How hot should a 944 run?

Long story short, my dad has a '84 944 we "fixed up" (restored what ever). Did all the maintenance on the engine, even put in a newer thicker radiator, the newer 5 blade fans and some thermostat switch or something.

It still runs hot compared to what I'm used too. I know engines normally dont like running continually hot, and I don't want the headgasket to blow on me, let alone on this road trip.

I drove it from ohio to florida yesterday and I was almost staring at the temp gauge all the way here. It ran at the third/right most line to near the solid yellow block. And sitting in traffic will let the needle rise to I think, I hardly drive it.

So whats the trick to getting this thing to manageable temeratures?

~Alex

I don't have any answer for you but I can tell you that my '86 never reaches the halfway point on the temp gauge.

They should reach the halfway point, though some of them do that only barely.

@rustspecs13, did you notice if the original radiator was clogged with deposits when you pulled it? If there were there might be some more deposits in the engine block... Did you flush the coolant and/or used some chemicals to reduce the deposits before refilling it?

Both my 87 Turbos always ran at the upper end of the gauge....about a full block from the red.

Have the temp checked with something other than the factory gauge. I thought my '89 always ran hot, until I found out the gauge was far from accurate.

Both of mine ran at the white line below the middle of the gauge, so maybe 1/3 up from the bottom.

Most of them tend to run around there, so higher than that means you have an issue.

As racerdave said.

Never assume

Make sure you bleed the air out of the system. I think there is a bleeder on the thermostat housing.

A buddies GF had a 944 that ran hot and we bled the system and she never had a cooling problem after that.

I thought that stupid plastic container with the pressure cap did that. I think my dad and I did bleed it, or at least a little bit. I'll go recheck that.

when I get home i'll use my temp gun and check some temps, and I do have a prosport temp guage but I don't want to permanently install it.

I drove it from Wisconsin 3-4 years ago and I don't remember it running this hot.

Mainly I just don't want the headgasket to blow.

And to think I was wanting to turbo it for a christmas present to my dad....

~Alex

See Clark's Garage there was a thread about bleeding the cooling system a couple weeks back and I believe there is a writeup in the shop manual there as well. these cars are a PITA to get bled properly. Yes there is a bleeder on the top of the motor where the rad hose connects to the motor (not the thermostat housing) that is down in front of the motor.

The plastic tank you are referring to is actually part of the cooling system and is under pressure so it really does not help with bleeding the system.

Also get a VDO gauge I think you need the 250 scale for the sensor this will tell you actual temp. I have one wired in the center console and don't use the factory gauge. I have seen weirdness with the stock gadgets,

Start Here >>> http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/cool-02.htm

Note the very last line on the clarks page.

After running the engine at temperature, vent the system again.