what is the max temp that the water can get to before it will do something. the wrench light came on and it said service soon then it wouldnt go over 40mph and got slower until it died all together. any thoughts, max temp was at 197F will the ice shut off if overheating, what is too hot?? thanks for any help, lucky carmax gives a 30day warrenty we are about 3 weeks in. its at there shop now and we have a loaner. hope they can figure it out because it doesnt show any codes. hope some one here might be able to help. thanks

197° shouldn't be any where near hot enough to overheat your car. The thermostat is a 195° if I read correctly. But even if it is a 160°, plain water at sea level doesn't boil until 212°F. Add antifreeze and a pressurized system and the boiling point goes way up. In short, I don't think overheating was the problem. Sorry.

I think I read somewhere that these cars do have a limp mode that will cut out a cylinder or two in the event of an overheat - this will allow you to travel at greatly reduced power. The non-firing cylinders act as an airpump to help cool the works off.

Hope they get you back on the road soon. Good luck.

Jay

i didnt think that was high enough, what is the problem with the gas ethanol mix, could this cause a problem like this. I think it may be the stop safely problem where the car just looses power and dies but doesnt show any codes and then restarts later with no problems

I haven't heard anything about a limp home mode for the ICE on these.... some of the other cars (The thunderbird from a couple of years ago) could do that though.

The only limp home on these vehicles I know about is that they can go into a mode where they will run on electric and let you go a bit faster in EV mode, and run the batteries down more to get you further.

YOu are correct though.... 197 shouldn't be a problem. The water temp should be able to go higher than that without a major problem.

197'F is not cause for an overheat. However, maybe the sensor was in error?

There have been a few reported cases of ELECTRIC water pump failure. But there is a traditional belt driven water pump that circulates water through the engine only when the ICE is running.

If the electric coolent pump failed, the engine would stay cool ( 197 is cool, only 12 degrees above the thermostat ( 185'F ) and only 7 degrees above the printed 190'F "nominal") but the liquid cooled electronics, run by electric pump would over-heat.

There are many "limp home" modes in this car.

One mode is, it will fire alternate cylinders ( odds, then evens ) pumping just ambient air on every other cycle to help cool things down.... if the cylinder head temperature was too high,.... which I doubt it was.

I think perhaps, if anything, your electronics got too hot. The poor ( slow ) performance was probably due to lack of battery assist.

Limp home mode on battery if the problem lies with the ICE is computer limited to 22 MPH and under. It may just be a computer error also, and perhaps nothing mechanical is wrong.

in dont know that its a temp problem, only that my wife says that the wrench light came on and it said service soon she was getting on the freeway and shen she accelerated it wouldnt do it, only up to 40, and she said it was quite so i think ice was off, she had the pedal to the floor and still no go, then the car got slower from 40 till it was dead on the side of the road, after the tow home it was started by my fater in law and they said it started and ran fine, i wasnt there so dont know if it idle different or not, he wouldnt know but anyhow its in the shop and wont get seen till tuesday, i hope there is a code in there somewhere that the SGII isnt getting.

I wouldn't have heard about it either except I read the owner's manual....

I read mine too but apparently I missed that part.

Re: your inquiry about ethanol blend.
I don't know where you're from, but many states have an E10 requirement (10% ethanol in all gasoline). Minnesota is one of these states, so I've only driven on E10 and although my mileage isn't quite what others have been getting (but I also haven't gotten through the break-in period--only at 1400 miles) it has never caused a problem. If you put E85 in that would probably cause a lot of problems.

ok i will keep an eye out for what i put in, i believe it is the e10 here in california. thanks