &a never had a check engine light. I have just always seen most people stay around 200°-210°
 

crjackson

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Has anyone ever considered the accuracy of the temp sensor may be off by a small amount?

Mine frequently goes up to about 220°F and I have a Ford Racing Radiator / GT500 fan.
 

Midlife Crises

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The radiator should fit closely to the core support so little to no air can get around it. The fans should be shrouded so air must be pulled through the radiator. Air going around the radiator does not cool the fluid. Edelbrock may offer a high volume pump for that engine and that would move more fluid through the larger core.
 

Tman228

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@crjackson2134 yes, I have considered that. When I took it to the shop, they said they did a test to confirm if the volts were correct.

@Midlife Crises Radiator is nice and snug. Fan covers ~95% of the entire radiator & is completely shrouded. I have considered a High Volume pump, but wouldn’t that cause less cooling since the coolant would be flowing faster through the radiator?
 

Tman228

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Has anyone ever considered the accuracy of the temp sensor may be off by a small amount?

Mine frequently goes up to about 220°F and I have a Ford Racing Radiator / GT500 fan.


Do you have any Forced Induction? I’m running a Paxton
 

RED09GT

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Cylinder head temperatures seem to run 20-30°F above your coolant temperature. The sensor is in the aluminum, not the water jacket so since the coolant is there to pull the heat from the engine, the CHT has to be higher than the coolant. The computer starts to deactivate cylinders at 265° F so you are still well within the engine's happy place.
 

crjackson

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Cylinder head temperatures seem to run 20-30°F above your coolant temperature. The sensor is in the aluminum, not the water jacket so since the coolant is there to pull the heat from the engine, the CHT has to be higher than the coolant. The computer starts to deactivate cylinders at 265° F so you are still well within the engine's happy place.

Very good point, I hadn’t thought about that myself.
 

Pentalab

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@crjackson2134 yes, I have considered that. When I took it to the shop, they said they did a test to confirm if the volts were correct.

@Midlife Crises Radiator is nice and snug. Fan covers ~95% of the entire radiator & is completely shrouded. I have considered a High Volume pump, but wouldn’t that cause less cooling since the coolant would be flowing faster through the radiator?

In ur 1st post, u said the pair of new fans are NOT shrouded. Which is it ? If the pair of new fans are not shrouded, their cooling effectiveness will be greatly diminished. They will pull air in from the entire circumference of each fan...( between fan and rad)....instead of via the radiator itself.
 

Midlife Crises

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@crjackson2134 yes, I have considered that. When I took it to the shop, they said they did a test to confirm if the volts were correct.

@Midlife Crises Radiator is nice and snug. Fan covers ~95% of the entire radiator & is completely shrouded. I have considered a High Volume pump, but wouldn’t that cause less cooling since the coolant would be flowing faster through the radiator?
You have gone from a single core to a triple core radiator. 25% larger it says in the add. (I have the same radiator). You can flow more fluid because it has more tubes but you have to flow more air also. A problem with multi row heat exchangers is only the front row of tubes gets cool air as the air gets warmer going through the rows of tubes. Another consideration is how are getting rid of the hot air after it leaves the fan shroud. Is it trapped under your hood? I dropped my under hood and intake air temperature 20* by removing the splash shield under the engine bay. Just a few thoughts!
 

Dino Dino Bambino

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I dropped my under hood and intake air temperature 20* by removing the splash shield under the engine bay. Just a few thoughts!

Hot air rises so you'd actually be better off installing GT500 style hood vents.
To address the OP's concern, I suggest he goes back to a stock set up (radiator, fan, thermostat). His engine is running about 20*F hotter than normal and I think this would solve it.
Thermostats can sometimes be faulty out if the box, so I always test them with a thermometer in a pan of hot water to ensure that they open at the correct temperature. Also note that a three-core radiator that's only slightly thicker than a stock single or two-core will have LESS cooling efficiency because the tube diameter will be much smaller. A thicker radiator with the same number of cores as the stocker is a better choice as a replacement.
 

Tman228

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Cylinder head temperatures seem to run 20-30°F above your coolant temperature. The sensor is in the aluminum, not the water jacket so since the coolant is there to pull the heat from the engine, the CHT has to be higher than the coolant. The computer starts to deactivate cylinders at 265° F so you are still well within the engine's happy place.

Thank you for the info. Will keep that in mind!
 

Tman228

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In ur 1st post, u said the pair of new fans are NOT shrouded. Which is it ? If the pair of new fans are not shrouded, their cooling effectiveness will be greatly diminished. They will pull air in from the entire circumference of each fan...( between fan and rad)....instead of via the radiator itself.

The 1st set of aftermarket fans came from the shop after I had the mishimoto radiator installed. Prior to this I had the stock fan. The shop installed 2 small non shrouded fans. After taking it to a couple different shops I then ended up getting the 180 Black Magic Xtreme(link in the description). I apologize for any confusion.
 

Tman228

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You have gone from a single core to a triple core radiator. 25% larger it says in the add. (I have the same radiator). You can flow more fluid because it has more tubes but you have to flow more air also. A problem with multi row heat exchangers is only the front row of tubes gets cool air as the air gets warmer going through the rows of tubes. Another consideration is how are getting rid of the hot air after it leaves the fan shroud. Is it trapped under your hood? I dropped my under hood and intake air temperature 20* by removing the splash shield under the engine bay. Just a few thoughts!

Thank you for your comment. Currently, I do not have any additional ways of removing air. I do not have a splash guard either / air dam. This was removing when I installed the Paxton. The intercooler pipping needed to be fitted. I have considered fabricating something to fit around. I have also considered installing the Track Spec hood louvers. Anyone have any experience or advice on those?
 

Tman228

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Hot air rises so you'd actually be better off installing GT500 style hood vents.
To address the OP's concern, I suggest he goes back to a stock set up (radiator, fan, thermostat). His engine is running about 20*F hotter than normal and I think this would solve it.
Thermostats can sometimes be faulty out if the box, so I always test them with a thermometer in a pan of hot water to ensure that they open at the correct temperature. Also note that a three-core radiator that's only slightly thicker than a stock single or two-core will have LESS cooling efficiency because the tube diameter will be much smaller. A thicker radiator with the same number of cores as the stocker is a better choice as a replacement.

I have thought about doing this aswell, but I believe it will bring me right back to the start of where it all began. Out of curiosity, what is the reasoning behind going back stock? Thank you for your reply
 

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