Running Temp with Air conditioning

wastntim · Jun 1, 2007

I was running my car today with the air on and the temp spiked all the way up to 230. When I turned the air off it made it back down to 190ish. Is this normal? Will a new exhaust, headers and high flow cats help with this problem? The footwells are ovens. I think my shoes started to melt today. Plus, I think a the plastic above the sidesill started to melt. It looks like it bubbled up.

Randy · Jun 2, 2007

Well, it all depends on what you were doing and the conditions. The only time my Gen II showed such symptoms was running at a brisk pace in 105-degree weather up Hwy 341 from Reno to Virginia City, NV which goes up from ~3,500 to ~6,000 foot elevation in something like 10 to 20 miles. It definitely started to overheat, and I had to cut the A/C off to get it to cool back down to safe levels (as did all the other ~30 Vipers in the group). However, idling in traffic (up to 95 degrees with A/C on), running on the racetrack (no A/C), etc, has never shown any tendency to overheat. Conversely, I never once had my Gen I show any signs of overheating, despite A/C usage and idling, etc.

As soon as I observed the overheat condition near Virginia City, I immediately looked into going to an upgraded radiator, etc, but, as it hasn't happened since, even with track time, I just attributed it to bad combination of conditions.

PatentLaw · Jun 2, 2007

That sounds excessive to me. The temperature will rise, but not that much.

Tom F&L GoR · Jun 2, 2007

This sounds backwards to me! When my coolant temp is high, I put the AC on and it forces the two speed fan to come on at high speed. That always cools down the engine temperature.

I have a stock Gen 2 radiator with stock (new style?) Gen 2 fan (centered with flaps on each side.)

grcforce327 · Jun 2, 2007

Same as Tom.I'll be setting my fan to come on earlier with the new computer

.Check to make sure your fan is on while the AC is on.

TAXIMAN1 · Jun 2, 2007

Tom said:
This sounds backwards to me! When my coolant temp is high, I put the AC on and it forces the two speed fan to come on at high speed. That always cools down the engine temperature.

I have a stock Gen 2 radiator with stock (new style?) Gen 2 fan (centered with flaps on each side.)

agreed. My 2001 seems to run the same (if not cooler) with the A/C on... But I will say, it does run pretty hot in the summer... 230 is not unheard of in mine either...

wastntim · Jun 2, 2007

Thanks for the input. I will have to have this looked at.

viperdude118 · Jun 2, 2007

I'd start with a good burping of the cooling system. I did this and had quite a bit of trapped air when I purchased my 01 RT/10. It runs much cooler now. Temp gauge never goes above the line to the right of center. If the car is moving I turn the air on as mentioned above to get the secondary fan moving, this will help keep things cool, if everything else is in order.

Running Temp with Air conditioning

wastntim

Enthusiast

Randy

Viper Owner

PatentLaw

Enthusiast

Tom F&L GoR

Enthusiast

grcforce327

Guest

TAXIMAN1

Enthusiast

wastntim

Enthusiast

viperdude118

Viper Owner

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