Engine temperature?

[Aviation Engines]

Before I confirm that you should block off part of your radiator, lets try and determine if the gauge and sender are in fact giving you the correct information.

It is very important that a gauge is calibrated to the sender unit being used. Therefore it is important to always purchase the gauge and sender as a set.

There is also a misconception amoung a few that the sender unit is part of the engine and may be a standard Rotax part - THIS IS INCORRECT.

Test Procedure
S/Steel bowl/pot with boiling water
Get a thermometer which can be stuck into the water, such as those used in the catering industry, check your wife's kitchen utensils drawer or ask your local restuarant.

Insert both the water temp sensor from your engine and the thermometer into the boiling water and compare.

Anything under 60 degC in my opinion is not good for the engine. Between 60 and 70 degc is acceptable, however when we reach the colder months this will come down to below 60 degC, therfore it deserves some attention.

Once you've verified that your gauge is provding the correct information you may now take steps to increase the temp. or decrease it as may be required.

You could increase the amount of antifreeze to 80 %, this will get the temp. up by a couple of degC, or go down to no less than 30% antifreeze to reduce the temp. However be careful that this will reduce the effective boiling point of the coolant mix and cause boiling over.

Hope this helps!

regards
Niren

[Sad-Ham]

I have the 582 with a sliver top. Thanks for the advice. Will do the test with the thermometer and see how accurate the guage is before I start fiddling with the radiator.