Overheating!!! Argghhh!! Overheating!!!!!!

[maestromaestro]

Well, I thought I would take my Stage 2 FiST to the Houston Motorsports Ranch - the track is relatively short, and favors momentum cars like this. Houston, I have to tell you, is a rather warm place, especially in the summer.
Today, the temperature hit about 93F or so.

The track is about 2.3 miles long, if I am not mistaken, and has 17 turns with 4 relatively short straights. During the first session, which was under relatively cool conditions, I managed to get about 3 laps before the temperature went 'over the limit' and the power management overlords throttled the output. It was actually rather odd - when the temp symbol would come up, I could drive with (what felt like) full power, but - even if the car cooled down a bit on a straight - then, I would be limited to about 4K RPMs until the temperature dropped a bit further. Needless to say, not a particularly pleasant experience - the lap times are all over the place, because the power throttling would come on at random intervals. I turned the heater all the way up on the subsequent sessions and it may have bought me a couple more laps before this nonsense started again.

Then a rainstorm passed by and the temperature dropped by about 10 degrees - and with that (and the heater blasting), I managed to get about 18 minutes before overheating again.

I mean - is this "normal"? This is, after all, a "performance-oriented" vehicle, meant to compete with the other 'hot hatches'. It was a rather unpleasant surprise - wasn't expecting this at all.

Any thoughts? Solutions?

Sad Panda

 

[BeansNCornbread]

You did tune it so the car probably needs addtl cooling.

 

[rexdriver85]

Completely off topic. MSR is an awesome place. Their outdoor go kart track is world class. Jealous you get to go there! /end off topic.

 

[praecurvo]

I don't think this is normal. Was at a track a month or so ago in the high 80's and absolutely no ideas. However, I am stock, but nonetheless. shouldn't be an issue. Anyone else tuned with hot track day experience?

 

[Tonysarchy]

I'm stage 1 and have driven hard for a long time on twisties and never had over heating only reached 195 degrees at highest point.
That was on an over 90 degree day

 

[Gonzo]

What did your datalogging, or at least your access port display, say as far as coolant and oil temps?

 

[JohnzyST]

This is normal man. My car overheated my first track day and could only get one hot lap if that. So then I got an e30 tune and helped keep my temp lower and it only overheated at one track day on ethanol but it was 100+ that day with hot dry hair.

If you want to track the fist I recommend upgrading the radiator when mishimoto puts it up for sale. Water wetter might help but I doubt it will.

 

[Sourskittle]

I over heated my car in 4.5 minutes in a video on my youtube channel. It was like 74 degrees out at night. But... The tune was pretty stiff.

 

[Hijinx]

I've blasted up and down mountains and run full half miles at WOT... Haven't had any overheating issues.

 

[maestromaestro]

What did your datalogging, or at least your access port display, say as far as coolant and oil temps?

Well, they (those in charge of the event) don't like to have "loose" things in the car, like dataport - so, I don't have the data. I am running COBB 93 Stage 2 map, so, it is relatively mild tune. Not expecting to go to ethanol mixes...
Honestly, I don't think that STs are expected to overheat like this - the expectation is that they are meant for track duty. I am going to the Octane Academy next week, so I will ask them a few questions - given the abuse, I would imagine that their STs (which are largely stock) may show signs of overheating... Am wondering though if indeed the tune has anything to do with this...

As far as temperature of the coolant goes, it has to be 'up there' - I saw bubbles coming into the coolant reservoir.

 

[maestromaestro]

I'm stage 1 and have driven hard for a long time on twisties and never had over heating only reached 195 degrees at highest point.
That was on an over 90 degree day

I don't know how to compare... This track is pretty technical - several hairpins and a number of slow complexes - so, it is at 5500 a lot, and the straights are relatively short, so not enough time to cool.

 

[BeansNCornbread]

I've blasted up and down mountains and run full half miles at WOT... Haven't had any overheating issues.

Blasting up and down mountains will be a little different versus load and track heat though. Here in CO in 90+ heat (not on this car) I will typically run at least 20degF lower in the mountains versus the track.

There is discussion with the FR-S/BRZ crowd of their cars going into limp mode on the track stock so I doubt it's a turbo thing for us but rather viscosity minimum oil film thickness safety margin. They spec 0w20.

 

[Sourskittle]

I'd want heavy oil for that kind of duty.
As far as the octane cars, I want to say someone asked those guys and they run mostly distilled water and water wetter.

The cobb tune really shouldn't make it run hotter. Its a safe tune as is, and while it does stop the "over boost" from cutting off, that only comes into play on 120+ mph straight aways.

 

[iso100]

When your charge temps get above a certain point the ECU starts pulling timing. It pulls more and more as the charge temps go higher. It's a preventive measure.

If you don't have an aftermarket FMIC and were driving in hot conditions, I'd be leaning towards that as the cause of reduced performance. It's a good thing though, otherwise you would have been blissfully ignorant of the impending knock, LSPI and potential ringland destruction.

 

[doubletap]

In looking at the OP's profile he does have the Cobb FMIC. I also see that your using an Injen CAI (CAI being a total misnomer IMO). Have you tried using the stock intake box? I'm just amateurishly guessing your getting heat soaked from your intake seeing as there's not enough straights to get cool air in there. You should really check your intake temps and Charge air temps with the Injen vs. the Stock intake box.

 

[C. love]

The Fost overheats when tracked, the guys at miller/octane academy upgrade their radiators. i would take a guess the track is small your car isnt getting adequate airflow thus the over heating. The solution get a bigger radiator and take a few cool down laps in between the hot laps.

Ford may have intended for these to be tracked a bit but they didnt intend it to be on a 90+ day with low airflow on a car that has been altered. Another upgrade is a water spray system for the FMIC/Radiator they help a ton with cooling.

Also this talk about intake temps and tune sounds like poppy cock to me. Unless your car is very modified I dont see how these conservative tunes with a stock turbo and bolt ons like exhaust/intake are going to cause this much over heating sure things will get hotter (power=heat) but there is more too it than that

 

[BostonDriver]

So yesterday I had a trackday at Thompson Speedway in CT. and had cooling issues as well. My FiST is a full Stage 3 Mountune with a custom tune by Randy and after several hard laps I got the coolant temp warning light... Slowed down for a lap and it came down to about 3/4 bars. My access port was showing oil and coolant temps in the 250-260 range! slowed down and it came down to a more reasonable 220-240 range depending on whether i gave it 1 lap or 2 laps to cool. I'm thinking the main problem is with the water/oil cooler rather than a traditional air/oil cooler. The oil temp and coolant temps seem follow each other so closely I think the oil temp is contributing to the coolant temp rising when regularly using a lot of boost due to the turbo heating the oil so much.

Seems like a radiator and oil cooler are needed. Add brakes to that list too...

 

[Sourskittle]

Doesn't help the factory thermostat is prob a 200-205 degree. Oem's like to run engines hotter for cleaner emissions. My srt4 was at 216-217 degrees ALL THE TIME. That's just how it was.... I didn't complain... Its a 2.4L turbo in a dang dodge neon, I don't care how they slide it past the epa, lol.

 

[JohnzyST]

Well, they (those in charge of the event) don't like to have "loose" things in the car, like dataport - so, I don't have the data. I am running COBB 93 Stage 2 map, so, it is relatively mild tune. Not expecting to go to ethanol mixes...
Honestly, I don't think that STs are expected to overheat like this - the expectation is that they are meant for track duty. I am going to the Octane Academy next week, so I will ask them a few questions - given the abuse, I would imagine that their STs (which are largely stock) may show signs of overheating... Am wondering though if indeed the tune has anything to do with this...

As far as temperature of the coolant goes, it has to be 'up there' - I saw bubbles coming into the coolant reservoir.

The STs at octane academy have huge custom radiators in the frront. I'm sure they are twice the size of our radiators so that shows our car isn't really that track duty when it comes to cooling. Lol everything else is stock on the car tho.

 

[C. love]

The STs at octane academy have huge custom radiators in the frront. I'm sure they are twice the size of our radiators so that shows our car isn't really that track duty when it comes to cooling. Lol everything else is stock on the car tho.

That must have been an upgrade after June 2014...when I was there. I could totally see it