TriniTT

So I have a 93 s13 coupe with 216k miles, all stock engine components. It's a 5-speed. I was having overheating issues, so I replaced the thermostat with one from Autozone. Didn't fix my problem, so I decided my head gasket was probably blown after seeing coolant trickling from around the front side of the head.

I pulled the head, replaced the head gasket (the old one looked fine, no tears or anything) and valve stem seals (which needed replacing). I checked out the head and block for any wear and didn't see anything unusual, no visible warpage. Compression test verifies 150-158 across all cylinders. I also noticed that the coolant leak I initially saw was coming from below the water neck, and not the head, so I pulled it and redid the gasket for it. It's now no longer leaking.

I also replaced the thermostat with an OEM Nissan one, along with a new water pump (again, old pump looked fine), and a new aluminum radiator with electric fans. I thought maybe the fans were part of the problem, so I put the oem fan+clutch back in, along with the e-fans.

Even after all this, it's still overheating. If I drive it about 3-5 miles, it begins to overheat. If it's sitting still at idle, it won't overheat unless I have already driven it and it has begun to overheat. I even plugged up my Consult to verify the ecu coolant temp sensor was getting the same reading that the gauge cluster was putting out, and it is. I have no coolant leaks coming from anywhere. I'm out of ideas here. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Jonnie B