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I live in the south, Georgia, high temp, high humidity. I have a installed a water temperature guage. it was 80 degrees and high humidity recently with temps on going to go up. Running down the road it would keep steady around 195 degrees; in stop and go traffic it would run in the 210 degree range. Does this range sound acceptable?
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210 is acceptable but not comfortable.
Do you know what degree your thermostat is?
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No, I don't know what the thermostat is set. I'll determine what it is. WHat is the normal range for a hot climate? ANd what temp is too high?
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Well to be pefectly honest, There is not an actual set temp that any car should run at. The thermostat has a temp rating(usually stamped into the copper piece on the backside of the thermostat) usually 160' 180' or 190' some newer cars I've seen 195'. This is the temp that the thermostat starts to open, allowing coolant to flow from the engine to the radiator to be cooled. So even though the thermostat is say 180' the actual temp seen on the guage could be 190'ish. And different cars run at different temps due to radiator size, style vertical or cross flow, fan size number of blades, fixed or flex blades, fan clutch, air flow thru radiator, etc. So as you can see there are a lot of factors that have an effect on temp. All that being said. You would like to see the engine stay between 180' to 200' degrees. with a good tight system and all good components. you can see temps as high as 230' with out boiling over but thats the outside limits. 240' almost guarantees boil over. Especially when you shut the car off, with it that hot it pukes into the recovery tank. And when it cools the coolant is pulled back into the radiator by the vacumn created by the shrinking volume of the coolant. So that the system remains full at all times. Newer cars maintain much higher temps and require overflow systems. Our old Mustangs don't have recovery style systems so its a good Idea to stay below 200' if possible. What I'm trying to explain is that there is not an exact science To cooling systems. Hope this helps JTS 71 Mach1
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With Jack's expertly defined synopsis of the cooling system and more specifically for our older systems I think a temperature of under 200 degrees would be something that you would want to shoot for.
I have run higher temperatures with a closed system but for my 73 Mach 1 my goal is the above mentioned under 200.
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Much appreciated. As I mentioned, I run around 190 until I get in extreme stop and go traffic in high heat and humidity. I ahve not gone above 210. Happy motoring.
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Take care and keep an eye on the guage! JTS 71 Mach1