Radiator Fan control discrepancies between Calibrations (FK8)

[jeffx]

So in the past month or so I noticed that my ECTs on my FK8 were starting to read higher than normal under "ordinary" circumstances and I wasn't sure what was going on. By "higher than normal" I mean I am seeing 200F+ somewhat regularly while just cruising around normally. Looking back at logs from last summer in my car seemed to be consistently holding below 185F or so in ordinary driving circumstances. Previously I'd have to push some high boost in very warm ambient conditions to see much above 200 and it wouldn't stay there for long. Obviously, on the track it's a different story but I am talking about "everyday" driving conditions here.

What I found was that I had been running a calibration that I had started and tweaked for many iterations over the years, and that one used the "stock" fan control settings of 181F/188F low radiator fan off/on, and 188F/199F high radiator fan off/on, and I was used to seeing my temps almost always falling below that 200F threshold. So the difference is that in the past few months I decided to do a "clean sheet" reset on my calibration so I started with another base calibration. At the time I didn't notice the difference in the fan control temps, but after seeing my coolant temps doing what they've been doing, I had a look at the calibration and now I see that the base fan control numbers are much higher now - 190F/200F low radiator fan off/on, and 200F/210F high radiator fan off/on.

My question is, which one is better or preferable? I feel like a more aggressive strategy (with the lower temp triggers) is better for when I'm going to be tracking the car, but maybe the warmer ECT temps result in some other benefits for street driving? Looking through the various base calibrations it seems like the newer revisions all run the higher temp strategies, so there must be a reason for it and I am curious to understand what it is.

thanks for any feedback

[Spunkster]

What calibration are you opening that you are seeing this?

[Hondata]

The flex fuel calibrations have different fan temperatures (due to switching between ECT2 and ECT for fan control). Some non flex fuel calibrations had the same fan temperatures as the flex fuel calibrations; we have changed those back to stock for the next release. I do not think this is the cause of your ECTs increasing over last summer however.

[jeffx]

The flex fuel calibrations have different fan temperatures (due to switching between ECT2 and ECT for fan control). Some non flex fuel calibrations had the same fan temperatures as the flex fuel calibrations; we have changed those back to stock for the next release. I do not think this is the cause of your ECTs increasing over last summer however.

ok, to clarify - my car has been running with a flex-fuel enabled calibration basically since Hondata added support for it in the FK8. And up until a couple months ago, the calibration that served as the base calibration for my own tune used the "stock" numbers of 181F/188F (82C/86C), 188F/199F (86C/92C) for the off/on low speed, high speed fan control. With this calibration I rarely ever saw over 200F on ECT in my logs for normal street driving.

Recently I decided to start from a newer calibration baseline ("FlexFuel, 93oct. min, E0-E80 compatible, exhaust or stock compatible rev. 2"), This one uses the higher values for the temps to trigger the fans 190F/200F (88C/93C), 200F/210F (93C/99C). With these settings, I noticed that my typical ECT readings were reading higher than last summer, frequently cycling above 200F which is the reason I decided to see if it was a cooling system issue first. Everything looked good there so I investigated the calibration and that's when I spotted the discrepancy in the temps. I actually reverted to the lower temps to make sure it was the reason for the discrepancy and of course the ECT logs looked pretty much like they did last summer.

So from your responses, I take it that with the FlexFuel enabled (which deletes the ECT2), I should be using the 2nd (higher) set of fan control temp numbers, is that correct?

[Hondata]

Yes, when using ECT2 the fan temps should be higher otherwise the fan will run the whole time.

Normal ECT would be 185F-190F in winter at highway speed up to 235F in summer with the AC on full and stopped at a light immediately after slowing down from highway speed. On the track they tend to overheat regardless of any fan setting. But running 210F or 220F is nothing to be concerned about.

[Matt-10611]

Having an issue with my fk8, I can't get the fans to come on at all, unless I turn on the ac. Temp will climb to 215°f sitting still, i won't let it go any higher than that. Fans do run with ac on.
Was fine prior to recent installation of 1530s and full race pump. Car does have ect2 based prl v3 ethanol sensor.
Im pretty sure ive checked all the right boxes to enable ethanol and switch fan control over to ect1. Im on the newest software version.
Even flashed back to stock and started over.
I used just a regular 93 octane map, since all the listed options for ethanol specify hondata can-flex.
I verified the ethanol sensor does work.
I have not changed the on/off threshold temperature values from the values it automatically gives me.
If anyone knows what im doing wrong let me know. Should I switch to can-flex?

[Spunkster]

Post the calibration and datalog showing the issue.