04 RX-8 Manual
K&N Drop In Filter
Cheapo 1 row radiator
Silla AC Condenser
Stock Coils, Plugs, Wires
167k Miles

My car starts fine and idles smooth, But with the ac on, after 15 mins of driving, the temp goes past half. I shut the air off, and it goes down to normal again. I keep the air off and get on the interstate, during the day I cannot go over 55MPH or it goes past half, at night, I cannot go past 70MPH or it goes past half, either during the day or night If I go any faster, the temp crawls closer and closer to the redline. But yet, I can idle for 2 hours without the air on and the temp stays the same. Both cooling fans are working, I replaced the thermostat, and no coolant is leaking. I do not have an engine undertray. But for more than half the time of owning this car for 4 years, it has not presented a problem, I dont think its the culprit. none of the condenser fins or radiator fins are clogged or bent, i use the racingbeat screen to prevent that. The car even stays cool with the air off, in stop and go traffic for over an hour at a time. My ac pressure is within the green marks for being ok and there are no leaks anywhere. My coolant is also staying at the same level. I do notice when the car goes past half on the temp gauge, the compresser clicks on and off every 5 seconds or so, Im assuming thats my car telling it to kick off early because the engine is hot and does not want the added stress. But who knows, the compressor is not even a year old and its oem.

Any ideas?

 

Get aftermarket gauge/sensor if you could, anything around 220 and below is consider normal.
OEM temp gauge is just for decor, who knows what's it for. lol
If you are going fast, but not at high rpm (5k+), u shouldn't have over heat issue.
Cuz' the wind is blowing at high speed...
It's normal to have higher temp when you have AC on...

 

But its not normal to have your stock gauge move halfway to the redline mark when going faster. From what I hear if that gauge moves at all, its already running past normal operating temps. A stock gauge is just going to tell me the same thing my laptop connected to my obd port will. My temp is going to 238 and climbs, then goes back down when i slow down. if my water pump was to blame, wouldent my temp start spiking the moment it gets to operating temp because of no water flow? Could the insides of the radiator have collapsed?

 

what's the update?

 

ywa what the update on this?