s13 is hard to start and eventually overheats

[Atill93]

I've recently done a bunch of work on my s13 with a stock ka24

- new fuel injectors
- headers
- emissions deletion
- vacuum line deletion
- walbro 255 fuel pump
- spark plugs and wires
- new ignition switch
- new water pump

the car takes 5-10 seconds to start up. it turns over and over but takes a while to fire up and idle. i have to keep the gas pedal completely depressed and it slowly fires up. this has never been a problem until just last week

after driving the car for 20+ minutes it starts getting hot and steam and eventually coolant starts overflowing out of the top of the coolant over flow tank. she never ran hot before, any idea what might be causing this? my old radiator fan stopped working so i removed it. so now the only fan is the one connected to the water pump. do i need to reinstall new radiator fans?

thanks

[Dboyizmlg]

Coolant temp sensor could probably be the issue.

[kruked]

Over heating = air is still in the cooling system. You need to bleed REALLY GOOD.

You mention that you have the ka24, is it the e or de? I'm going to assume it's de.
Are you sure that the gas peddle needs to be completely pressed down while attempting to start the car? Can you start the car by slightly pressing the gas peddle? What was the reason for changing the fuel injectors?

[Atill93]

Over heating = air is still in the cooling system. You need to bleed REALLY GOOD.

You mention that you have the ka24, is it the e or de? I'm going to assume it's de.
Are you sure that the gas peddle needs to be completely pressed down while attempting to start the car? Can you start the car by slightly pressing the gas peddle? What was the reason for changing the fuel injectors?

Okay i'll bleed it again. i did notice when i removed the radiator cap a bunch of air rushed out. i'll make sure to try and get all of the air out

and yeah its a ka24de. just started her up and the gas pedal basically has to be fully depressed and it takes about 10 seconds to slowly fire up

i was having issues with the car randomly dying and installed some refurbished injectors. the car ran fine for a while (started strong etc.) but recently its been increasingly difficult to fire up

[Atill93]

figured out the reason it was hard to start...
leaky/worn out o-ring on cylinder number one, and a leaky fuel hose. got those sorted out and fuel pressure was back to normal and she starts up fine now
still keeping an eye on the coolant/temp

primary concern now is an uneven idle, and a little lag in the throttle response

[frankies1390]

check idle air control valve, if youve had a bad o-ring then lots of fuel was in your intake manifold. then when mixed with combustion/heat then u get lots of carbon build up. pull or clean the IACV should help.

[Atill93]

check idle air control valve, if youve had a bad o-ring then lots of fuel was in your intake manifold. then when mixed with combustion/heat then u get lots of carbon build up. pull or clean the IACV should help.

awesome thanks.

[Atill93]

My car is still overheating!!
i've bled it numerous times now
i've replaced the water pump, and thermostat

the car heats up and then eventually starts blowing steam/coolant out of the top of the coolant overflow tank.

my only idea is that im using too much water in the coolant mix and i should just use primarily coolant with a little bit of water mixed in

any ideas what could be causing it to be running hot?

please help

[kkaleher]

If your not leaking coolant out somewhere and you keep getting an air pocket and pushing coolant/air out into the reservoir then over heating, it can only be a couple things- 1: HG is leaking compression into the cooling system 2: radiator cap spring is weak and coolant pressure builds up and pushes coolant out. The HG can leak compression out but you not have a dead misfire, white smoke, or oil/coolant mixing, happened to one of my SRs. coolant to water mix should be 50/50 or 70water/30coolant depending where you live for freezing reasons. Improper mixture isnt going to cause your symptoms. id pressure test the system and check for leaks and make sure the upper and lower rad hoses are getting hot (good coolant flow)

[kkaleher]

also if you had an injector o-ring leak fuel id change the oil immediately cause it will have a lot of fuel in it which can create a lot of other issues.

[Atill93]

thanks for the feedback. I'm gonna park the car in my garage for a few weeks until i have more time to compression test it and take a closer look. I'll probably try changing the radiator cap and radiator as well, just in case. and thanks for the heads up on the oil change

[shogun!]

Change the thermostat and adjust the timing.

[Atill93]

i removed the thermostat to take it out of the equation but its still overheating. no visible leaks any where. coolant just eventually boils and evaporates/spills out of the overflow tank

[kevbot]

ive run nothing but water on track days without issue. your mix should be fine. only thing to be concerned with your mix, is having too much water and it freezes and expands, cracking things.


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[Atill93]

did a compression test yesterday and the numbers are
150
140
105
110

looks like i need a new head gasket...

[kevbot]

ouf.


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[Strykermcgee]

Explain your method for "bleeding" your cooling system, You may not have gotten all the air out. When I had a KA it was normally a big endeavor to remove all the air. That motor likes to trap air just by the thermostat and prevent proper circulation. Bleeding it on my car normally consisted of running the car while I had the front end lifted up as high as possible. At least a foot or two off the ground from the front bumper.

[Atill93]

Explain your method for "bleeding" your cooling system, You may not have gotten all the air out. When I had a KA it was normally a big endeavor to remove all the air. That motor likes to trap air just by the thermostat and prevent proper circulation. Bleeding it on my car normally consisted of running the car while I had the front end lifted up as high as possible. At least a foot or two off the ground from the front bumper.

i used the bleeder screw on the top of the block. tried many different ways of getting the air out

[Strykermcgee]

i used the bleeder screw on the top of the block. tried many different ways of getting the air out


That will not be sufficient enough to propely bleed your cooling system. You will need to use my method exlained above