KA24E Overheating problem.

[xs04298]

Back story: Just swaped out kae's in my 89`240sx.

Problem: New motor having a chronic overheating problem. Now previous to now the temperature gauge hasn't worked, but with the new motor it seems to, and first time running it showed the motor was overheating after ~5 minutes of running, just a slow steady climb. I have replaced the thermostat, the water pump sure seems to be working, recently flushed the radiator, new cap..i'm just running flat out of ideas here.. .. Is there any way to test if the temp gauge is working correctly? Or am I missing somthing that could also be wrong? One last thing i was thinking about is the heater core tubes, could I have them inversed (even though it seems they couldnt go the other way...) I just dont know what to do now Any suggestions?

Thanks

[elwesso]

It really shouldnt matter (I dont think) if the heater core hoses are switched, but I dont see how you could switch those.....

The temp gauges (the inside one your talking about, yes) are made so they rise and fall very slow.. if you were to put it to ground, it wouldnt just shoot up, it would rise very slowly.....granted, it would rise fairly quickly, but it would be a smooth motion....

You should be able to tell if the engine is indeed running that hot... It should almost be glowing at that point!!!!

Im not really sure so take with appropriate grain of salt!

[petesleaf]

I had the same prob after swapping my 92 block with a used 98. Everything worked perfect but after it ran 5-15min the needle started rising but it didn't totally peg. Air bubble in the system. That is what the 10mm bleeder bolt on top of the intake manifold is for. (The one that says don't open when hot. ) After it cools down take the bolt out and run the engine hard pulling up on the throttle cable with your hand until it starts spewing out pure water with no bubbles then cap it off quickly. You may have to do it a couple of times. An Air Bubble wouln't let the fluid circulate bro.

[xs04298]

Hmm, i made sure to have that open as i was filling the system , with the nose pointed up so the air would rise to the front untill coolant came spewing out, but you could be right, might have missed one, seems like every time i open that bugger even when the motor is off coolant rushes out, i'll screw around with it some more tonight though thanks for the idea & help.

Ran it this morning, got it up to where it normaly goes at hot, then shut the engine off but left it on "on" and the gauge just hung there untill i killed the key completly, but i suppose if its not getting water, it very well could be that hot haha

[xs04298]

quick update, no air bubbles that i can tell, open up that bleeder valve and coolant comes spurting out, pure coolant too not bubbly *the head scratching continues.

[petesleaf]

XS, Sorry you are having so much trouble. Where is Middleburg Fl? I'm in Port St Lucie Fl. Theres a guy in Orlando that has helped me out several times by email. He is a 240 expert. He also does a lot of SR swaps. Try emailing your question to him. I don't want to post his email address here but if you email me at [email protected] I'll give it to you.

[elwesso]

XS, Sorry you are having so much trouble. Where is Middleburg Fl? I'm in Port St Lucie Fl. Theres a guy in Orlando that has helped me out several times by email. He is a 240 expert. He also does a lot of SR swaps. Try emailing your question to him. I don't want to post his email address here but if you email me at [email protected] I'll give it to you.

why dont you have that guy come to NICO?

[xs04298]

XS, Sorry you are having so much trouble. Where is Middleburg Fl? I'm in Port St Lucie Fl. Theres a guy in Orlando that has helped me out several times by email. He is a 240 expert. He also does a lot of SR swaps. Try emailing your question to him. I don't want to post his email address here but if you email me at [email protected] I'll give it to you.

Okay, but at this point im almost certain its the gauge, im going to go buy a universal one just to double check ( i assume i can just wire it into that sensor?? and maybe a new sensor (but i could only find the one for the ECU not the gauge If i find its truely overheating I will certainly take up that option, thank you I never imagined having so many things goin wrong just swaping out the same engine, and to think i wanted to go to a DE at first, woulda gone crazy! hehe but thanks for the help again guys

[All_Motor_KA]

I found the DE to be simpler then the E. Just my opinion though.

[frapjap]

My E started doing that exact thing before it blew and I swapped for a DE. After tearing down the block, the culprit was a bad headgasket. Take an afternoon and give it a shot. Can't hurt to replace gaskets anyway.

[tonynalli]

one thing that you have to be carfule about is that the oem gauge sux ***. its not really reliable, ive was doing some drifting with my car not ot long ago and i noticed my oem gauge started to rise, and i looked at my aftermarket gauge and nothing happened. i never had relied to much on anything oem(hell sometimes the tach isnt reliable)as far as guages are concerned.