Overheating... Again...

[atrium]

Alright, well, basically, I bought this 1992 Nissan 240SX with the stock KA24de engine in it. It's all stock and everything. The only thing wrong with the car when I bought is that it had a f-ed up water pump which I replaced along with the thermostat, gasket, upper radiator hose, and a radiator cap. The thing I did NOT replace was the lower radiator hose. I am worried about it because I think that may be the reason why it's running hotter than a mo-fo. Before it was leaking out of the middle of the car, now it is leaking out of the front of the car. I can smell a distinct rubbery burning smell coming from under the hood, but I'm not going to make any stupid guesses and assume what it is right away. If I were to guess off of the top of my head, I'd say it's that lower hose that needs replacing. I'm really worried and kind of bummed about this, any help would be great.

Oh, by the way, if I need to buy anything that's gonna cost alot, I'm pretty much screwed. I just lost my job because employees were getting laid off at my work and I was one of them. **** company de-sizing. I'm just preparing myself for the worst, and if the best happens, then I'm going to be so ****ing happy. Any help at all would be appreciated. Thanks guys.

[jdm_master_X]

did u make sure to bleed the system for air bubbles? since you changed out all that, i would believe that might be what you forgot to do.

[atrium]

Suprisingly, yes, I bled out all the air bubbles . Whenever I put anything in it (coolant, water, whatever) the level of the liquid I put in drops rapidly.

[jdm_master_X]

stick a hose in the radiator cap and blast water into the system. the pressures build up and can reveal leaks. make sure to do that before pointing fingers at the parts you replaced. tell me what happens

[atrium]

Yes sir. I'll do that right away.

[atrium]

Ok, well, I think you may have been right. I put the hose on there at a low-flow. And it's sitting right now, bubbling out the air. I'm just kind of confused right now though because I don't know how long this bubbling process takes. I put in these parts like, last week or something, and it went through a bubbling process. Another thing that confuses me is that when I was driving it last night, it was steaming. I'll post as soon as it's done bubbling out.

[atrium]

Ok, I put as much water as I could in it, and it just keeps going to a certain point where it wont hold anymore. It bubbled out all it could, and whenever I put more water in it, it just goes down to a lower level. I have a video of it that I took with my camera that I can post on youtube or something if you wanna see it.

[neverlift]

sounds like a bad leak or is it slow? you can not find where the lost water goes? Is the H.G. fresh?

[atrium]

I can't find the leak because it just rained at my house and everything is all dripping wet. =/ the H.G. should be fresh.

[jdm_master_X]

the water should flow at high pressure so u can detect leaks. hold the hose into the radiator filler hole and watch water squirt out of places they are not supposed to. there has to be a leak somewhere.

[atrium]

I need to give it a couple more hours or something because it started raining again. It's hard to find any leaks in the rain =\

[atrium]

Ok, I can't really see any leakage from the radiator even when I squeeze the hose. I'm not really in the mood to **** with it right now. We just had some family **** go down and I'm gonna have to pick up on it tomorrow or something.

[kang128]

try running some..."stuff" i fergot what i was called but you pour it through your radiator and its supposed to fill up any small cracks in the cooling system....

or maybe its a head gasket problem?

ifeel you man. i used to have a CRAZY overheating problem and i was doing pizza deliveries. it would always over heat on my routes and i would have to blast the heat on to cool it off. after i replaced everything you did and bled the system it turned out to be my HG

check your oil cap for water or white smoke from the back...and try this test i got from a forum .....open your radiator cap while engine off and turn on your engine. if the coolat gushses up then you have a blown HG

[atrium]

Alright, well, I turned on my car while the cap was open, but nothing came out. So I don't think it's my HG. Damn, I'd really like to know what that "Stuff" is right about now =\. Sounds pretty useful. So blasting the heat does cool off your engine?

[240marcuSX]

There are only so many things that it could be:

When you re-filled your cooling system, did you open the plug on the intake manifold as you poured in the water?

You can go to a radiator shop and have them pressure test your radiator for leaks.

you can go to a parts store and ask them from some radiator stop-leak if your radiator is in fact leaking.

check the lower hose for cracks/looseness

check the top hose " "

is the draincock tightened all the way? cracked?

is your fan operating correctly?

is your fan shroud present/in place?

are you sure you installed the therm/water pump correctly?

It is possible that you got bad parts brand new, it happens all the time.

Let us know when your driveway dries up, and you can see if/where its leaking. I hope that one of those things was remotely helpful.

[240marcuSX]

Oh and p.s. if you got an upgraded rad. cap that ups the pressure, try switching back to the stock one to see if that helps.

those things expose small cracks like crazy, and make them bigger.