Running Temp with Air conditioning

[wastntim]

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]

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]

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

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[viperdude118]

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.