Y2K5SRT
Enthusiast
...antifreeze?? Managed to catch a little sunburn in the SRT when we hit a tropical 75º here today. VERY awesome stuff. Car ran like a top and we put another 100 miles or so on it. Must have been the air, because we saw not one, but TWO other Vipers today. This, in a town where you might see two a year if you are lucky. Really a great day.
What was not so great and a little disconcerting were two things that happened on the car. Neither were a problem, but both were "new" experiences in the SRT for me. The first was a strange, high-pitched vibration in the steering wheel when we were doing a stop-and-go cruise at The Plaza. I then remembered that the electric cooling fan is driven off of the power steering pump and could only assume that it was kicking in and that was what I was feeling. It has been too cold for that until today. The second thing I noticed during these same times and maybe a little bit more, was the very distinct smell of coolant. At first I assumed it was the car in front of me, yet that odor stayed with us as we drove around slowly. Stopped and checked for anything dripping and saw nothing, but the smell of antifreeze was very prominent.
Now the entire time both of these events took place the temperature gauge was rock solid at 200º. It never went a hair above that and I watched it like a hawk. Realize that the normal operating temperature even when it was 35º outside was still around 200º. Bottom line: I wasn't crazy about the vibration in the steering wheel (brain says "WARNING!") and the smell of antifreeze really bugged me a lot ("WARNING WARNING WARNING"), but the temperature was perfect and I couldn't find a thing wrong. The car ran every bit as well as it has and there was no exhaust smoke, white or otherwise. Perhaps it was because the warmer temperatures got things circulating for the first time. I know that fan did not kick in even on the dyno. Strange stuff indeed!
Chris
What was not so great and a little disconcerting were two things that happened on the car. Neither were a problem, but both were "new" experiences in the SRT for me. The first was a strange, high-pitched vibration in the steering wheel when we were doing a stop-and-go cruise at The Plaza. I then remembered that the electric cooling fan is driven off of the power steering pump and could only assume that it was kicking in and that was what I was feeling. It has been too cold for that until today. The second thing I noticed during these same times and maybe a little bit more, was the very distinct smell of coolant. At first I assumed it was the car in front of me, yet that odor stayed with us as we drove around slowly. Stopped and checked for anything dripping and saw nothing, but the smell of antifreeze was very prominent.
Now the entire time both of these events took place the temperature gauge was rock solid at 200º. It never went a hair above that and I watched it like a hawk. Realize that the normal operating temperature even when it was 35º outside was still around 200º. Bottom line: I wasn't crazy about the vibration in the steering wheel (brain says "WARNING!") and the smell of antifreeze really bugged me a lot ("WARNING WARNING WARNING"), but the temperature was perfect and I couldn't find a thing wrong. The car ran every bit as well as it has and there was no exhaust smoke, white or otherwise. Perhaps it was because the warmer temperatures got things circulating for the first time. I know that fan did not kick in even on the dyno. Strange stuff indeed!
Chris
