New FK8 - how susceptible to heat soak?

Mikias · Apr 10, 2019

Good afternoon all,

Purchased a '19 Type-R two Fridays ago and loving every minute of it.

After driving conservatively for the first 600mi (700mi now), I finally let her loose and experienced some of the greatest driving pleasure of any car I've ever sat in.

The pulls in this car were almost always constant throughout my occassional spirited runs but I've noticed over the last two days that my boost didn't make it over 19psi and there was significantly less punch when going WOT (2nd gear/3rd gear).

I've since tested it again and it seems like I'll hit 21psi and feel a relatively decent pull (put not as dramatic as my first couple days past 600mi) so I don't think any charge pipes blew off. Fuel economy is still solid.

The only thing I can think of is the weather. Virginia has seen a pretty significant spike in temps over the last couple of days and when I first started doing pulls, it was about 45°F out whereas I saw the relatively worse performance when our temps were 73°-83°F.

Does anyone else experience similar? Is she pretty much 1 or 2 good pulls in the summer-like heat unless I upgrade the intercooler?

Thanks for any and all help.

02SilverSiHB · Apr 10, 2019

when it gets hotter it does feel like it's losing some power.

VTECnR · Apr 10, 2019

The ecu wants to hit its set torque values. To achieve them you'll normally see it demand higher boost when it's hot out, and less boost when it's cold out. Before I got an intercooler and lava blankets though, I would easily experience heat soak and reduced power in the Florida warmth... often after just 1 pull.

seselectronics · Apr 10, 2019

Mikias said:
Good afternoon all,

Purchased a '19 Type-R two Fridays ago and loving every minute of it.

After driving conservatively for the first 600mi (700mi now), I finally let her loose and experienced some of the greatest driving pleasure of any car I've ever sat in.

The pulls in this car were almost always constant throughout my occassional spirited runs but I've noticed over the last two days that my boost didn't make it over 19psi and there was significantly less punch when going WOT (2nd gear/3rd gear).

I've since tested it again and it seems like I'll hit 21psi and feel a relatively decent pull (put not as dramatic as my first couple days past 600mi) so I don't think any charge pipes blew off. Fuel economy is still solid.

The only thing I can think of is the weather. Virginia has seen a pretty significant spike in temps over the last couple of days and when I first started doing pulls, it was about 45°F out whereas I saw the relatively worse performance when our temps were 73°-83°F.

Does anyone else experience similar? Is she pretty much 1 or 2 good pulls in the summer-like heat unless I upgrade the intercooler?

Thanks for any and all help.

Look in my post I got many post talking about mods for heat soak , insulation mods.

Frackz · Apr 10, 2019

easy to heat soak... if you track from the sounds of every thread even the guys running every mod there currently is to combat heat soak they still get it.. albeit it takes a little long to occur.

Mikias · Apr 10, 2019

alejandroads123 said:
Look in my post I got many post talking about mods for heat soak , insulation mods.

I am going to look into it now; I'm still getting used to searching on this forum.

Mikias · Apr 10, 2019

Frackz said:
easy to heat soak... if you track from the sounds of every thread even the guys running every mod there currently is to combat heat soak they still get it.. albeit it takes a little long to occur.

It's okay, I was able to hit 23psi this evening at about 65°F so I know the car is still good to go. A bit unfortunate to hear about the significant heat soak issues.

Fortunately most of my spirited driving is at night so I'll hopefully be able to avoid the brunt of it come summertime.

Thanks for sharing.

Mikias · Apr 10, 2019

VTECnR said:
The ecu wants to hit its set torque values. To achieve them you'll normally see it demand higher boost when it's hot out, and less boost when it's cold out. Before I got an intercooler and lava blankets though, I would easily experience heat soak and reduced power in the Florida warmth... often after just 1 pull.

How has your drive been impacted with the IC + blankets? I know Florida can get extremely hot and humid.

lorenkb · Apr 10, 2019

Mikias said:
Thanks for sharing. I just wanted to make sure I didn't hurt the car in any way or I wasn't imagining things. Northern VA did cool a bit this evening and I saw myself returning to 23psi on 3rd gear pulls (65°F) so at least I know she still has it in her!

I'm a bit surprised that it could heat soak so quickly. I assumed for a track designed car, cooling would be a higher priority.

This is not just a heat soak issue, but an overall outside air temperature issue. Intake temps are going to drive performance on our cars to a large degree. The Bosch ECU is specifically limiting the overall pressure ratio of the compressor based on IAT2 (intake temp prior to turbo) to prevent turbo overspeed. People obsess over getting super cold IAT temps (charge temp after the intercooler) but that's only half the story. You can certainly do everything you can to limit actual heat soak issues, but you can not overcome the practical limits of the outside air temp issue. Or rather, you can't defeat it without sacrificing the reliability and overall lifespan of the turbo. I've dealt with the direct results of overspeeding a turbo, and I'm very glad to see a stock ECU that goes to such lengths to keep the turbo out of surge and overspeed conditions.

VTECnR · Apr 10, 2019

Mikias said:
How has your drive been impacted with the IC + blankets? I know Florida can get extremely hot and humid.

The intercooler & blankets have eliminated all traces of heat soak symptoms for me.

02SilverSiHB · Apr 11, 2019

Mikias said:
Thanks for sharing. I just wanted to make sure I didn't hurt the car in any way or I wasn't imagining things. Northern VA did cool a bit this evening and I saw myself returning to 23psi on 3rd gear pulls (65°F) so at least I know she still has it in her!

I'm a bit surprised that it could heat soak so quickly. I assumed for a track designed car, cooling would be a higher priority.

Same here. Over in Pasadena MD near baltimore. Temps dropped and its noticeably quicker lol.

bobafettm · Apr 11, 2019

The Type R rips at -25 F

and by rips I mean the winter tires literally rip lol

But I can notice a large difference in peppy spring driving compared to Michigan hot summers. I’m interest to see with a tune how the Type R handles hot summers and whether we see instability... I assume not on a baseline map but I’ll definitely run some data logs in April, late June-July, then back in the fall to compare... would love to see what it looks like on our negative temp days.

23Red · Apr 12, 2019

Mikias said:
I'm a bit surprised that it could heat soak so quickly. I assumed for a track designed car, cooling would be a higher priority.

That's just the way it is with turbo cars. WRX/STi's were especially susceptible to heat soak with the OEM top mount IC design.

New FK8 - how susceptible to heat soak?

Mikias

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02SilverSiHB

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VTECnR

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seselectronics

Frackz

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Mikias

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Mikias

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Mikias

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lorenkb

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VTECnR

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02SilverSiHB

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23Red

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