Over heated, engine noise?

[M-Sport fan]

I finally got my car up to 210 coolant temps today. It was 99 ambient and I was driving the car very hard with an extended pull on a long open straight. Never saw more than 210 which drops down quickly to 190's and 180's on coast down to a 90mph cruise. Pretty sure I have the stock radiator. Car was modded when I got it. Radiator looks stock.

I may not push my car quite as hard as most do on here (and it is currently on the factory turbo and tune as well, unlike most).

But, even with the factory radiator, I have never had a problem.
Even in the worst heat we get here, in many miles/hours long traffic jams, it maybe hits 215*F TOPS.

Now admittedly, in order to at least give it a 'chance' of not overheating, in the summer months I do lower the coolant to water ratio down to 30/70, and throw two bottles of Kool-It into the system.

I do eventually want to install an aftermarket radiator, but I am having an impossible time trying to find a competent, reliable shop to do this stuff (IC, radiator, brakes, brake/clutch fluid flush, suspension, etc.) around here since I am VERBOTEN from having the car up on jacks/jack stands, or working at all on it in my complex.

Insanely, even most of the actual FORD DEALERS around here refuse to work on this car, probably because they've never sold even ONE, let alone ever worked on one.

 

[Magnetic]

I overheated my FiST in the Arizona heat once and it went into limp mode. As far as I can tell no damage came of it. I had the car towed and went Mishimoto on the radiator.

 

[Dpro]

Sounds like standard FiST engine noise our engines sound like sewing machines under the hood. Without an exhaust or Intake it sounds very clicky clacky. Hell even with sometimes . Ya no big deal I did the same thing on a Canyon run in the first year of ownership . I immediately went out and bought a Mountune radiator as well. 5 years now engine is still running fine with S280 turbo and pumping out a lot more HP than stock.

 

[wrx-std]

I went with the mountune radiator just because it’s so popular and somebody had an how-to-install thread. Like typhoon said, it uses the factory fan shroud.

In theory, do you think the mishi fans would fit the mountune radiator? On my subaru they retained all the stock mounting points so i could use oem fans until i upgraded.

i know it probably overkill to add the high spd fan, but this car can see up to 40 miles of steep uphill a day and it gets up to 110° out here

 

[Hop]

I overheated my FiST in the Arizona heat once and it went into limp mode. As far as I can tell no damage came of it. I had the car towed and went Mishimoto on the radiator.

I am in Az too. Is that pretty common with the FiST's? Should that be my first mod, upgrade the radiator and intercooler?

 

[Business6]

I am in Az too. Is that pretty common with the FiST's? Should that be my first mod, upgrade the radiator and intercooler?

100% these two mods are the priority before anything performance oriented. Throw in the lower engine mount with them if you'd like as that mount gets the shit beat out of it.

I just wish I could do a better mixture to really see what the mountune radiator can handle during the summer.

 

[Hop]

100% these two mods are the priority before anything performance oriented. Throw in the lower engine mount with them if you'd like as that mount gets the shit beat out of it.

I just wish I could do a better mixture to really see what the mountune radiator can handle during the summer.

that’s probably the “big three” I’d focus on first before anything. Expensive all together and little to show for it but at least the car can breathe and won’t overheat immediately.

 

[scooter123]

Consider this a tip. Spend the extra money for the Mountune 3 pass radiator. It will fit with the factory fan shrowd have cars with ud, features a distinct increase in cooling capacity and you'll gain about 3.5 mpg in economy when using the OEM Thermostat. Note, these engines are most efficient at the factory 195 degree temps and this applies to both fuel economy and power production. I've pulled a 7.5 degree grade about 5 miles long in 95 degree heat in western Virginia with the air on and the engine temp stayed nailed at 4 bars on the indicator.

Note, swapping out a reduced temperature thermostat will not do a thing about over heating. Cars over heat because the cooling system doesn't have enough CAPACITY. Back in the 1970's we used to swap in lower temp thermostats to reduce the tendency for Engine Knock. A cooler thermostat helped maintain a cooler intake temp and allowed us to run a tough more timing on the engine. However this trick only worked if you had installed a larger capacity radiator. This meant either spending big buts on a custom radiator or scrounging at junkyards looking for a station wagon with a big block V8 which typically featured a much larger radiator. Now we have very exacting engine timing that will self adjust for engine knock, intercoolers, and after market radiators what are not hugely expensive.

Now some specific area of concern when using a Mountune Radiator. That area of concern is the plastic fan shroud. After installing the new radiator and getting everything all buttoned up there is one final step you need to take. Installing the Mountune radiator will move the Fan Shroud about 5/8 inch CLOSER to the engine. This means that it's likely there will be an area where the fan shroud is rubbing on one or more Hoses on the front of the engine. So take a very close look at that fan shroud and make sure that NOTHING is rubbing on a hose and preferably you'll want at least 1/4 inch of clearance. If a common pencil gets pinched anywhere plan on doing a bit of work with a Dremel or adding a wire tie to pull the shroud a bit closer to the radiator. In my case a rib was rubbing the larger water hose out of the overflow tank which led to a leak and a mild overheat. BTW, it took 30K miles before this hose started leaking.

 

[Magnetic]

I am in Az too. Is that pretty common with the FiST's? Should that be my first mod, upgrade the radiator and intercooler?

YES, especially in AZ. I did a spririted drive up south mountain and on the way down it overheated and I had to cruise the whole way down. I haven't had an issue since then on South Mountain.