First time car heat got above normal

[Veilside R33]

hey guys just a quick one.

i was driving home from the g/f's last night and i gave it a blast on an abandoned back road, launched from a standing start, reved hard into 2nd, then shifted at high rpm into 3rd, back into 2nd to take a corner(reving very high) flew through the corner, then reved it high, put it into 3rd, reved out 3rd into 4th, then slowed a bit then slammed it back into 3rd, then back into 2nd, the car didnt reach redline at all, but was obviously close, a few minutes later when i got home (took it very easy for the last few minutes, rolled it in neutral down a few hills to cool) after i was sitting there for a few minutes for more cooling i noticed the temp gauge had crept above the middle, nearly half way beetween normal and high. then a few seconds later it was fine again at normal temp.

so do i have anything to worry about potentially? i dont have an fmic but im running stock boost, but ive never seen the temp gauge go above middle, but i did drive it very hard f0or a few minutes, so maybe this is all it was?

[nismo33]

yeah i think this is normal for those without the FMIC.

but you better take it easy though,..if this keeps going on..and finally went to extreme overheating then consider a blown head gasket.

[Mr GTS4]

get your radiator cleaned and flushed before summer.. i did mine because it would overheat alittle so i when down to the local place and found out it was 80% BLOCKED!!! yeah what the. best $129 i ever spent

[Cubes]

Ignore Nismo33. That is totally incorrect.

What could cause the overheating is a few things.

1. Have you ran your coolant bottle dry recently?

- You may have sucked in some air and got a little air lock in the head which causes the car to boil the coolant and spit out more coolant depending on how bad it is.

Its a big viscious circle and will keep spitting out coolant until the air has been bled from the head.

2. If your coolant bottle is dry and your not spitting it out through the overflow then running it dry when the car cools and sucks the coolant back in then you may have a leak some where.

- Check the hoses

around the back of the head (little tinny hoses)

Under the inlet manifold

top and bottom radiator hoses

also check the waterpump isn't leaking water from the "I'm almost stuffed" hole.

3. The radiator is blocked.

If this is the case don't just get the radiator cleaned also get the block and heater core powerflushed.

4. If the temp has gone high just after you have hammered it I would also be checking the AFR's as it is very possibly the fuel pump is on its way out and leaning out quite badly. I had this on my RB20DET when I removed my Bosch910 pump.

The stocker was and still is majorly stuffed.

I tend to think you have a little bit of air in the system. Possibly leaking water slightly some where but not quite enough to notice.

[predator]

yes.. like joel said its definitely not normal. Especially not in that period of time.

R33's (and maybe R32 also?) tend to have the annoying habbit of "everything is fine, everything is fine, everything is fine, oh shit, its overheating like buggery!".. when the gauge suddenly shoots up. When it gets anywhere above halfway there is most likely some problem with your cooling system, as that gauge not very accurate.

First of all I'd flush out your radiator and engine, and see whether any crap comes out, then replace it with coolant (bleeding system as per above to prevent air bubbles). Also check radiator cap - stuffed or incorrectly seated can cause heat problems, and its actually quite important to keep the pressure of the whole system constant.

Failing that take it to a specialist to get the water pump looked at and/or anything else they might be able to determine is causing the problem.