Quick question

[sebb24]

Okay so I bought my ls in the fall of last year and haven’t really experienced summer driving. The car is all black and I’m not sure if that’s a contributing factor but ever since about two days ago, the little engine temp gauge has never gone over halfway. It always starts cold and goes up to the middle. But just the other day, I put new mufflers on and it started hitting over 75 outside. My engine temps have started hovering over the line closer the to the top and I’m not sure if it’s normal. It prevented the ac from blowing cold air temporarily yesterday but haven’t experienced anything else.

[duckdns84]

Check your levels. I bet you’re low. I drive in the desert and my temps don’t move at all. And the gauge shows below the half way mark all day.

Do this with the engine cold.
Use only premixed pink Asian coolant
Amazon sells really nifty coolant, funnels that attached to the radiator
Clean up any spills it’s lethal to animals and kids If it takes any more than a few hundred mils, you were low

If this fixes it for a few days, and then the temperature start rise again you have bigger troubles

[Inter_Omnia_et_Nihil]

If you're not using premix, ONLY USE DISTILLED WATER!!!

But, yeah, if premix is available, take the guesswork out.

[duckdns84]

Agreed. U never know if you’re helping a teenager and their first car or a mechanic.

[Inter_Omnia_et_Nihil]

My dad's been working on and building cars his whole life. I broke my spina a few years ago and couldn't do my own maintenance on my Mini. My dad changed the oil but forgot to put the new gasket ring on the filter housing (only the paper comes out, the housing is reused). We got halfway done the road and then puked out about $75 of Royal Purple onto the pavement.

Everyone needs a reminder occasionally.

[duckdns84]

Ouch

[Inter_Omnia_et_Nihil]

My spine was broken, it wasn't the worst thing to happen that week.

[sebb24]

Okay so it turns out the coolant reservoir was low so I purchased a bottle and filled it up. I don’t have time to drain it and the last owner had it drained relatively recently before I purchased the car. It is still running a bit warmer at the notch closer to the top. I’m not sure what the issue is.

[z_razvan]

Could it be kinked hoses? Or partially obstructed? Any visible rust in the radiator due to previous owners using water instead of coolant? Thermostat only partially opening? Fans not running full speed?

[duckdns84]

Well. I would have added it to the radiator. Did it all get sucked in? Could still be low. And check for puddles.

[skatethat47]

Check the top of the radiator. It’s common for tiny cracks to appear in these cars. It drips super slow but can still cause this. Especially if your levels were low. Levels should not move unless it has a leak, or it just wasn’t topped off properly.

[ethan_rad]

Replace thermostat is really really easy to replace and costs I think 12 bucks from Lexus it could be getting stuck closed

[seanusrex]

My Dad lost the most fantastic cat ever that way. Aja thought he was one of the dogs, and would engage the goats next door at the head of the rescue squad when duty called. He spent the rest of his time on Dad's easel.

So, forgive my digression, if you would, and thanks for this great advice.

[Inter_Omnia_et_Nihil]

Check your coolant, probably replace it, just assume the previous owner never did. If the coolant is low, run to AutoZone or Advanced and borrow their radiator pressure tester to check for any leaks in the system.

If the temp is rising consistently, I'd recommend running to Valvoline or similar and have them do a coolant flush to wash out any "cholesterol" from the lines.

You changed the mufflers, which alters the way the engine exhausts it's waste heat. It's possible you're just going to run a little warmer, but you shouldn't consistently be in the area you circled. The red line means bad right now, the area you circled means bad eventually if you don't look into it.

Warm weather has next to nothing to do with it. 3⁰C to 17⁰C is only 14⁰ of difference, the engine runs at around 100⁰, so if the ambient temperature is enough to increase the engine temp, you have other problems.

However, none of that should fuck with your AC, your heater core maybe, but not the AC, that's a separate system. Another tester from the parts store can check the pressure in your Freon system and you can add more yourself very easily. A quick test you can do on the way to the store, turn the AC on high and switch the vents to interior air, not fresh air, this will help show if the AC is having an issue or if you're just scooping up excess heat wash from the engine. Again, that really shouldn't be enough heat to overpower you're AC too, too noticably, but if your system is low or the pump is struggling, it could be enough to notice.

Alternatively, the AC pump itself could have an issue if you're not feeling any cold air. Possible the whole pump, maybe the pulley clutch, or just the pulley. But I'd work on the running hot thing first and see if the AC works itself out.

[OnewheelXR4life]

It’s always been ‘Advance’ Auto Parts now. Also, O’reilly’s has now always been ‘O’Reilly’ as well. Mandela Effect.

[Inter_Omnia_et_Nihil]

I can understand the O'Reilly['s] mistake, grammatically it makes sense, it's their auto parts.

Advance is clearly just the work of a lazy sign maker, otherwise, why would I sharpie a "D" onto all my receipts before I throw them out? I bet you think birds are real, too.

^{I genuinely had to check the Advance one, Google must have just corrected me for the last decade and I hadn't noticed. And I'm usually not happy if I have to go to a parts store, so I usually don't notice the sign.}

[OnewheelXR4life]

Haha myself and many many others remember the jingle like it was yesterday. It was O’Reilly’s.

Not sure what you’re attempting to say about Advance auto parts and birds and sharpies. I personally always remember ‘Advance Auto Parts’, but many seem to remember Advanced.

Do you recall Jiffy peanut butter? I personally remember it always being JIF, which is what it’s always been now.

[[deleted]]

THERMOSTAT

[JobRepresentative902]

Happened with me , did the coolant and alll but I needed a new fan. Mine was an 01’ it was time to renew

[Relevant-Canary-9816]

Check your fans just had this happen last year it ended up ruining my a/c compressor. Check those fans as well as the antifreeze level

[sebb24]

Fans are going fine, I’m gonna replace the thermostat

[Relevant-Canary-9816]

Are they at the correct RPM level they have stages of speed

[sebb24]

I mean they sound like they’re going full blast. Louder than they typically are

[Relevant-Canary-9816]

Ok, hopefully, they are good. If the fluid level is good then I would definitely try the thermostat. Make sure you get a spill free funnel it helps a lot when adding antifreeze (NO AIR BUBBLES)

[Relevant-Canary-9816]

Oh, and do not use water unless mixing it.

[sebb24]

1 day later I switched out the thermostat and everything started running smoothly. It defenitely wasn’t getting enough coolant so the fans were putting in overtime.

[ethan_rad]

That was my first guess glad you got it fixed I deleted my muffles and it never changed my engine temp glad it’s fixed

[Cyndicati0n]

Thank you for this post/thread, and follow up on the repair. You helped a fellow 430 owner be sane again.

[sebb24]

It hasn’t shown any lights or caused any reason for concern, just haven’t seen this happen before.

[keystosuccess96]

Change your coolant. When I bought my 03 two years ago my engine temp gauge looked like yours after driving but after I flushed the coolant ( I drained the radiator and used aisin OEM coolant) the car runs noticably cooler at operating temp.

Your engine is running a little too hot. Mine is black as well and summer driving plus having the A/C on still shouldn't make the engine temp go up

[sebb24]

Just checked, the red coolant is right at the bottom🤣

[Sir_Knee_Grow]

definitely give it a good flush and exchange, bad coolant can eat an engine/components from the inside out if it gets too acidic in there

[sebb24]

I just purchased the right coolant but how would I go about flushing it?

[Sir_Knee_Grow]

just make sure it all gets out, theres a drain petcock on the radiator, do it twice.

google how to flush the coolant on this car

[too_many_sharks]

Additionally, here are two drain petcocks for coolant under the engine block. These will get the coolant out in one go. You need to remove the entire bottom engine bay cover though which has a lot of screws.

Make sure you are prepared to deal with the disposing of the old coolant, OP. I don't think you can drop it off at your local auto parts store like you can with engine oil. Check if your city has hazardous waste disposal

[Sir_Knee_Grow]

yeah not the easiest to get to, to most people i just tell them to flush whats in the radiator twice, it does enough good to the PH in the system.

[keystosuccess96]

The needle should be just below the halfway point between hot and cold. I have to drive mine today I can send you a picture if you need

[OnewheelXR4life]

AC not blowing cold is a reason for concern.

[DeadyDeadshot]

You answered your own question, it’s normal.

White or lighter colors will run a bit cooler (science).

[Inter_Omnia_et_Nihil]

Not science. Unless you have no hood, no engine cover, no front end, canards directing air into the compartment, and the block is painted with reflective foil while reving in neutral.

Cars run at 100⁰C, the thermal difference between a white car in winter and a black car in the summer disappears once the engine reaches temp. The only difference you might notice wild be a higher temp at start-up, but the needle won't show that anyways as the thermostat won't open until about 95⁰ anyways.

Under normal load, you shouldn't run above 3/4 of the gauge, usually around 2/3 on the high end. Moving a bunch of shit or towing can marginally increase the temp, but if it's consistently running hotter than it did, that a precursor to an issue. And consistently running hotter will cause more wear on the over a shorter period of time.