Rotax 582 Summer Temps - Florida

[KitfoxSS]

Hey everyone,

I'm curious as to what everyone is seeing for water temps on the 582 in hot climates?
Starting to do flight testing and finding my grey head 582 is getting about 182F on climb out and sits around 170F to 180F on a low cruise setting. (5200rpm roughly)
OAT is 90+ and the water mixture is roughly 20% Coolant and 80% distilled water.

The radiator is the original one that came with the 532 engine for the kitfox.
Is there a difference in radiators between the 532 and 582 on a Kitfox Model II?

What does the majority of 582 flyers see for temps and consider safe?
I've tried to do some searching but never found anything concrete about temps.

Thanks.

[avidflyer]

If you lower the radiator an inch or so, you may see lower temps. It has worked for me and others as well. JImChuk

[Olle1975]

Hi,

everything concrete is written in your operating-manual (150-175 F).

Download here: https://www.franz-aircraft.de/technical-documentation.html

I monitor, that I never get's more temp than 176 F. I have an waterradiator inside my cabin for heating,
I will switch it on during hot temps outside and depature. My feet are getting more than hot but my engine is smiling :-).

Additionally I mount a piece of sheet for control airflow.....

22607

During cold weather, I close the radiator with a shutter, controlled inside the cockpit.

22609

22608

Olaf

[KitfoxSS]

Thanks for the suggestions.
I live in Florida and we rarely get to 40F in the winter. Most times we're in the 50F range and up.
So no need for a shutter system to close off the Radiator.
After some testing I found the old coolant gauge was having temp swings around 10 degrees or so at times.
After verifying no air in the system I replaced the gauge and probe and the temps are showing much better now with no variations and swings.

[Flying Felix]

I replaced the original copper radiator to my KF2 with an aluminum radiator from EBay (Winner Racing). It has s little more cooling capacity than the old one.
My KF has a Hirth engine, it is what I used to replace my worn out Rotax 532. I just followed the recommendation of Hirth and I keep the engine within the operating temperature parameters. I make sure that when I put the engine in minimum to land, I am above the closing temperature of the thermostat. It is a habit that I kept from when I used to have the 532.
Right now I taped (radiator air dam) with fiberglass thin wrap and then duct tape over it to find the sweet spot for the 90F plus weather. I will look into installing the louvers before winter.

Was the old coolant gauge a digital gauge or analog?

Happy flying!

[KitfoxSS]

It was an analog.
Funny thing is, unbeknownst to me, the gauge and probe I ordered is the same model as what was originally in the plane!
Considering the old one lasted almost 30 years I'm confident this gauge will be just fine for years to come.