Power loss when car warms up... any ideas

[PhopsonNY]

Hi there,

I have noticed that my RedTop SR boosts well when I first get into it. After I have been driving for a while tho, I notice less response. It still revs freely tho, but I cannot figure it out.I also notice that the coolant is running hotter than it used to.

It did not do this when I first got it last summer.

Anyone have similar expriences?

[9240sx]

Try a coolant flush.

[sr20detmaybe]

would it getting hotter make the engine pull timing?

[PhopsonNY]

Yeah,

Come the long weekend, I will do the coolant flush, check the thermostat even tho it is relatively new, and change the water pump... that is original.

Any thing else I should consider?

[9240sx]

throw some Redline water wetter in the coolant and water mix..It made my car run alot cooler..

[AR31TU]

Maybe the coolant temperature sensor isn't reading properly when it warms up. These things get overlooked easily. If you go to an autozone or something to look for the part, they might call it a "water temperature sensor." Its the one that goes to the ECU

[PhopsonNY]

I have a greddy coolant temp sensor that tells me the temp accurately.

My fans kick in at 85degC.

Just after the install of the Koyo radiator, my coolant temp was stable at 70 to 73degC.

[Hijacker]

Maybe the coolant temperature sensor isn't reading properly when it warms up. These things get overlooked easily. If you go to an autozone or something to look for the part, they might call it a "water temperature sensor." Its the one that goes to the ECU

don't go to autozone or advance for one of these sensors. The unit you can buy from nissan is a much better quality sensor. Also, Nissan updated the sensor since our cars came out originally. Just call up your dealer and ask for a head teamperature sensor for an S13 (ka sensor will work fine)

[PhopsonNY]

So after trying everything suggested,

Temp sensorCoilpacksAdjustable FPRPlugsFlushing coolant,ThermostatRadiator capPulling codes

Nothing stopped the overheating and low power

Eventually, I changed my battery to and SVR as the car had started refusing to start.

What do you know, the car now runs between 69degC and 72 degC depending on how hard I am beating on it.

The only idea I have about this is that the bad battery may not have been supplying the right voltage to the fuel pump thus causing it to run lean.

It could also just have messed up electrics in general and ended up causing overheating and low power.

Who knew

[da40]

a good cooliant flush and maybe try a diffrennt thermostat

[PhopsonNY]

Thanks for the suggestion,

The problem was solved and I had already tried those ideas as you can see from the list on the post just above yours.

The point of the post was to show what the eventual solution was and how unexpected and simple it was in the end.