R32 cooling issues

[Josh]

:flamed: This problem has me a little worried and confused... I just got my new car, R32 GTS-t (HOORAY!) and it is overheating , at first it wouldn't do it all the time, but now it does... its an 89' and has done 84000 k's. It doesnt feel down on power, doesn't blow smoke or have water coming from the exhaust, no coolant in oil, or bubbles in coolant. It will get really hot sometimes...which has me very concerned :warning: ... but then it will drop all of a sudden... which makes me think it is a f***ed thermostat. I know i shouldn't drive it, but i have to get to work, I get the car into speedworks on monday so they should diagnose the problem... hopefully. What do you guys reckon it could be?

Also, after the cooling issue is sorted of course, what do you guys reckon I should do to the car first? front mount, suspension, brakes... It already has an HKS pod and Kakimoto exhaust... the rest is stock... i think

Cheers

[GDZ1LA]

you have beed air out? top of intake manifold on rb20/25

[Josh]

you have beed air out? top of intake manifold on rb20/25

Is that the little screw with a yellow "never open when hot" label on the inlet manifold closest to the front end of the car? What do I do, just take it out and put it back in or do I have to run the engine with it off?

[GDZ1LA]

yes take out when cold fill radiator till it overflows, sometimes its good to check every now and then, if bleeding when hot dont fully unscrew, let it bleed untill the hissing stops and water passes instead

idd say there is a major air pocket in your cooling system

good luck

[Josh]

Im not trying to sound thick... but the process would be: to fill the radiator with the screw out, then run the engine etc and keep filling until it spurts? Is that it? roughly

Cheers for ur help so far dude!

[GDZ1LA]

yea

[Josh]

Dammit! Shes a still gettin hot. I took the bleed valve off last night, then went for a burn, it was good, then the heat just started to rise, so I limped home hoping it wouldnt get too hot. Thanks for your help anyway GDZ1LA Anyone else have any ideas.

Still I may not have done it right and GDZ1LA could be right. Any help welcome.

[Jax]

9.5 times out of 10, if you're not using water, of have none of the other symtoms you say you've checked, you have a partially blocked radiator core. To flush it properly, needs a bit of explanation. Needs to be "reverse flushed." Take it to radiator repairer. They have right equipment and shpuld'nt be very costly. If you MUST do it yourself, I'll [reluctantly] try to write a fair description.

[Jax]

Also, probably not thermostat. Wax pellet type thermos almost always fail when fully open, not closed or half closed. If this happens, engine is most likely to be slow to warm up. Can cause other symtoms, but rare.

[lwells]

You should find this useful if you decide to remove the radiator:

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/sh...ead.php?t=67730

LW.

[mabru]

The fins on the water pump impeller could be gone, they more or less corrode and rot right off. I didn't believe it until I saw pictures.

[Bl4cK32]

replace the fan clutch.....

[Josh]

This is all good news as far as im concerned... they are minor repair/replace jobs compared to replacing a head or gasket.. cheaper too. By all rights if I had a cracked head/ or gasket damage, i'd be experiencing a major lack of power right? as well as milky oil, possibly steamy, smokey exhaust yeh?

[J_R32]

heys, jus wandering, how do u properly flush out a radiator? and how do u reverse flush?

[Jax]

To do it right, reverse flushing in car takes a bit of explaining, so I thought, seeing it's so easy to remove radiator, why not do that, turn it upside down, and use as much water pressure as you can, from bottom to top, allowing the water to escape, alternatively, from the filler neck, and the top hose connection point. That would do a pretty good job.

Put the water hose in the bottom radiator hose point, and seal it as much as possible, so that all the pressutr water has to travel up through the core to get to top tank. This is the opposite direction of flow to when radiator is in car, which is why it is more effective in removing blockages than flushing top to bottom.

[lwells]

heys, jus wandering, how do u properly flush out a radiator? and how do u reverse flush?

Take it to a radiator shop. See the thread I linked a couple of posts up.

Lucien.

[Jax]

Yes, I agree. Radiator/cooling issues are best handled by Rad specialists, and compared to some other areas of repair, are fairly inexpensive.

[Josh]

Well I got the car back this morning, drove it all the way to work no probs, the temp sat just above half and stayed there. Im happy with the result. We will see if anything else comes up

[J_R32]

ahHHhhh HUH!! mine is doing that as well! the temp gauge is reading just a bit above half, is this actualli normal/acceptable? it never rises above this point and isnt using any water, even after lots of hard driving, so would this be just a partially blocked radiator i presume?

just dont like looking at it so high , when my bro's R32 is reading below half!

thanks for any advice guys.

ps- josh what colour if your 32? seems like there is quite a R32 "population" explosion in perth mines black coupe, and black sedan for my bro.

[Josh]

Mine is dark blue coupe, I can be seen around wanneroo and beechboro (Two places where I live) Where are you?