HELP car overheats

[biggee247]

lol, ya i should, if only i had the money, that's my dream man, for real. Last year i almost was able to get one, buy my father's ccard wasnt accepted. I already won it on ebay and everything. That's all i want is an sr. that's quick. But it costs $$$

[240SXer]

I wish I would have saved the 1600 I spend on rebuilding my transmission and getting a new clutch for an SR. It's just something to think about before you spend a lot of money on a KA. But if you don't have a choice you don't have a choice.

I thought I had a BHG, but I don't. It was just me being paranoid. So don't jump too quickly to conclusions.

How many miles do you have? I don't see why it would be the radiator. Make sure you have plenty of cooling for when you're going below 35mph. Get an electric fan if you have to.

With my ASP pully(which underdrives the water pump), and just a single 10in electric fan it heats up a tiny bit when it's like 90-100 out and i'm sitting in traffic. So there must be SOMETHING wrong with something. I'd flush the hell out of your cooling system and see if that helps. Use some of that flush stuff. Inspect the fluid that gets flushed out for chunks of crap or rust or anything. And make sure you're running it with plenty of coolant.

[C-Kwik]

I would try to make sure it's not the headgasket that is causing the problem. If it's cooling when driving, then it sounds like a heat exchange issue. Perhaps the radiator or the fan. Make sure there are no trapped pockets of air. Also, start up the motor cold with the radiator cap off. Check to see when the upper radiator hose begins to heat up. I'd have a friend help with this. Hold the radiator hose. When the thermostat opens the first time, it will send a rush of heat through the hose. Have a friend watch the temp gauge or run quickly to it to note when the coolant starts to go through. It should open somewhere in the midpoint of the gauge or lower. Anywhere higher and your thermostat or water pump may be bad. When the thermostat opens, you should be able to see coolant running through the open radiator cap.

[biggee247]

well, i think it might be my radiator cap, cuz when i lift my hood, it has um...steam coming up from it, and the side tank is boiling and also...there is water around the radiator cap. you think so, its a new one, but it went through alot of hottttt *** pressure. So what are yalls takes ont hat.

[Tweaky_Tom]

Hey bro, Head gasket and labor is about $800 bucks. You don't wanna go through that ....TRUST ME! You can blead excess air bubbles out of the coolant system buy starting the car and loosening a "valve screw" located on a coolant hose conector near the top front part of the engine. There should be a sticker close to the screw letting you know what that little booger is for. That should help a little. If you head gasket IS blown or has a bad seal you will have excessive over heating and hard starts. This can lead to head warping and VERY VERY COSTLY repairs. Machining a head is a BIZATCH! That's all i got to say about that <<<Tom>>>

[drifter sx]

aright you guys just described EXACTLY whats goin on with my car!! and i ran thru EVERYTHING mentioned above [i even made a list of 'possible' problems to check for] and the only thing left as a BHG well i guess thats gotta be whats wrong with my car, but i had no idea its THAT expensive!!! would it be better to do the work myself??

[Chezedik]

It is common for the 240sx to get air trapped in the block if the coolant runs low for any reason. As air will be: 1) compressable and 2) able to lower the pressure to a small extent in your cooling system, you may notice that on the highway it will be fine, but will overheat from light to light. I have had a similar problem when I (improperly) flushed my system, causing coolant to overheat and spray on my windshield. This was caused by the system trying to vent pressure, try bleeding the system before you go to another mech., and let this be a warning to anyone else. The bleeder bolt is labeled next to the intake manifold, where the upper rad. hose runs to. It is a 10mm bolt, pull it out and begin to add coolant at the radiator spout. When coolant comes out, be sure to shake the front of the car to get out any air, if you can help it. When this is accomplished, many overheating problems will be solved. There is actually a FAQ on it at http://www.240sx.org , check it out.-Nick

[biggee247]

thanks man, chezedik, i will do that asap. Also, i have a bunch of ****ing rust in my coolant though, like dirt in my sidetank and radiator. So i am buying a new radiator. And than going to do that, after i do it. So thanks alot.

[Big Manne]

did anyone ever figure this problem out my car is doing the same thing someone let me know somethingi need to fix this

[chrissa]

Have any of you guys with this overheating problem ever checked to see if dirt and crap is blocking the airflow through your radiator? This is especially important with people who have air conditioning.

240SX's with A/C have two full size radiator cores, one in front of the other. The A/C core is in front. My car has slowly been getting hotter over the years. I always thought it was the engine wearing out.

Just this last weekend I did the timing chain and pulled out both radiators to have some room to work (and to get rid of that A/C core completely - I need an extra heater, not A/C where I live). To my horror, I found that 60% of my cooling system radiator was completely blocked with dirt, fluff, crap, and a bunch of other stuff. The A/C radiator was fine. Stuff had gotten up in between the two rads and plugged the back rad. You can't see any of it when the rads are mounted in the car. From the back, the cooling rad looked fine, and from the front, the A/C rad looked fine. Most of the blockage happened on the top half of the rad, right where it's buried up in the car where you can't look though it to see.

I simply leaned the rad up against the side of the house and very gently sprayed water from the back through to the front. Be sure to aim the water directly at the rad fins, and not at an angle, otherwise you run the risk of bending the fins with the water pressure. If you bend then, then you get the pleasure of straightening the fins which can take forever. I washed out about one good sized fist full of dirt.

No problem now. The car hasn't run this cool in a long time. One more thing to check for before you replace something like a head gasket.

[Big Manne]

ok anyone know why my car would overheat driving but not sitting at idle. it will only stay hot for about a min. or so then it will go back down. wouldn't that be the thermostat sticking? i need to figure this out im scared im going to blow up my motor. i have ****y luck with cars

[Dragon240]

Ok, today on the way to work I had some overheating and antifreeze leakage. I got it back home today and the black plastic part at the top of the radiator is cracked almost all the way around the passenger side over to the cap and there is a crack on the top of that piece as well. New radiator the only option?

[180fan]

well you could always try those pos patching kits. But just like I said, they're POS. Get a new rad to fix it.

[drnovascotia]

Yes, Spend the big $ if it has a crack and geta new radiator. If thats fixes your overheating problem then you're in great shape.

I'm not so lucky. Mine after 5 mins of driving will ALMOST overheat, so I shut it off, wait 2 mins and then drive agan and it's perfect. We replaced the thermostat, water pump, the radiator cap, and completly drained and refilled the radiator and made sure there was no air, and it's not as bad however still gets above halfway on the gauge for a few mins, then once I stop for 2 mins and drive again (last night after stopping it I drove for 2 hours) and it works perfect. This has to rule out a BHG right? The only thing I have left to try would be cleaning out the radiator, and trying to get the air out again.

I just moved to New Hampshire and am trying to fix the problem however it's hard without many tools or a garage or friends!

ANY HELP IS APPRECIATED, I'm baffled!

DrNoVaScotia

[drnovascotia]

READ POST BEFORE THIS FIRST

Yesterday when it began it's climb in temperature from halfway on the gauge. I turned the HEater on hot and put it to full, and the gauge went back down below half, it rests a HAIR under half the whole time now. How could turning on the heat help other than getting all the hot engine air out of there? Could it be a bad hose?

PLEASE HELP!

[Dragon240]

Radiator ordered $119 shipped overnight w/ lifetime warranty

[Big Manne]

i just got finshed putting a new thremostat and hoses and sure enough the outlet going to the engine from the radiator the plastic broke now i need a new radiator my luck i will need a new water pump then the HG will blow man i cant wait yaaay

[Dragon240]

My radiator will be here tomorrow and I'll be putting it in tomorrow evening. I'll let you know how the radiator is and how it works if you are interested in ordering from the same place.

[Big Manne]

My radiator will be here tomorrow and I'll be putting it in tomorrow evening. I'll let you know how the radiator is and how it works if you are interested in ordering from the same place.

i already found one here in my town for 120 but thanx for the offer

[rivetapproved240]

eh problem... a mechanic (that i really really really dont trust) says that from the compression check i have a blown head gasket. ANd #3 has oil in the chamber. ... so my question is this... do i have a blown head gasket or blown piston rings.....? i mean it does blow out white smoke, and it does misfire on 3... but no water in oil, and no oil in water..... mind boggiling.... besides this guy was too quick to say it was a BHG and wants to charge $800 - $2000 (depending on severity of engine.) and plus he has to take it to a machine shop... When i told him i would remove the head and valve, he persisted saying that its extremly difficult to do and you have to expirence in mechanics...... anyways i have 24hrs to decide. need info asap

[Dragon240]

Just my opinion but.. If you have a bhg you gotta take the engine apart down to the block.. If its bad rings you gotta do at least that as well.. I'd say take it to another shop that you know and trust (or someone you know and trust who has a shop they know and trust) and have it looked at again. One way or the other the head gasket is gonna be replaced.. About doing it yourself.. A lot of places don't like that simply because you could slightly mess something up that they dont catch and in the future causes major problems and you could try to blame them. On top of that if you supply parts a lot of places charge you extra.. Just a thought.

[jdmracerx]

I have the same car (95 S-14) and it did the same thing about 2 years ago. It started overheating and I couldn't figure out what the hell it was. I replaced everything, water pump, thermostat, and I even back flushed the system and it still did it. I took it to the mechanic and he couldn't fig out what it was. I resorted to my dad (ASE certified mech for 25 years) and he told me to change my radiator cap so I went and got a brand new one from the nissan dealership. $12. If you are still having this problem I can almost assure you that this is what is wrong. My car currently has 131,823 miles on it and ever since I changed the radiator cap that damn needle hasn't budged from right below center of the C and the line before hot.

[s86d]

my car started doing this about a week ago. I can smell the coolant burning but cant find the leak. My car same as most in this thread overheats when stopped and is fine when driving. It sux because progress is stopped and now its maitnence time:mad: the little things always have the last laugh

[Kinesthesia]

I'll just add my story to the heap. My S14 is overheating very strangely. As long as I keep the rpm's down, she'll drive all day. But as soon as I get on the gas, she overheats and I can control it a bit with the heater but it's a battle until I come to full stop and let her rest and refill the coolant.

She doesn't have any visible leaks but when she gets hot, she pushing air through the res, making it appear to be boiling (or maybe it is boiling, I dunno).

I have replaced the rad cap, the thermostat and I've flushed the system twice (once by a mechanic) and no dice. I specifically asked the mechanic to check for a blown head gasket and he says it's not but I dunno...

I'm stumped and the first autox of the season is Sunday and I'm not driving it like this, that's for sure.

I think I'm going to take it to a radiator shop in the morning.

[Z3Px]

has anyone found a solution for this yet? im having the same problem and am trying to find specific things thats worked for alot of people before i go replacing random parts...

[gc8936]

I have a 92' ka turbo with the same problems. I just took out my thermostat and the car runs fine but, I still want to knows what is the problem. The cooling system has all new parts.

[Z3Px]

You took your thermostat totally out, and your running it with out it?

[Z3Px]

Also, do you think its ok to leave the fan shroud off with a clutch fan?? i have it off now...and i like it. But ill put it back on if i need it. (off while fixing, havnt tested)

[gc8936]

I would put back the fan stroud, it keeps our car cooler and there is no reason to take it off. Yes I'm running with out one still ok.

[Z3Px]

Ok i think i fixed my problem.

I took out the thermostat.

Isnt overheating anymore.Does anyone know of any downside to this? Would it cuase damage over the long run? So far the engine (ka24e) is running better than ever. But if its going to damage it, ill put a new one in. BUT NO MORE OVER HEAT!