Overheating on the highway. 76, 2.0 Options

[SVG223]

My 914 overheats on the highway. I had concerns about the air flap, but I think the thermostat has broken and it stays in the open position. I thought something might be clogging the fan but it looks clear. I wonder about the heater air hose that goes over the motor. It could be blocking some air possibly. I may try to tie it out of the way. After exiting the highway and stopping at a stopsign the idle was extremely low, I was surprised it was still running. I turned the engine off for a while and it ran better after it cooled down. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[JamesM]

This could be SO many things its hard to find a place to start, especially on a 76. Need a lot more information here.

It could be cooling air flow related, but it could also be related to the tune of the engine or overall engine condition.

I think its worth noting though that the gauge you are looking at is showing your oil temps which are not always the best indicator of if your engine is killing itself or not (im always more concerned with head temps) especially given the vagueness of that particular gauge setup. It may not even be an actual problem unless this is a noticeable change from where it was previously running.

FYI your engine is the only one I have ever seen in 25+ years of 914s that has an intact grommet on the thermostat cable, so I have to ask, has this engine ever been out of the car? If not (and given the fact that im looking at a small leaf in your fan, I would venture to guess that you could have a lot of crud in your engine fins/oil cooler.

[SVG223]

This could be SO many things its hard to find a place to start, especially on a 76. Need a lot more information here.

It could be cooling air flow related, but it could also be related to the tune of the engine or overall engine condition.

I think its worth noting though that the gauge you are looking at is showing your oil temps which are not always the best indicator of if your engine is killing itself or not (im always more concerned with head temps) especially given the vagueness of that particular gauge setup. It may not even be an actual problem unless this is a noticeable change from where it was previously running.

FYI your engine is the only one I have ever seen in 25+ years of 914s that has an intact grommet on the thermostat cable, so I have to ask, has this engine ever been out of the car? If not (and given the fact that im looking at a small leaf in your fan, I would venture to guess that you could have a lot of crud in your engine fins/oil cooler.

The engine seems stock to me, not sure if it has been rebuilt. Odometer has 58k I'm guessing 158k. I took off the smog pump.
The change I noticed when it got hot was a drop in idle speed and it didn't seem to run as well.
Crud in the engine fins/oil cooler sounds possible.

[JamesM]

This could be SO many things its hard to find a place to start, especially on a 76. Need a lot more information here.

It could be cooling air flow related, but it could also be related to the tune of the engine or overall engine condition.

I think its worth noting though that the gauge you are looking at is showing your oil temps which are not always the best indicator of if your engine is killing itself or not (im always more concerned with head temps) especially given the vagueness of that particular gauge setup. It may not even be an actual problem unless this is a noticeable change from where it was previously running.

FYI your engine is the only one I have ever seen in 25+ years of 914s that has an intact grommet on the thermostat cable, so I have to ask, has this engine ever been out of the car? If not (and given the fact that im looking at a small leaf in your fan, I would venture to guess that you could have a lot of crud in your engine fins/oil cooler.

The engine seems stock to me, not sure if it has been rebuilt. Odometer has 58k I'm guessing 158k. I took off the smog pump.
The change I noticed when it got hot was a drop in idle speed and it didn't seem to run as well.
Crud in the engine fins/oil cooler sounds possible.

I noticed the belt was missing for the smog pump, if you are not running it you should probably consider removing the pully assembly for it as well as the bearing in them tends to seize up. Also FYI haven't seen one of those that wasn't totally trashed as
well.

Right now I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it actually was a 58k mile car. I would love to see pictures of the rest of it.

While we are on the subject of missing bits, minor issue but the tab that holds down the cooling flap rod is also missing.

[SVG223]

This could be SO many things its hard to find a place to start, especially on a 76. Need a lot more information here.

It could be cooling air flow related, but it could also be related to the tune of the engine or overall engine condition.

I think its worth noting though that the gauge you are looking at is showing your oil temps which are not always the best indicator of if your engine is killing itself or not (im always more concerned with head temps) especially given the vagueness of that particular gauge setup. It may not even be an actual problem unless this is a noticeable change from where it was previously running.

FYI your engine is the only one I have ever seen in 25+ years of 914s that has an intact grommet on the thermostat cable, so I have to ask, has this engine ever been out of the car? If not (and given the fact that im looking at a small leaf in your fan, I would venture to guess that you could have a lot of crud in your engine fins/oil cooler.

The engine seems stock to me, not sure if it has been rebuilt. Odometer has 58k I'm guessing 158k. I took off the smog pump.
The change I noticed when it got hot was a drop in idle speed and it didn't seem to run as well.
Crud in the engine fins/oil cooler sounds possible.

I noticed the belt was missing for the smog pump, if you are not running it you should probably consider removing the pully assembly for it as well as the bearing in them tends to seize up. Also FYI haven't seen one of those that wasn't totally trashed as
well.
Yes sounds like a good idea. I didn't realize that until I took the picture.
Right now I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it actually was a 58k mile car. I would love to see pictures of the rest of it.
There's a little wear on second gear synchro and a few other things that make me think it couldn't be that low of mileage.
Here is a link to the dealership that I bought the car from they have a bunch of pictures of it. https://www.driversource.com/vehicles/1385/1976-porsche-914
While we are on the subject of missing bits, minor issue but the tab that holds down the cooling flap rod is also missing.
Thanks I didn't know anything was missing I will have to look that part up.