Quote:
Originally Posted by BamZipPow
Went with a 50% grill block. Daytime drive to Dallas was uneventful...until I got into rush hour traffic. Ambient temps were around 108 degrees! Stop and go traffic pushed the coolant temp to 230 degrees! The stock coolant temp gauge needle was just past halfway. Didn't blow up or lose any coolant...whew!
Pulled the grill blocks after I got to Irving and didn't have any problems with temps from that point on. Drove home later that night without any grill blocks. Cruise set to 60mph and the indicated MPG was around 25mpg.
Now I'm thinking about going back to my original concept design with the shutters. Time to do some more work... 
_________________ |
In the 1970s I took an engine rebuilding course at Lancaster Community College and some of the students brought up the topic of coolant temps to our instructor (Factory-trained Volkswagen Master Mechanic) and he didn't think we needed to sweat it too much.
At the time,I believe it was Buick which was running over 20-lb cooling systems with 'normal' operating temps of 255-degree F.
He said that as long as the system was clean,the coolant wasn't over-age,system pressure was holding,and heat-exchangers clean,that there shouldn't be any alarm with temperatures well in excess of boiling point.
Engine oil can go over 350-degrees F without trouble.This would be in the normal operating range for a Beetle or Ghia.
Maybe 230-F isn't a problem.Manual might say.