S13 240sx heating up :/ WTF!

[superduner]

Car's temperature is acting up..... some time ago driving around in the highway i was cruising 3k rpm...70mph. i notice the needle was "almost" to the second to last mark of the temp gauge for overheating.... so i went home and made sure the fan was turning on (electrical) and YES the fan was indeed on. however i noticed the fan would act up weird too. it would stay on forever and even at just idle it would stay on and then go off for a short ammount of time and then go on again. sometimes it would take forever to turn on as well etc etc. long story short INTERMITTENT PROBLEM WITH FAN.. ( i got hooked up an AUX fan with a switch just incase)

So this all happened during summer so i figured EHH take the thermostat off and let the baby stay cool. and indeed the car WOULD take forever to warm up but heck its summer no need for that. and the car WOULD haul ass alot more now :/

NOW its winter and for those who get up at 7am to go to work or school its freezing out there and i decided to buy a brand NEW thermostat from kragen " since i remember it would overheat before i thought why not replace the radiator cap and thermostat" So i put on the new radiator cap and the new thermostat on. and the damn car starts doing the same thing again. however its a NEW cap and NEW thermostat WTF is going on ? :/ i did notice that the top radiator hose is rather hot ,, unlike the lower hose seems cool. i DID make a hole with a drill on the thermostat since thats what ive heard peeps do to run the engine a "little" cooler. altough not sure if thats fact or fiction.

the fan is back to doing its intermittent on and off crap again. and i do notice a change in torque "pull" on the car at times... almost as if the car goes into limp mode or something...

NOTE: .. "SOMETIMES" when i turn off the car i hear bubbling in the reservoir tank and there HAS been some antifreeze spills (since i have a small cracked hole on the top of the resevoir)

so im sure the car is heating up sometimes

HELP :/ Any thoughts? BRAND new and yes its new thermostat and new radiator cap.... i believe i MAY have some electrical issue on the harness...

[yokotavia]

well are you losing any coolant?

and chances are you do have electrical problems with ur fan and thats whats causing it

clutch fan is the best set up.

[ryguy]

The fan has no bearing on what your cruising temperature is. Be it electrical or mechanical, the car moving through the air pushes more air through the radiator than any fan can. Did you try bleeding the system? Jack up the front of the car a bit (helps get rid of air pockets) and try to add more coolant, with the 'burping' hole open.

[grey240sx]

having a cracked reservoir makes your car fun 30% hotter then normal and if your loosing coolant check your water pump so see if it leaking at all

[iambape]

buy an oem thermo. the one at auto and kragen opens up whenever it feels like it. check if you have any bubbles in your radiator. or just flush your radiator. =]

[superduner]

werd! i DO have a hole on the upper part of the resevouir i figure theres an air vent that lets air/pressure out anyway whats another hole gonna make a difference. other than the antifreeze it DOES leak now when the level rises. its been doing that alot lately when i get home. and i back up or park in reverse i see a trail or antifreeze . pop open the hood and yup sure enough antifreeze level high on resevoir and leaking down the car. NO visible water at all form the water pump. NEW kragen thermostat yes. and i bled the car on a SOMEWHAT slope the front of the car being higher altitude. LOTS of bubles came up. it took forever for the antifreeze to come out of there literally. i had to rev up the engine to like 2200 ballpark after the needle marked in the center. and then it started coming out with no bubbles.

But still the needle decides to go up randomly. itl go up.. then itl just go down . sometimes faster than other times. highway driving and city driving alike. Next up is getting the radiator opened up in TJ mexico, cleaned up and serviced for $22 :P should be as good as new after that..

If the needle keeps going up after new cap, thermostat, new radiator, purged of air bubbles, and new antifreeze. WTF! ... haha as RYGUY stated. the ram air should be enough to keep this engine cool at the way i drive it. heck i shift @ 3k-3.3k average every gear (for the most part) ram air should keep that needle down technicly even if the fan doesnt turn on. (which it does) however today it acted weird when i got home. the car would idle at 1k -1.1k rpm and the fan would go on for 2, 3 seconds rpm drops to 900 , fan goes off, picks up rpm to 1.1k again fan goes on 2, 3 seconds. rpm drops fans go off. kept doing that for like 4 minutes. but the needle marked in the middle. I at this point take it its some some sort of electrical AND possible (somewhat) clogged radiator.

IF its electrical WHAT could it be? the fan does get power and is grounded good it turns on and spins fast as hell. lots of air. im guessing something related to WHEN it shoudl turn on, how long it should last, and when it goes off. :/ Electrical's always been my weakness on cars.

sorry for the short essay. But i figure the more info i can provide the more accurate help i can get.

Thanks eveyrone :)

[gotboost2jz]

this actually sounds a lot like what im experiencing. did you ever figure it out? was it the fans and bad wiring?

[davirene]

I had a similar problem.....Radiator fins were plugging up with gunk.....I took the radiator out and flushed it..... well 15K miles later and no problems....I drive my car pretty hard and drive through the canyon daily.....

[negrosx13]

i just start having the same issue but both upper and lower is hot,i think the stat isnt opening..also my idle took at 1200rpm and didnt drop. I even adjust the idle just to see and no change..Thing started bubbling steam

[SinGarage]

If your upper and lower parts of your radiator is heating differently (after complete warmup) I would point towards a clogged fins in your radiator. Try flushing it completely as this will restrict coolant flow and cooling characteristics.