So I'm used to cars I can let idle for a long time. Yeah I know its not good for the environment and whatnot but there are times when it happens.

I let my car idle for 10 minutes at one stop and another 20 at another about 10 minutes later and I noticed my water temps hitting 230. Is this normal for turbo cars (or EVO's in particular). I'm used to a car fan turning on and helping to cool the motor. Even my motorcycle has a fan that turns on when temps hit 220.

Would a better radiator help, thermostat with a lower temp to kick the fan on quicker?

Its not like I leave my car on all the time for that amount of time but it is a little disconcerting without knowing if this is normal.....my gut tells me something may be a little off.

 

Is your radiator fan not turning on?

 

/\ +1

 

My gauge has never went over half way and I let mine warm up all the time. Check your fan.

 

+1 on the fan engaging or perhaps your thermostat is sticking closed? Just throwing that out there...

 

Going above 220 degrees is starting to get into a zone where it could be dangerous to your engine real fast.

Check everything and take care of the issue as soon as possible.

 

If the thermostat was sticking you'd notice it during driving as well.

 

normal operating temp should be any where from 180-210ish...i'd be concern if it starts goin above that often. check your coolant level and see if your loosing or if it starts filling up your reservoir. also like everyone else said, check to see if your fan is coming on you might be in the market for a new thermostat and coolant flush.

 

You might have a coolant fan switch that isn't working. Its job is to tell the fan or fan relay to come on when the right temp is reached. If you drove it on the freeway and it ran cool but overheats in the city where airflow is not a consistent approx 50+ mph, then you have a coolant fan or fan switch problem. A bad thermostat won't care if you are on the free way or not.

 

Had this problem before. After driving and having the car come up to running temps, I let the car idle for 10 min and the gauge just shoots up. It would also shoot up if I turned on the A/C or even the heater! Turned it off for 30 secs then turn it back on to find it back in the middle, which doesn't make sense for a car to cool down that fast. Fan also didn't come on either!

After replacing my clutch and radiator (previous radiator had huge holes where the previous turbo blew up), that problem went away and I never saw it ever again. I would let the car idle for 10-15 min for the fan to kick in. If it doesn't, you might have a short somewhere (short was part of my A/C-heater problem) or the fan might be shot. If fan does come on, remove the fan from the radiator and inspect the entire radiator for leak stop goop that might be blocking passages for the coolant.

 

Check fuses first than check and see if the fan comes on..

 

yep fan should be #1 thing you check, had this happen to me on another turbo car.

 

It runs normal in traffic, highway...hell sitting there for 5 to 10 minutes it seems to not go above 220.....it was When I saw it go above 220 after sitting for 20 minutes. When my friend and I were fixing a foglight issue I know he made the comment like the fan switch looked weird. I wonder if its damaged. I need to take a look.

Thats what I needed to know though (if this was normal or not). Now that I think of it I don;t think I heard the fan kick on? I'll check it after I come home.