Coolant Temps 2008 GT

My car is completely stock and I just hooked up my Livewire and started monitoring coolant temps. Yesterday it was 90F ambient with light winds and cruising at 60-75 mph with AC on my coolant was running 220-226F. Seems high to me. Even coasting off the highway to a stop it only came down to 216F and went right back up as soon as I accelerated from a stop. Car is a manual and has 150k miles but runs perfectly. Mainly wondering if the high temps might be a sign that thermostat might not be opening completely. Also fan kicks on and off at low speeds like normal so I don’t think that seems to be related?

I’ve read lots of info on the internet but answers vary widely on what is “normal”.


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Pretty sure that's normal. These cars just run a little warm.

I think it`s a bit high. Has the cooling system been flushed? How old is stat?

Thanks guys. I’m not sure on age of coolant or thermostat so I’m going to change both. Just wondering if those temps are a little high. I’m thinking a month from now when it’s over 100F outside I don’t want to deal with overheating if I can avoid it by detecting a problem now.


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Those temps. are indeed high, so replacing the thermostat and flushing the cooling system would be a wise move. I'd also pressure wash the AC condenser 'cause any dirt or dead insects stuck between the fins will prevent cool air from reaching the radiator.
FWIW the highest temp. I usually see from my engine is 90*C (194*F).

On a hot summer day (95*-100*), mine runs around 210-215. I was told this is normal by many on another forum. Mine does have the blower on it, however.

Even using a 160° stat, my water temps are 190°-195° and oil temps are 205°-210°. With the SC. I do have new radiator and high flow water pump.

Very good suggestions above. Also check the cooling fan relay for:

Thanks for the tips. I’ll definitely clean the ac condenser when do the thermostat and coolant.


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Dino Dino Bambino said:

Those temps. are indeed high, so replacing the thermostat and flushing the cooling system would be a wise move. I'd also pressure wash the AC condenser 'cause any dirt or dead insects stuck between the fins will prevent cool air from reaching the radiator.
FWIW the highest temp. I usually see from my engine is 90*C (194*F).

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^THIS^

I ran a Supercharged 302 Stroker... In Alabama, at Barber Motorsports Park, when it was 105 degrees and about 95% humidity it hit about 205 degrees to 215 degrees running it hard for 30-60 minutes on a track... Normal driving on a stock motor, you should be seeing 190 - 205 degrees (depending on what thermostat is in it... If it's a 192 degree thermostat... It could run up into the 215 degree range) .

Replace the thermostat with a 180 degree Stant Superstat, and flush the system.... Not just drain and refill... But have it flushed professionally to get any sediment out of the radiator. Use a pressure washer, or air hose, or garden hose with a good sprayer, to wash out the radiator and AC condensor fins from the back toward the front (engine side to the bumper side) ... You should pull the fan and shroud assembly to be able to spray out all the areas of the radiator.

When you refill the cooling system DON'T use a pre-mix 50 / 50 coolant... As long as you don't really drive or store the car in freezing temperatures use a 70/30 mix of DISTILLED water and full strength coolant. Pure distilled water has better heat transfer properties than glycol based coolants. (Link to a "White paper" on this topic is below) As evidence that this works... Ford even recommended that coolant ratio be reduced to 60 (water) 40 (coolant) for better cooling in the Ecoboost F-150's

You can also add a "water wetter" additive to reduce surface tension of the water and get even better cooling (might see 1-10 degrees less with a "water wetter" product in a 70/30 or 80/20 mix)

Read:
https://www.redlineoil.com/Content/files/tech/WaterWetter Tech Info.pdf

If you drive or store the car in freezing temps go to 60/40 mix... If it sees sub-zero temps go ahead with the 50/50. I think this recommendation is even in the owners manual.

Hope you get it running nice and cool.

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I put the Mishimoto radiator in mine. Its an all aluminum radiator, direct fit. My temps stayed right at 200* at Shenandoah on a day it was 100*F in the shade.

More thanks to everyone...I will perform all of the above procedures and report back. Ordered the 180F Stant thermostat. I’ll use a 60/40 mix of distilled water/coolant and thoroughly pressure wash the stock radiator. My GT is mainly a daily driver and mostly highway so I don’t think I need to upgrade the radiator at this point.


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This usually happens when your radiator is dirty due to corrosion, it happened to me, my advice to you is change your radiator and clean your condensor to make sure air is going threw.

Be real careful using a pressure washer with radiators. You can fold over fins and actually damage the radiator if you get too close. Personally, I never use one. Just a garden hose is more than adequate.

Laga said:

Be real careful using a pressure washer with radiators. You can fold over fins and actually damage the radiator if you get too close. Personally, I never use one. Just a garden hose is more than adequate.

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Thanks for the heads up!


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MjDubai said:

This usually happens when your radiator is dirty due to corrosion, it happened to me, my advice to you is change your radiator and clean your condensor to make sure air is going threw.

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Thanks for the info. This may well the case for mine since it’s 12 years old and I have no idea if coolant has ever been serviced.


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The best and often overlooked mod you can do to lower coolant temps is by installing an electric pump. I've always run a Meziere with just distilled water and water wetter. My factory temp gauge never reaches the middle of the gauge, it is always one click to the left, and that is with a Whipple, AC on full and 115* summer days in traffic. In fact I just swapped a new one in and getting the old one sent off for a refurbishing of the bearing on the dummy pulley.

Laga said:

Be real careful using a pressure washer with radiators. You can fold over fins and actually damage the radiator if you get too close. Personally, I never use one. Just a garden hose is more than adequate.

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Also, on top of that, don't they make a fin comb of some sort for find that are already bent?

Edit:

Laga said:

Be real careful using a pressure washer with radiators. You can fold over fins and actually damage the radiator if you get too close. Personally, I never use one. Just a garden hose is more than adequate.

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Yeah I just use a garden hose. There's enough pressure from that to get the job done.

07 Boss said:

The best and often overlooked mod you can do to lower coolant temps is by installing an electric pump. I've always run a Meziere with just distilled water and water wetter. My factory temp gauge never reaches the middle of the gauge, it is always one click to the left, and that is with a Whipple, AC on full and 115* summer days in traffic.

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My stock gauge also sits just under the middle, and datalogs from my ELM 327 show the actual cylinder head temp. to be 88-90*C (190-194*F). However I've heard that the stock gauge doesn't start to move above the middle until the CHT gets to at least 220*F so I wouldn't rely on the stock gauge too much.
Aside from the HP gain, the main benefit of a Meziere electric water pump is improved cooling at idle and low rpm since it flows a constant 55 gallons per minute. A decent mechanical pump will only flow that much when the engine's spinning at 2500-3000rpm.
Since the life expectancy of a Meziere EWP is at least 3000 hours, that would equate to about 60-90k miles of normal street driving.

Dino Dino Bambino said:

My stock gauge also sits just under the middle, and datalogs from my ELM 327 show the actual cylinder head temp. to be 88-90*C (190-194*F). However I've heard that the stock gauge doesn't start to move above the middle until the CHT gets to at least 220*F so I wouldn't rely on the stock gauge too much.
Aside from the HP gain, the main benefit of a Meziere electric water pump is improved cooling at idle and low rpm since it flows a constant 55 gallons per minute. A decent mechanical pump will only flow that much when the engine's spinning at 2500-3000rpm.
Since the life expectancy of a Meziere EWP is at least 3000 hours, that would equate to about 60-90k miles of normal street driving.

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Well I say that because it used to sit right in the middle in a vertical position with the stock pump. Now it never gets to the middle. So I don't have empirical numbers but I know it runs cooler.