s14 sr20det '89 240sx over heating problem

[hungryjoseph]

alright, so i just got the car a few days ago, and i knew i shouldn't have taken the car out until i had everything fixed, but i did. The first time, the temp was at 210, so i put some water in the radiator and it was fine for a while, at 160. Then some benz had to roll up and rev next to me... i was tempted... i mean i knew i shuuldn't have but.. yeah. (i know im probably the dumbest kid alive right now, thats defiantely how i feel) well i killed it, but then i also killed the heat. started gettigna bove 200 again so i put more water in it, and it made it for about 7 miles without any temp problems, then it started going up to 200 again. The coolant started smoking. I parked at a metro station and left the car there. I talked to the station manager and i got permission to leave the car there. So basicaly, the radiator is way to small, but the dual fans should be enough to cool it down... the resevoir is about 1/3rd filled with coolant, and i dont know anything about cars so i dont know if thats how m uch it should be filled, or if i need more. My plans are to have my friend come over tomorow, see if we can get the car to a shop nearby. where should i go from here? should i get more coolant? if so, how much do i fill it up? its idling at 2.5- 3 rpm's right now , but when i put it in gear, it goes back to normal. why is this? any help right now would be appreciated... i'm a major "noobie" and i'm seriously worried PHEW thanks if you read all that!

PS! what are good brands for the sr20? radiator wise, spark plugs, coilpacks, and plug wires?

THANK YOU

[180fan]

who did the work on the sr?

I'm gonna lean towards either you got some other work on the car like a new turbo that's causing it to heat up the coolant alot faster, or you've got a blockage or you've got air in the system. bleed the air out and top off the coolant. if that don't work, did you replace the thermo when you did your swap? it's like 10-15 bucks oem. do it.

the stock radiator worked in japan and works for alot of folks stateside. refer to the above paragraph for possible problems. btw, what fans are you running on your car?

your idle is way too high. either you've got an issue with your CTS reporting cold temps to the ecu, your iacv needs cleaning or replacing.

good brands for the sr for what?

radiator - koyo -> everyone and their moms stateside has this. it's tried and proven. use it.

spark plugs - NGK -> don't matter which one. i'm using their iridium ix's and have been for years with no problems. you should have had this done before the engine went in as part of a normal "tune up" kinda deal with the o2 sensor when the engine was getting installed for the first time.

coil packs - I've seen only one other brand aside from oem Nissan for coilpacks. They're splitfire coil packs and it'll run you ~400-500 for the set. Not cheap, and not necessary unless you're beginning to pull 400+ and even that's somewhat questionable.

plug wires - what plug wires? it's a direct ignition system.

[hungryjoseph]

ok im going to fill it up with some coolant today, and get it to my friend's shop and order all the parts and see if we can do anything. My shopping list includes NGK iridium IX spark plugs "8" Koyo racing aluminum Radiator nismo 21200RS520 cold thermostat

im guesing its all going to run me about 700 to get it all in including parts and labor. i bought the car with the SR just a few days ago... but it was definately worth the pushing... i went from driving a 03 civic to this SR hahaha and its at 18psi

[hungryjoseph]

ok i put some coolant in it, and i let it idle for a while and it seemed normal for a few minutes... then it started revving by itself from 1.4 to 1.9. it did that for a few minutes so i turned it off, and saw that all the coolant i put in it was gone. I put more coolant in, then started the car up again. Everything was fine. Then a couple minutes later, it started idling at 2.5 - 3. I checked the coolant. The resevoir was almost empty, so i put more in it and let it idle. everything seemed fine this time so i drove it to my friends house since he only lives a couple miles away. I came to the conclusion that the car is burning coolant, because there are no leaks. I immediatly went online and did a little research, and from what i've read so far, it might be a bad headgasket. any suggestions? any help would be aprreciated... thanks

[rogoman]

I think you hit the nail on the head about a blown head gasket. Perform a compression test on all cylinders to verify that the head gasket is blown out.

Before you tackle the head gasket job, make sure there are no external coolant leaks. What happens sometimes is that there's a pin hole in a hose that opens up under heat and you end up with a 'pisser'.

[hungryjoseph]

ok, so i just found out its not a bad headgasket. The previous owner had replaced it with a greddy metal headgasket. i am a dumbass and car-retarded and i put the coolant in the overflow thing, when i should have put it in the radiator. that did the trick. it stopped overheating, but i know i wont be pushing it anytime soon. The car has been misfiring also. i've narrowed out the spark plugs, cus they run fine when the weather is cold. if i shake the spark plug thats misfiring, it will stop misfiring and run normaly. if the plug was bad then i'd assume it'd work bad 100% of the time. i had a few of my friends check it out and they've narrowed it down to coilpacks. i think this is everything i know and done so far. i really wish i knew what i was doing though... can't even change oil! but i plan on getting diagnostics done tomorow and see what comes up. ANY ideas, again, would be aprreciated! and thanks for all the comments back!

[hungryjoseph]

no coolant leak or headgakset problem.. anyone? help? pleasE!!!

[Morph]

Try Changing the thermostat. Mine overheats once in a while b/c the thermostat stays closed. If you are driving and the temp starts climbing try turning on the heater to see if that keeps the temp down.

Just beacue you have a frontmount doesnt mean the your current radaitor cant cool enough. I have the sock ka with a Greddy V-Spl Knock off and a 12 inch permacool and its more than enough.

As long that there is no white smoke coming out of your exhaust then your hg should be good. As far as the idle...um im lost on why its so high. Take to a shop fi they can figure out why its so high.

[hungryjoseph]

it doesnt idle like that anymore. It stopped doing that after i put some coolant in it, i shouldve mentioned that. the car gets really shakey at around 700-800 rpms though, which is its normal idle. there is white smoke coming out of the exhaust from running rich and lean... it goes back and forth... im sick of the smell.. the reason it overheated is cus i didnt have enough coolant, but it is definately leaking somewhere.. or burning.. i read somewhere that a bad headgasket and coolant dissapearing has some connection but i have a greddy metal gasket... for the misfiring.. its really scary.. the car starts shaking and everything, which makes me beleive its the piston, but i really dont WANT to belive that because i jsut bought the car =/ stupid 16 year old me... i should've bought the 900$ stock 240...

[574-240sx]

Could be a bad coolant seal on the turbo. Could be leaking coolant into the exhaust.

[Morph]

Could be a bad coolant seal on the turbo. Could be leaking coolant into the exhaust.

Could be the HG also. Just because its a greddy metal hg doesnt mean it cant go bad, or it was defective to begin with. Try doing a leak down test.

[hungryjoseph]

actualy, its sitting in the shop right now getting some diagnostics... i'm just a 16 year old kid and i have no idea wut im doing... or why i even bought this car... but thanks for all the replies... makes me feel that i'm not alone and i shouuld get a call back tonight with the results

[hungryjoseph]

yes sir it is a bad headgasket. bad coilpack. they're checking to see if theres any damamge to the piston tomorow. hopefully there isnt, or there shouldnt be...