Engine running warm

[hksdrift240]

I recently put a mishimoto aluminum radiator and a oem thermostat from the dealership on my car, and then installed an autometer digital water temp gauge with a digital display. It seems like its running a bit warm according to the autometer. Going down the road, it varies from around 190 to 200 degrees, and sometimes it will even go up to 210-215 and slowly come back down to sometimes around 195. Last night, i was going down a dirt road to get to someones house, and it started to go up slowly until it got to 225, and right when i get there, within 5 or so seconds, it drops back down to around 205 before i turned the engine off. During the whole time, the stock gauge never goes up at all. To me, it seems like the digital gauge is to blame. Keep in mind, its got a brand new oem thermostat on it and no coolant disappears, the radiator is still completely full. The only other thing is, my car doesn't have a mechanical cooling fan, just the factory electric fan, and it does work. You can keep your hand on the upper radiator hose when the gauge shows 200 degrees, and the lower hose doesn't feel warm at all. Any ideas?

[bens240sx]

i would get another gauge if your stock one is with in its specs then you should be fine and not have to worry bout it but i thinkin the other gauge is messed up a lil

[hksdrift240]

well, a couple days ago, the digital gauge temp started going up while driving down the road, and reached about 255 degrees and the factory gauge went up to the hot mark as well, so i replaced the thermostat, and it did fine for a day or so, then it starts to run warmer each day, but normally cycles between 195-215. Then, today, i got home and let it idle for a couple mins and the temp started to go up to around 225 before dropping to around 220 and stayed there, even the factory gauge started going up too. The odd thing is that i never saw the factory gauge go up at all before putting the aluminum radiator on...even back in the fall when the temperature was around 70-80 degrees F...and now its 30-50 degrees and its doing this.

[greencar]

When you say electric fan, do you mean the stock one that kicks on when it gets to a certain temp, or a dedicated electric fan set-up?

I had the same issue you had before. I had dual electric fans, and no clutch fan, 2 row aluminum radiator and Nissan oem 170* thermostat.

To get my car running in the cool 170-190 range I had to drill 2 1/8th in. holes in the thermostat.

I went through three thermostats (popped seats) before I had an idea of what was going on. The only thing I could think of was the hot water on the engine side, and the cool water on the radiator side was killin my thermostats. The two extreme temperatures were poppin them

[hksdrift240]

hmm...thats an idea, and yes, the stock fan that comes on, or suppost to at a certain temp. I think its a flow problem. On the way home, put it in 4th gear and had the engine spin at 4k rpms, and the temp fell pretty quick from around 205 to about 190. I did this for a few miles, and it stayed at that temp. When i put it back in 5th, the temp slowly started to go back up to around 205 again. When i got home, i felt of the lower hose, and it was warm. After letting the engine idle for about 5 mins, the lower hose got considerably warme...to the point I couldn't hardly tell the difference between it and the upper hose. And the fan wasn't on.

[CTS13]

Dude, bleed the system, you got air. Problem solved.

[OutToWinPAHC]

Dude, bleed the system, you got air. Problem solved.

Yep I second this, or the T stat is opening and closing a lot. Try bleeding.

[OutToWinPAHC]

-Take a jack lift the front slightly.-take radiator cap off-Loosen bleeder screw- Take a 2 liter pepsi bottle cut it in half- Get some black electrical tape and wrap the bottle neck a littleflip it around and place the bottle neck were the radiator cap was at.- Have somebody start the car- Turn on the heater- Now start filling it with coolant- Close bleed screw after you get a nice even stream of coolant- Add antifreeze until you over fill the rad by a quart (filled in bottle- Let the engine run until the thermostat opens and sucks in the excess antifreezs, and lets air out- Fill it again but with about a half of quart.- Let it run until no more bubbles come out.replace cap and enjoy

From JDM will

[hksdrift240]

Well...i've already bled it. Jacked it up and removed the bleeder screw...all of that. I know how it acts when theres air in it...and the factory gauge doesn't move a bit during all this...it only goes up real slowly as the other gauge reads above about 225 degrees. And if theres air in the system, its not going to read a pretty consistent number, its going to jump around alot, which mine isn't doing, it just slowly rises, and comes back down in a temperature range which i think is a bit warmer than normal.

[CTS13]

Throw that other crap away and just go with the OEM one. NOW that problem is solved.