Where on the temp gauge is your swap running?

[zav3n]

1/4 temp all day everyday with a m42 radiator + spal 14"

[So Live]

1/4 temp all day everyday with a m42 radiator + spal 14"

+1 but running a 75* thermostat and the 318 rad temp switch to the spal and even sitting on the dyno yesterday for about an hr doing pulls and some idiling it was fine and stayed below the 1/2 mark the whole time.

[rThor432]

..the same in my friends swap for about a year. He doesn't even have his electric fan wired up, still...

Was that comment directed at me, or does Beau not have one wired up either?

With the S52 and M42 radiator my temp guage was reading slightly high just like yours Z31.. The problem was solder joints in the cluster. I fixed 3 bad solder joints and now the gauge operates properly, like new. My temp is usually about a millimeter or two off the half-way mark. Drops to 1/4 if I'm winding it up, even without any fan.

[z31maniac]

^That makes me feel a bit better, but the coolant shouldn't be boiling/bubbling at normal operating temps though, correct?

The thing that is making me think headgasket is that we got caught idling at a train crossing for 5+ minutes (with my Spal on) and the temp stayed dead center, it was when we got on the highway that the temp crept up a bit (with the fan still on).

But I'm sure any weak joints in the cluster are getting pounded extra hard with the spring rates having gone from 350/500 to 550/750. But I do remember the temp gauge acting weird on occasion before the M20 blew up.

[Grant01]

A lot of the times i will see my car running a needle width higher on the highway than idling. I have also found that my guage likes to read completely wrong sometimes(hot) and all it takes is a swift tap tap on the cluster to set it back down in the middle.

i have a lower temp oem stat in mine and it reads just right at half city/idle and right above half on the highway. If you are really concerned about it having a BHG then just go to NAPA and buy a hydrocarbon tester and check for a BHG.

[asubimmer]

Was that comment directed at me, or does Beau not have one wired up either?

With the S52 and M42 radiator my temp guage was reading slightly high just like yours Z31.. The problem was solder joints in the cluster. I fixed 3 bad solder joints and now the gauge operates properly, like new. My temp is usually about a millimeter or two off the half-way mark. Drops to 1/4 if I'm winding it up, even without any fan.

Beau :) is yours not on either?

[daniel]

my temp gauge is always below half just slightly, except a couple times in the spring going uphill slowly on the highway in 5th gear at low rpms when it was hot outside it crept past the halfway mark.

[z31maniac]

Sounds like for the most part I'm being paranoid then.....

......but the coolant shouldn't be boiling/bubbling at normal operating temps though, correct?

Any say on this?

[SamE30e]

I run at 1 tick to the left of middle with a stock thermostat and a little hole drilled in it, no fan (have a pusher wired to a/c button but dont need it unless i'm in slow traffic)

Ditto, minus the thermostat mod.

[rThor432]

Beau :) is yours not on either?

Nope, and I've been driving the swap around a bit longer than him! At first, I completed the swap in the winter so I figured when the summer came around and I ran into some issues I'd finally hook up a fan. But summer came and I didnt have any issues.. So now fall is rolling around and I still dont have an aux fan. Pathetic, yes.

Any say on this?

No, the coolant shouldnt be bubbling over with the needle in the proper temp range.

[markseven]

mine sits in the middle when idling and a tick to the left when moving. it reads past the middle when i start the engine after driving but it settles in the middle after a minute or 2.

+1, but the soak seems to be heavier with my car. After she's been parked for a while, the needle goes to the 3/4 mark upon restart, then quickly goes back the the middle after the Spal treatment.

Z31, you should swap in another cluster for a day.

[asubimmer]

I'm not gonna lie, I didn't do my fan for about a year or so either. Even in the summer I was fine if I wasn't stuck in traffic.

[z31maniac]

Z31, you should swap in another cluster for a day.

I'll have another one to put in very soon. ;-)

[MIKe30]

don't think anyone has mentioned the m20 brown top sensor possibly being bad... do those ever go bad? If it's not the cluster I would try that.

I hope it's the cluster though, cuz instead of buying the m20 brown top new at dealer for $33 i bought a used one for $5.

[z31maniac]

That sensor is new as well.