Any overheating issues?

[SuperGeek]

Originally Posted by Dean Smith

Yesterdays high was 124 degrees. My in-dash temp gauge shows 115 as the outside air temp. My scan gauge shows the water temp at 211 degrees. On normal 100 to 108 degree days, my water temp runs about 196 degrees. I don't think 211 is hot considering it won't boil until 260 degrees.

I would think these conditions show just how well the smart is handling extremes. I can hardly wait to read about a Smart owner in North Dakota in January.

124 degrees in CA? Holy crap! If your water temp only got to 211, you're doing pretty well. If it goes above 230, start to worry, because that means you've reached the limits of the cooling system and you're about to overheat.

On a side note, how was the AC doing with 124 outside?

[SuperGeek]

Originally Posted by aslusers

Thanks Arch -

I've seen several mentions of the Scangauge and wondered what it did. I'm not sure I'm worried enough to start adding equipment. For now, I'll just let the warning light do it's job for me!

Just in case you're worried about the effort/impact of installing the Scangauge - it's a simple 10 second process and unless you mount it permanently, you can take it out and not notice it was there. I, or a dozen people here, can guide you through it.

If you're concerned with the $150-160 cost, well, that's another story... but if you just don't want to worry about it, ignore this post. *Jedi wave* You didn't see anything.

[eqwalker]

I also have a scangauge and here in central Arkansas the outside temp got up to 95 degrees the other day. The highest I have seen the water temp reach was 202 on the scangauge. That was in stop and go traffic. Once I got rolling pretty good it went down to around 193 and then bounced around between 188 and 195. I have noticed that to really get cold air out of the system, I have had to put the temp control to the lowest setting and keep it there so it would keep the air cold. Otherwise it would seem to let the car still get warm inside.

[bottlerocket]

Here's my "unscientific" results from this weekend: It's been at LEAST 110 here in the San Fernando Valley, I drove it on Friday and Saturday with the A/C on, no issues.

Today I drove to Fresno (3 1/2 hours from LA, through the grapevine, a 4100 foot climb, then flat valley in 95 degree heat). The little bugger did the climb as well as can be expected, then was smooth through the valley at 75-80mph with the A/C on. I hate the heat, so I ran the A/C almost full time. And it was very comfortable inside. I found the ideal settings for me: 65 degree setting, no recirc, fan speed at 2, and the car shoots cold air out and cools the car quicky and efficiently. I let it run there the entire time or turn down the fan speed to 1 if it gets cold.

Oh, another thing, I got 36.3mpg! At that speed AND with the A/C on! I think the Doug Thorley Exhaust had a hand in that...

[SloPok]

Originally Posted by eqwalker

I also have a scangauge and here in central Arkansas the outside temp got up to 95 degrees the other day. The highest I have seen the water temp reach was 202 on the scangauge. That was in stop and go traffic. Once I got rolling pretty good it went down to around 193 and then bounced around between 188 and 195. I have noticed that to really get cold air out of the system, I have had to put the temp control to the lowest setting and keep it there so it would keep the air cold. Otherwise it would seem to let the car still get warm inside.

Sounds like the engine's cooling is setup to run at 195F like most cars with 260F being the high limit.

[Newcourt]

I have driven my smart a couple of times when it was 30 degrees Celsius here in the Netherlands. And the engine never got hotter then 80 degrees Celsius. Note though my smart hasn't got A/C.

[RICHARD GILLEN]

My smart temperature went up to about 240 F for a short time but it's very hot here and most likely it was the road conditions at the time It has never gotten that hot since.

[wahi]

My scangauge shows 188-193 regular driving and stop and go at 204, and in one really bad traffic jam, 225 a couple of times but was hosed down to 195 quick as the rad fan did its job..

[mvaldes]

In 2000+ miles, my scan guage is usually in the 188 - 193 range. The highest I've seen it is 208 on a 99 degree day when I was idling at a light in stop and go traffic (with the A/C on.) When traffic started moving, it dropped quickly into the 190's.

[lunarx]

Glad to hear there are no overheating issues.
I figured this car had been developed real well in Europe already.

However, I think I will switch over to Evans Coolant.
Evans Cooling Systems, Inc. High Performance Engine Cooling and Power Production.
(see NPG Benifits)

It's amazing stuff that won't boil untill 369deg F.
Also, it's zero corrosion, since it's waterless.

I put it in all my high performance cars.
Since the Smart is challenged for airflow, I figure it's a good candidate for the improved coolant.
Sure it's expensive, but our smarts don't need much of it.