I was just wondering how long the RX8 can be driven before overheating. For example, can it be driven for 6hrs straight?

 

Subbed for the hilarious nature of this question.

 

sure it can, I've driven it for 4 hours straight with no problems
assuming the cooling components are functioning properly, it's like any other car.


That's a very random question, why do you ask?

 

A S2 can be driven for 6+ hours at highly illegal speeds through the Arizona and Nevada deserts in the middle of June without overheating. I do not know how I know this

 

it all depends on your fluids and maintenance of the engine. No oil won't get you that far...

 

I drove from Colorado to Nebraska 8 hours straight
its a car, not a cooker.

 

36 hours straight from DC to Phoenix. Driver overheated. Car did not.

 

I have driven 8 hrs on track at maximum speed/rpms over two days in 1/2hr shifts on/off. She didn't break a sweat, but i did (exhausted).

 

Best Motoring Endurance Test shows a stock S1 8 when driven all out on Tsukuba circuit lasts roughly 20 minutes before it starts to overheat (the water and oil temperature that they decide to trigger warning with a Defi Gauge @ 220F).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBGaqLQBnUM

 

"On the RX-8, the water temp was already 216F (102C) right after the start. Although that got me worried, it only increased solwly from there. In the end it stabilized around 225F (107C). It really didn't increase from there. I mean, the temp did increase quite a bit, but they stabilized in the end. I guess the temp saturated a a certain point?"

What I noted was how high all the other cars oil temperature was ... up to 140C in fact. The disparity of the other cars between oil and water shows that the water cooling system was inadequate to remove engine heat in most of them and left the job to the oil which then overheated. Compare that to the RX-8 where the oil and water temps went lock step for the most part, showing equal loading and good design relative to the others, and staying well within safe ranges as far as I can see.

 

Car won't overheat if well kept.

 

6 hours straight? no problem
6 hours, 2 minutes, and 26 seconds? No Problem
6 hours, 3 minutes, and 13 seconds? Oops. Steam and busted hoses.

Yes, just like any car, if it's maintained properly it won't overheat under normal driving ever, regardless of the length of the trip.

Besides, you'll have to stop and turn it off to get gas well before you make it 6 hours straight

 

Good point.

Also a good point.

The "stabilizing" at a somewhat elevated temperature is mostly what I experience on track these days with adequate airflow. It will go slightly north of a temp that I would consider "safe" and then just sort of sit there for the entire session.

 

now if you're driving around in 2nd/3rd gear at freeway speeds, expect much less then 6 hours.

 

I drove 18 hrs straight Ft Lauderdale to Chicago with no problems.

 

Actually I bet you would be ok due to the added gas stop as a result.

 

You can't drive 6 hours straight, you'll run out of gas. Therefore it won't overheat.

Granted this assumes you are doing 60mph and don't get better than 25mpg.

 

Thanks for posting that Best Motoring video! The japanese are always sorta nerdy about it, but they do have nicely set up and controlled comparison tests which is nice to say.

I gotta say, I almost take cooling issues for granted on this car. I can do a 20-30 minute track session at full throttle, up entirely at 6.5k - 8.5k rpms, and repeated hard braking, and yet the engine never overheats, the brakes never fade, and power stays strong. With entirely stock cooling system and brakes. Again I take it for granted, but honestly if a car can't go at full bore for 20 minutes, should you really consider it a decent sports car?

For the record, engine cooling is a significantly bigger problem in areas with low humidity, as it decreases heat exhange at the radiators. In the northeast, it's not a problem at all, even in relatively warm weather.

 

What's the highest temp you regard as safe while tracking if you dont mind sharing?

 

For coolant I would not go over 220F measured at the top radiator hose or at the ob2 sensor.
If you are using the racing beat location at the heater hose i would not go over 210F.
For oil---unless something is very wrong the oil will not get too hot if the coolant temperature stays safe. But for a matter of reference oil temps measured post coolers ( at the oil filter) I would not like to go over 220F. At the oil pan 240F.

Now going over these temps is not going to cause immediate catastopic failure. But if they are repeated multiple times or happen for a substained period of time then the life expectacy of your engine is affected.

I recently had a friend that was running a new engine and was running strong. After data collection I revealed to him that his coolate was at 230F on the second lap and he wasnt letting up. The coolant never got past 235F (measured at the ob2 site), but iduring the event it never got any cooler either. It would cool down in 1/2 lap to 200F after the TT was over.
Well---his engine lasted less than 10K miles ( it was a DD also) before coolant started showing up on his sparkplugs and a little white smoke started coming out of his tailpipes in the mornings. He could not understand why. I gave up.
OD

 

Op this question is redonkulous! I've driven 6+ hrs @ 90+ farenheit temps. with no issues.

 

I've owned my 8 for a month during mostly spring/winterish weather. Summer finally broke a few days ago here in Colorado. We hit high 80's and 91 degrees a couple of days. My temp guage was holding way shy of the midpoint until the high 80's days came. Then while in slow traffic the needle jumped up to 2/3 way hot until I got on the hiway and then it came back to left of midpoint. It's done that 4 times now when in traffic. I'm wondering if it's a thermostat problem. The oil and coolant is visually fine and up to full level. The fans run after shutdown as normal. It does just fine with needle left of midpoint on the hiway even when temp is above 90 degrees. Never pulled a thermostat on one of these. I guess I may learn pretty quickly, huh?

 

Time for some maintenance. New coolant, new thermostat, verify fans are working properly, etc. Cheap insurance. The stock coolant gauge doesn't even move past normal until it reaches 230F+.

 

Good info 9Krpmrx8. Didn't know about the 230 degree mark. sounds reasonable. Your right...time for some maintenance

 

I just had an engine swap. Bad things happened. Got new radiator and today it overheated due to top hose coming off the engine cause clamp wasn't on right...

It started going up in the temp gauge so I turned my ac off and it dropped back down... Then a minute later white puff of steam when hose came off and temp gauge climbed fast I pulled over but it was like 7 seconds or 5 seemed like forever till I pulled over and turned it off...

Can this or did this damage my engine it's a month old????
I let it cool wife picked me up ate dinner then fixed hose drove home fine... Topped it off with water of course and cleane the engine and entire car...
So what's your opinions??