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R33 overheating issues.

Blakeo

By Blakeo,
in R Series (R30, R31, R32, R33, R34)

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Blakeo Rising Star

Blakeo

Posted
Posted

Making this thread is in my last attempt that hopefully someone has information that I have managed to miss doing research. 

My R33 Skyline will overheat if the A/C is on and sitting at lights. By this I mean, car can be cruising and sitting on 78-82 degrees, pull up at lights and within say 5-10 minutes it will be at least 95 degrees. Usually once it gets to 90 I will turn a/c off and it will stabilize there or come down a degree. 

My tuner suggested that it was my headgasket as it was pushing a bit of coolant on the dyno. I had the engines block and head machined flat and ground to mirror finish to meet the MLS headgasket surface finish requirement. So new headgasket was fitted with new ARP headstuds. No more issues of pushing coolant and tuner said headgasket is 100%. 

This still didn't rectify the issue, so going down the worm hole I have ended up changing the thermostat to a new Genuine Nissan 76.5 degree thermostat. New Nissan waterpump, new Mishimoto Radiator (have also tried new OEM one, Mishimoto was slightly better). I have had my mate make ducting to the radiator (for underneath the car and bumper), purchased a GKTECH cooling panel. Car also has a new Nissan OEM fan clutch and GKTECH fan (which also performed slightly better than the stock fan). 

All this has made a difference to cruising, it will not go over 78 degrees. But when idling at the lights it will still hit 95 degrees. This only happens on 35 degree + days. 

I have considered upgrading the thermo used by the car for A/C  and installing an oil cooler but I feel like I'm just wasting money. 

The system has been bled multiple times and definitely does not have any leaks or air bubbles. 

Is there something I am missing?

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pogman Collaborator

pogman

Posted
Posted
Making this thread is in my last attempt that hopefully someone has information that I have managed to miss doing research. 

My R33 Skyline will overheat if the A/C is on and sitting at lights. By this I mean, car can be cruising and sitting on 78-82 degrees, pull up at lights and within say 5-10 minutes it will be at least 95 degrees. Usually once it gets to 90 I will turn a/c off and it will stabilize there or come down a degree. 

My tuner suggested that it was my headgasket as it was pushing a bit of coolant on the dyno. I had the engines block and head machined flat and ground to mirror finish to meet the MLS headgasket surface finish requirement. So new headgasket was fitted with new ARP headstuds. No more issues of pushing coolant and tuner said headgasket is 100%. 

This still didn't rectify the issue, so going down the worm hole I have ended up changing the thermostat to a new Genuine Nissan 76.5 degree thermostat. New Nissan waterpump, new Mishimoto Radiator (have also tried new OEM one, Mishimoto was slightly better). I have had my mate make ducting to the radiator (for underneath the car and bumper), purchased a GKTECH cooling panel. Car also has a new Nissan OEM fan clutch and GKTECH fan (which also performed slightly better than the stock fan). 

All this has made a difference to cruising, it will not go over 78 degrees. But when idling at the lights it will still hit 95 degrees. This only happens on 35 degree + days. 

I have considered upgrading the thermo used by the car for A/C  and installing an oil cooler but I feel like I'm just wasting money. 

The system has been bled multiple times and definitely does not have any leaks or air bubbles. 

Is there something I am missing?

Im also struggling with mine sitting in traffic or at lights on a hot day but as soon as i move the water temp drops down to normal temps within a minute or so. But my oil temp stays up there for a long time so i will definitely be purchasing an oil cooler as its a known issue with rbs to struggle with oil temp. Do you have an oil temp gauge and if so does that see huge increase when you're water temp goes up?

 

 

Blakeo Rising Star

Blakeo

Posted
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Posted
38 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

95 is not overheating.

 

35 minutes ago, admS15 said:
38 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:
95 is not overheating.

Agree with this, especially if its a 35 degree day.

The issue is that it doesn't stop there, if I stayed still it would keep raising. 

GTSBoy Grand Master

GTSBoy

Posted
Posted

To what?  If it doesn't blow coolant out the cap or overflow bottle, then it is not boiling and it is still working.  Thermostat on the Neo is set to ~90°, runs there all the time.  Air-con on in 38° traffic the other day saw my oil temperature running over 110°C (and my oil temp is usually exactly the same as my coolant temp) and I just kept driving and no engines were damaged.

Rusty Nuts Experienced

Rusty Nuts

Posted
Posted

Recently had similar issue with my daughters H6 subaru and it was caused by air con condensor blocked in lower half,  the condensor was changed and overheating at lights and in bumper to bumper traffic ceased. Just a thought.

Blakeo Rising Star

Blakeo

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Issue has been rectified by upgrading to a heavy duty thermofan on the front and shrouding it with foam around the base. With AC on at the lights on 36 degree day it stabilised at 82 degrees and after sitting for 5 minutes came down to 80 degrees. 

Old thermofan was very lazy. 

  • Like 1
  • 11 months later...
prgervacio Apprentice

prgervacio

Posted
Posted

reviving an old thread. I’m having similar issues with my r34. Changed the thermostat and clutch fan. I thought it was solved till today’s scorching heat. Water temp quickly started rising. Oil temp sat at 110. Had to crank the aircon temp to the highest setting to keep the water temp to half the gauge.  What are the chances it’s something to do with the AC? Condenser or compressor?  

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