OMG My RB is overheating!

Discuss the RB20, RB25 and RB26 series engines.
Cpt_Impossible
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Cpt_Impossible
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Feel free to suggest additional info

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Kansei240sx
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Good sh1t!

I've near mastered this subject as i've gone an oddball way of fabricating my cooling system, but so far its all good.

Impulse_240
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Awesome writeup! I may need this in the future.

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DriftingisLame
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I think any long time RB owner has dealt with many of these suggestions... lol

Great write up!

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Coolwhip
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+1

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RB20DETodd
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very good man thanks!

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Eikon
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Excellent thread Cpt!

I've added it to the Read Here Before Posting sticky.

Thanks so much for sharing this collection of knowledge. Cooling issues are one of the most common RB problems we see on this forum. I'm going to link a lot of people to this thread.

Well done sir!

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mello88
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Awesome write up, covers all the things that come up every single time we have a 'overheating' thread. Very good job... Look forward to more stuff like this in the future from other members!!!

Cpt_Impossible
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fixed by finding a raised hood pic in another NICO thread. Thanks person I jacked... (ADAMHU)

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Bwana
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Article has been articlized. You're entitled to a custom title if you'd like one. Just let me know what you want and I'll put it in! Thanks man!

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Joe
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*claps*

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sbird1
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Awesome. This is going to be big when I do my install.

xdrkphnx
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I was actually able to fit my STRI temp sensor adaptor between my koyo and my r32 crossmember mounted RB20. I filed away a tiny amount of the neck on the rad and motor hard pipe, as well as both sides of the adaptor, cut some hoses to fit. then i put them all together. I uses i small amount of lube to get everything together but it worked out really good for me!

Cpt_Impossible
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I noticed that that was a possibility, but it doesn't really allow the engine any movement. I suppose if you had solid mounts it wouldn't be that big of a deal, but I wouldn't want to break a hard-pipe or radiator neck. Good feedback though.

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240sxautox
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You would not even believe how perfect the timing on this article is, I just got my RB 240 back from Tophat and now I'm dealing with overheating issues. So thank you tremendously for the write-up and I'll be putting it to use in just a few minutes.

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nizmo zilvia
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240sxautox wrote:You would not even believe how perfect the timing on this article is, I just got my RB 240 back from Tophat and now I'm dealing with overheating issues. So thank you tremendously for the write-up and I'll be putting it to use in just a few minutes.
And let us know how it went!

*Why not a sticky?????*

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Abdo
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props on an excellent write-up.this should be a sticky!

grenade180sx
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alright.. here we go!

im overheating. like most hahaha

symptomsi can drive around for awhile and it runs perfect

then car slowly starts to heat up

pop the hood open the pressure release cap and bam steam for days

i dont have a heater, i did the whole jack up the car and open the bleed valve on top of the intake mani and fill accordingly as air escapes but after awhile it just lets coolant out with out any bubbles, so i fill up seal and go for a drive mashing on it does fine. then same scenario AGAIN, starts to heat up close to the H but doesnt go all the way, im hoping not a HG it jsut seems to turn right back into a steam factory after 30mins of driving.

whats the deal.

oh its a single core radiator!i know its prone to heat soak but would the cause all of this, i mean its 56 degrees out here at night and it still does it.

hope i made this clear enough.

thanks for any help!


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leesredgt
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does anyone know what engine coolant temp sensors would be used to replace the rb25det ones b/c im needing both especially the one for the ecu.

Cpt_Impossible
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grenade180sx wrote:alright.. here we go!

im overheating. like most hahaha

symptomsi can drive around for awhile and it runs perfect

then car slowly starts to heat up

pop the hood open the pressure release cap and bam steam for days

i dont have a heater, i did the whole jack up the car and open the bleed valve on top of the intake mani and fill accordingly as air escapes but after awhile it just lets coolant out with out any bubbles, so i fill up seal and go for a drive mashing on it does fine. then same scenario AGAIN, starts to heat up close to the H but doesnt go all the way, im hoping not a HG it jsut seems to turn right back into a steam factory after 30mins of driving.

whats the deal.

oh its a single core radiator!i know its prone to heat soak but would the cause all of this, i mean its 56 degrees out here at night and it still does it.

hope i made this clear enough.

thanks for any help!
So you are using which radiator? Stock RB or stock KA? Any other cooling mods? The stock radiators can work, but I don't think they are that great if you are hard on the car. What are you using for cooling fans?

Also, I usually bleed coolant several times and check and top it off after every drive the first week, these engines love to trap air.

grenade180sx
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heres what im working with....

i hoping its jsut a case of heat soak because my car turns the water into a steam factory after 30-45 mins of driving never does it go all the way to H but it just gets warm

hope this help at all

fan wise i have one 14inch pulelr and one 10 inch pusher

Cpt_Impossible
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Sounds like a leak to me, you could have the system pressure tested.

grenade180sx
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alright ill check it out tomo, what kinda numbers should i be looknig for on a

Leakdown test-

Compression test-

radiator pressure test-

thanks for all your help!

Darius
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Since you're not running it through a heater core, you ARE looping the coolant in its place right? Not trying to insult your intelligence, but it seems very odd that you are overheating when it is 56 degrees outside. I ran with a stock S14 radiator with pusher fans on it all summer and it ran hot but not overheating. This winter I'll need to add some duct work etc. to improve cooling.

Maybe I missed it but is your thermostat opening? And did you take your water pump off to look that it still has an impeller?

grenade180sx
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alright update!

changed out the radiator to a two core!

and changed the fan set up and BAM!

runs at 82-85 C which is smashing!

sounds good for now!

hope it stays this way!

thank you for all your help.

s14_sport
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grenade180sx wrote:alright update!

changed out the radiator to a two core!

and changed the fan set up and BAM!

runs at 82-85 C which is smashing!

sounds good for now!

hope it stays this way!

thank you for all your help.
You changed the fan setup to what?!

You changed the radiator to which two core radiator?!

Please help with details so we can all benefit if we all run into the same heat issues...

grenade180sx
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sorry sorry my bad

\well i actually just bumped up to a factory two core. nothing crazy did it as a budget fix,

so its a factory two core s13 radiator.

i was going to run Flex alites but it wouldnt clear the power sterring pump, no BIGGIE

i used my orginal set up but i ran the 14 inch as a puller on the hot side of the radiator(the side when the hot coolant comes into) and the 12inch on the cooler side of the two.

i can drive arund with the 12nch fan on and run between 82-90 depending on weather.

i have yet to take it out to a drifting event, bu i will keep it updated...

hope this helps!

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nissangirl74
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Blast from the past. A member was asking for this info a couple of nights ago.

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sil80hks
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Great info! Got an S13/RB26 with SYLVIA front end and I've been having some issues with the engine running a bit on the hot side lately and couldn't find the problem. Did everything mentioned and it turned out to be a super simple fix. Since everything on the cooling side was new (radiator, fans, hoses, thermostat, etc..) I was frustrated as to why it was running hot. So what I did was remove the SYLVIA grill that is a solid piece. Got back into LA traffic and temps drastically dropped like 40degrees in about 5 min. Has ran cool since.

So if anyone is running a stock SYLVIA S13 grill, get the GTR one that's open or just do what I did for now and just remove it. Crazy how much a bit more air going straight to the fans and into the radiator will do. Car runs so much smoother too.


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