Sweet! It still overheats!

[pgt892]

Well I am at my wits end here. So I got my redtop installed awhile ago into a 97 240 chassis. Well, as soon as I started it up, it had overheating issues. So I did some researching on the boards and figured out it was probably my thermostat. I pulled the old one off, ordered a Nismo thermo and cap and called it a day. I installed those and still had overheating problems. I figured it was my radiator so I ordered a new Koyo. Well I got that installed and figured it had to be fixed! Well, after all that it still overheats. So I don't know what to do now, if somone could help me out, I would appreciate it.

EDIT: I also changed out the water pump.

[fiznat]

water pump?

[Charlie240sxt]

the car is not over heating the s13 motor wont let the s14 temp gage work install a aftermarket temp gag, see if it really is I bet its not

[180fan]

could be waterpump or belt on the water pump or you've got air in your cooling lines somewhere.

[pgt892]

Yeah I forgot to mention that I changed out the water pump also. I think it is overheating even if the temp gauge is wrong because the radiator will be hot, the motor will be hot, the upper hose will be hot, but the lower hose is not hot.

[robbbby]

If the lower hose isn't warm, the thermostat isn't opening or hasn't opened yet.

[Charlie240sxt]

I am tellin you guys the S13 sr temp dont work on S14s lot of guys i have talk to say that

[pgt892]

I am tellin you guys the S13 sr temp dont work on S14s lot of guys i have talk to say that

Would that affect the thermo opening up?

[robbbby]

Thermostat works off water temperature, once the water reaches XX degrees the spring expands opening the thermostat. Has nothing to do with whatever else you guys mentioned between s13/s14.

[pgt892]

Thermostat works off water temperature, once the water reaches XX degrees the spring expands opening the thermostat. Has nothing to do with whatever else you guys mentioned between s13/s14.

Ok well I am completely baffled then.

[Nathan]

Did you accidentally install the t-stat upside down?

[pgt892]

Did you accidentally install the t-stat upside down?

Upside down? Is there a top and bottom? Also, I just checked it again and the lower hose gets hot, as well as the upper, but I don't get any heat in the car.

[robbbby]

You can't really install the thermostat backwards because of it's shape it will only fit one way.

If you are not getting any heat in the car it may be your heater core.

[yellow_jacket]

How do you know it is overheating? Is it boiling over? Checking the hose temp. by hand is not a good indication of engine temperatures. The hoses should, and will feel very hot to the touch.

If you are not getting heat I would definetely look at your heater core lines. You may have kinked one when you rerouted them to work with your heater core on the right side of the vehicle. If your upper and lower hoses are hot then you should have heat. Try feeling the heat hoses. Are they almost as hot as the upper hose? If they are cool, you probably have a kinked line. If they are hot and you don't have heat you have two options: The temperature control door is stuck on cold or the car is not fully warmed up yet(and is therfore not overheating)

If I were you, I would definetely buy a mechanical temperature gauge to check the actual temp of my engine. Or at least run it with the cap off and stick a high temp thermometer in there to get an idea of the actual temperture in the radiator.

[pgt892]

I will try to see if the lines are kinked, thanks for the idea. I have an aftermarket temp sensor and I was going to get the Blitz upper radiator hose with the temp sensor fitting but I didn't know if that would be the best place to temp it.

[Charlie240sxt]

Here read this http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/342709/4 make sure it page 4 it the His never work his s13 motor and s14 car

[ItzGenX]

I switched my gauge temp sensor from ka over to SR (only the one for the gauge, one pin). As for heat, I started off with no heat, just add more coolant (open bleeder screw and pour until it pukes). After you cap the screw back off, add a little more coolant, then try it. I never had overheating problems though. Are you sure it is even overheating? Try putting a temp gauge up to the water somewhere and see the temp.

[pgt892]

I switched my gauge temp sensor from ka over to SR (only the one for the gauge, one pin). As for heat, I started off with no heat, just add more coolant (open bleeder screw and pour until it pukes). After you cap the screw back off, add a little more coolant, then try it.

So open the rad cap and pour into the radiator or into the bleeder screw? Also where did you find the SR temp sensor at? Thanks mucho.

[BuudWeizErr]

Didn't soemone have a problem like this a while back and it was their heater hoses that were reversed? Try checking that.

[ItzGenX]

Open the bleeder screw and radiator cap and pour into the radiator until fluid comes out of the bleeder hole. Then put the screw back in while the fluid is still coming out. As for my sensor, there are two sensors on the top coolant elbow to the right of the throttle body. I swapped out the left one with my KA one (it is only for the temp gauge to read properly). It should be only a one wire sensor. As for what Buud said, that is also a possibility but I kind of doubt it. On the S14, there is a valve that opens only when you set the heat on to allow coolant to enter the heater core. When the heater is off, the coolant can't flow through the heater core at all because this valve closes.

[Charlie240sxt]

Its jsut the gage i am telling you find a way to check it not thourgh the gage on the dash new gage or something

[MojoMan]

Im kinda leanen towards the gauge to. Change the fu(kin sensor out and be done with it. Your car isn't overheating. Your hoses might be backwards on the firewall but other than that your ok. For instance if you can take the radiator cap off after the car has sat for 5 minutes(with the car off)and coolant doesn't fly everywhere then its fine. Overheating problems are like the easiest things to figure out because there are only so many things it can be:headgasket, thermostat, air in system, rad cap, radiator, coolant/coolant lever/mixture, air fuel mixture but normally only if driving, bad hoses that collapse-if your driving. For the love of little furry creatures getting ran over by a fu(king bulldozer in the rain forest............change the damn sensor out.....huuuuu..........ok Im better now.....

[Drakon]

Just wondering what kind of fans you have? not that it is related but I'm curious cause u didnt say.

[pgt892]

Just wondering what kind of fans you have? not that it is related but I'm curious cause u didnt say.

Just the stock clutch fan and shroud.

[pgt892]

Ok well I did the bleeder screw trick to get all the air out and it stayed cool for awhile, then the temp gauge started to go into the hot zone. My dad busted out the laser temp gun and tested out some places on the engine. The upper hose was around 130F, the engine had a max temp of 150F, the lower hose was 62F, the thermostat was around 65F and before the thermostat on the block it was around 130F. So I have thoughts that the thermostat isn't opening or working right. We are going to pressure test the system to see if the headgasket is blown, if not then we should have a better idea of what it will be.

[180fan]

yikes sounds terrible man. I'm in the process of changing the headgasket on my sr...only difference is that mine is still outside of my car getting prepped for the sr swap. Just tellin ya, you're in for quite a bit of work. just remember to put some zip ties on the cam pulleys so the chain doesn't fall down into the pit below...

[nrcooled]

d00d,For the record the thermo doesn't open until 160deg so your fine. The one swap of a s13 into a s14 the temp gauge registered hot all the time and we did the temp check and all was good.

don't sweat it just change out the temp sensor or get a mechanical gauge.

[pgt892]

d00d,For the record the thermo doesn't open until 160deg so your fine. The one swap of a s13 into a s14 the temp gauge registered hot all the time and we did the temp check and all was good.

don't sweat it just change out the temp sensor or get a mechanical gauge.

So to get the stock temp gauge to work I need the KA sensor from an S14? Can I just go get one at Nissan?

[starfireS14]

I had same problem i have 97 s13 blacktop in my 97 240 and my stock gauge was always just under H but it wasnt really that hot get aftermarket temp gauge.

[ItzGenX]

Swapping the KA sensor over will fix your 'hot' problem.