Help, Car Overheating, Need Help badly!!!

[onecrazyfoo4u]

I have a redtop, with 50k miles on it, all stock except for exaust and greddy rs bov.

So, my car used to overheat a little when going up hill, so I decided to change out the coolant (put in 70% water and half bottle of water wetter), replace thermostat (just stock nissan replacement), and replace the coolant temp sensor. Did all of that, and now it overheats extremely bad, only a couple minutes after startup. Up past the hot line on my gauge (the stock gauge). So I put back in the stock CTS, didn't change a thing, put back in stock thermostat, no changes again. What the hell else could it be?

There's no leaks at all, but it gets hot very fast, and I can't get the heater to blow hot air, just luke warm...it's always been like that though. Please, someone help, I need this car for work! I can't even drive it with out extremely overheating. Could this just be the water temp gauge? Thanks.

[doridori23]

How much water/coolant mixture did you put into the motor? Regardless of what the sensor on dash sais what does your hand say when you feel the rad hoses, head, oil pan, etc etc. If you can not hold your hand on the motor but the rad is cold your not pushing water which could mean the water pump is air locked or possibly a rag/towel, whatever is in the motor (from the thermostat change out maybe?). See what is hot and what is not and let us know.

[S13FASTBACKSR]

probably a clogged radiator or water pump..sometimes water pumps will go bad before they start to leak..maybeyou should take out you radiator and bring it to a radiator shop and have them test it

[onecrazyfoo4u]

I put almost 6 qts in, basically what the fsm says. Used a half bottle of water wetter, 70% water, and 30% coolant. When I squeezed the top and bottom hose, they were pretty hot, I could hold on, but it was still hot, just like the valve cover. So, if I the hoses/radiator are cold to the touch, that means the water pump isn't working? That shouldn't be the case, since they were pretty hot to the touch, so it must be pushing just fine. I'm still running the usdm radiator, but I should probably have an sr20 radiator huh? Do they flow better then the stock ka radiators?

Driving the car home tonight, there wasn't a single problem, didn't even get above half, never tried to overheat. This leads me to think it's just the gauge screwed up. If there was a problem, the car would overheat constantly wouldn't it? Anyways, thanks for the help, any more input would be great!

[S13FASTBACKSR]

KA radiator is bigger than the SR..Ya that is wierd..possibly it is the gauge..there are some radiator shops that are generous enough to test every single component of your coolant system to find out what the overheating issue is caused by for free and then give an estimate..maybe you should do that or replace your gauge cluster and see if it keeps happening because your right maybe it is just the gauge..you can also just install a water temp gauge and if the engine ever "overheats" again see if the water temp gauge reads normal or also too high

[bone_stock_240]

I am almost certain that your problem is caused by air in the cooling system. When I changed out my coolant, There was some leftover air in the lines and it caused my temp gauge to soar past the top of the gauge. It came down pretty quick after though. Does the SR have that little air release valve right where the temperature sensors are?

[S13FASTBACKSR]

oh ya that is an air bubble..that could also be it but it would probably cause the gauge to read extremely hot 100% of the time..ya sr's have that bleeder screw located on the top of the upper radiator hose "water neck"

[onecrazyfoo4u]

The bleeder valve is to right of the valve cover, not by the cts and gauge sensor. Yeah, and I opened up that bleeder valve and filled it up through the radiator until coolant flowed steadily out of there. I don't feel or hear any air bubbles at all.

I ordered a water temp gauge today though, so then we can see what's really going on. Now I just need to find some sort of an adapter to hook it up. What is the normal operating temp for sr20's to run at? Just wondering what the danger temp zone is?

And I drove it around today and last night, didn't ever go above half way....I'm thinking the stupid gauge just freaked out right after filling it up.

[doridori23]

It was probably just an air bubble and it sounds like it has already passed through the system.

Your coolant temp shouldn't go much past 220 and it should only go to 220 after pushing the engine hard.