Liquid Comin From Front Foot Wells?

[wrxhoon]

predator , that looks like the box it should have the air cond evaporater in it and the heater core . the heater core is the same as the radiator core but a lot smaller , when u get to it u 'll know it has 2 pipes that go out to the firewall ( it mabe hoses though ) . i have never had one out from the skyline but plenty out of other cars , usualy its a big job in some cases the whole dash has to be removed but its got to be done and better u do it than some other the sphincter of the universe that will leave half the screws off when puting it back .

[NZMO]

predator , that looks like the box it should have the air cond evaporater in it and the heater core . the heater core is the same as the radiator core but a lot smaller , when u get to it u 'll know it has 2 pipes that go out to the firewall ( it mabe hoses though ) . i have never had one out from the skyline but plenty out of other cars , usualy its a big job in some cases the whole dash has to be removed but its got to be done and better u do it than some other the sphincter of the universe that will leave half the screws off when puting it back .

yes ,,, my friends was a full dash job to replace it,,,, took 3 days and late nights pulling it apart,,but the most waiting was for the new heater core to be shipped over the weekend.. it is worth doin it urself ,,save a ton of money and learn a lot about your car at the same time.

in the end ,,it is well worth it.

[NZMO]

p.s. i highly recommend you buy a new heater core ,,rather than going for a 2nd hand one ,, for the sake of $250 ,,u can have peace of mind,,,,, if you cant afford that and opt for the 2nd hand,,fill it with water and then blow some compressed air through to check it for holes... sometimes they may look ok ,,, but not worth the risk,,,especially if ur pulling the entire dash out of the car,,you dont want to have to do that again.

[Jetdat]

good work pred...

this will help out a lot of people.

[predator]

ok, well i had another fiddle around. Water doesn't appear to be coming from anywhere in the actual plastic box though, its from higher up and back. Is that where the heater core is?

Getting the box open shows, yup, a small aircon radiator type core (which goes icy cool when aircon is on) and some aircon type copper pipes. But the heater unit is behind it?? I couldn't work out a way to remove it though, do you have to undo the big bolt from the firewall to pull the whole thing out? What about aircon gas? Will it all need to be regassed?

Not happy - its going to be a major pain in the ass to fix and about a days hard work. Looks like I probably do have to take the entire dash apart to do it properly and be able to get to everything.

Thanks for the advice guys - yeah, i'd rather do it right. I'll take more photos when I get to changing it over.

[Cubes]

If you get too much air in the system (air replacing the water that has leaked out) you will be able to hear a bubbling/boiling sound from the rubber heater hoses especially on a warm day after a decent drive. If you get just that little bit too much air in the system the car will overheat and the guage may rise very quickly in to and past the H, depending on how bad it is.

On the R32's there is a T piece bleeder in the top heater core hose against the firewall. This is where you bleed the air from. Just the bleeder on the plenum is not enough to stop the car from overheating.

Mine also would spew out water from the overflow bottle when the car was turned off. As soon as the air from the heater core was removed not once has the water level in the overflow bottle looked like it has moved.

[wrxhoon]

joel , its not a bad idea to bleed the system when u change the coolant however the system will bleed itself .

when u refill the radiator u fill to the top wait a little then it goes down refill again fill the plastic tank to the top put the radiator cap on take it for a drive to get it to normal temp so the thermostat opens let it cool down then refill the radiator to the top and the plastic tank to the top mark dont overfill it this time cause u only going to loose it .

[Cubes]

erm no... Nissan put bleed nipples there for a reason.

Maybe they have changed the setup with the newer RB's, in the older ones it is a must to bleed air from the system.

IF I were to walk out now and flush the system (removing heater hoses), stick new coolant in to it, I can guarantee that it will overheat due to air locks in the head /heater core. If you do not remove the heater hoses you won't get as much air in the system in turn the car will drive fine but on hot days spit water out the overflow bottle then when it cools it will suck more air in.

You will find most decent workshops if replacing coolant will use a header tank that raises the water level above the head and plenum. Then you crack the bleed nipples and all of the air is released.

I've seen it also on Darrens car before he bought his R32 GTS-T. It was throwing water out of the overflow bottle and wouldn't bleed the air out its self. Maybe a little bit of air it can bleed but when you start doing the job properly and removing heater hoses etc then way to much air gets in to the system.

VL Commodores also had this system.

Why is it a bad idea to bleed the system when coolant is changed? Have you had experience with it on your own car?

[wrxhoon]

joel , i said its not a bad idea to bleed it .

ur right they have bleed valves there for a reason , this is the reason : when u take ur car to a workshop it s easier to bleed the system rather than drive it till the thermostat opens so it will bleed itself but for ur own car u can do it the way i said no probs .

by the way when u flash the system u should undo the plug on the block to get coolant out of the cil head and block and the heater on so the coolant will come out of the heater too .

[Cubes]

I read it wrong. oops..

Pretty much my car wouldn't bleed its self. Even when bleeding the head with the header tank I had to also do it when the thermostat opened. A bit of air would come out with the thermostat closed but as soon as it would open the head was filled with air again. If I didn't bleed the head and left the heaterhose connected when flushing water would constantly spew out the overflow bottle on a warm day when turning the car off. It wouldn't go away and didn't bleed its self. Maybe there was just too much air in the system. Instead causing the water to boil easily and hence throw water out the overflow then sucking air in when there was no water.

VL commodores are known for this problem, if you let the overflow bottle run dry due to a air lock in the head spewing out the water you will crack the head.

Most jap importers are aware of how important it is to bleed both the head and the heater hoses when the thermostat was open. D1 Garage is one which comes to mind that mentioned this to me also.

[wrxhoon]

i never have any problem and i dont usualy undo the breather bolt but remember u cant let ur overflow bottle run dry ( maybe thats ur problem ) .u can top that anytime it doesnt matter if the engine is hot or not , its the radiator top u cant take off if the engine is hot .

anyway the correct way of filling it up is as follows u do all hoses tight then open the heater valve ( with climate control put in the highest seting ,32 deg), undo the bleed valve then fill radiator very slowly so coolant will go in the block , cil head and heater , as soon as u see coolant coming out of the bleed valve do it up tight .

put radiator cap on and do it up fully , start the engine keep it idling until thermostat valve opens , check that the bottom radiator hose is hot ( then u'll know that the thermostat is open ). rev the engine up a few times backing off every time ,that will suck the coolant in . stop the engine and when it cools down ( never undo the rad cap when hot )check the level in the radiator if down a little top it up . fill the reservoir tank to max only not higher ( u going to loose it if u do ).

thats how u do it if someone brings u a car to do a radiator or just replace the coolant .

u should do that every 2 years and never put water from the tap in it , i always use pre mixed coolant 33% if u go to the snow u should use 50%.

by undoing the bleed valve its easier to get it filled however make sure u change the copper washer every time otherwise it may leak .

[Craved]

hey predator, keep us informed on how it goes for you, i'll be doing mine next month, or next week, so if you can give us all some tips on how to do it, it would be great!!

[Cubes]

I'd much prefer to bleed the air from the system properly when the thermostat opens than have to top up the overflow bottle for the next few days.

When bleeding the air properly the water level doesn't budge nor if it gets hot does it spit water out from the overflow, fill it once and leave it.

With my R32 If I disconnect the heater hoses it gets that much air in the system that it cannot bleed its self. Instead it causes lots of airlocks in the system that will overheat the car on a warmish day, throw coolant out by the bucket loads & will also cause the heater to some times blow cool air yet other times be ok.

If you have disconnected the heater hoses to flush the system fully and you havn't had the same hassle as I have had then I'd say the R33's must be designed a little better in order to fix the problem.

I've fiddled with one other R32 and it is exactly the same IF I don't bleed the nipple against the firewall.

Does the R33 have a bleeder that is T'd from the top heater hose that runs against the firewall?

Sorry bit off topic.. kind of related.

[wrxhoon]

rb25s and rb26shave a bleed valve as well but not on the firewall its on the front side of the intake manifold .

[Cubes]

ahh ok.. The R32 GTS-T's have a bleed nipple on the front of the plenum and also a T piece that is in the middle of the upper heater hose roughly behind the AAC valve hard up against the firewall. The T is bunged off with a rubber bung and clamp.

[predator]

Back on topic.. but good info though for when i need to do that, after I've finished fixing the heater and losing 500ml of coolant each drive i guess!

Anyhow, I've pulled the dash all apart, its gone..

Now this I gather is the heater unit (circled yellow). Next question - how the hell do i get it out?

I'm going to try the screws circled in red, but i'm sure its more complicated than that. I'm hoping I can just "lift" all the vent stuff out as one unit, and that will allow me to see the heater core and where the pipes come in from the firewall.

Not really looking foward to it, so I'm going to try and tackle that tomorrow. At the end of this I hope to come up with a nice FAQ on how to fix this problem.

[MADGT4]

Man that looks a mess but i mean it will....

Your kinda being my guinee pig Predator but your being so helpful but i'm gonna wait till your done so i can go straight thru and do it.

But thanx for doin all of us a helping hand in this crappy episode

[2rismo]

Well here we go...

Had the wet footwell syndrome for a fortnight but the radiator overflow seemed fine so i (stupidly) ignored it.

Went shopping - maybe for half an hour - and by the time i came out, the security guard who i know (who watches my car when i'm there) said that i had a fair bit of fluid under my car since i had been parked there.

I said (stupidly) that it was just condensation from the air-con (v.hot day - always on 18deg) and ignored it....stupidly.

Leave carpark chatting to wife, drive 100m to the traffic lights and look at the PFC to see the temp do the following. (each change took just under a second).

83....85....91....98....105....112....119....

SHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIITTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!

Lights change and I move off round the corner hoping that it's just an air-lock and that it will sort itself out. Another 20 meteres up the road and it drops back to 112 then 110. All well so far... Another 50 up the road and it's fluctuating between 112 and 119. Pull over at the top of a hill and kill the motor. Open the bonnet to hear the general sounds of ticking usually associated with a farking hot motor as well as a hissing sound from the back of the head. Dreading the sight, I look over the back of the motor, down past the coil module and heater hose to see a pin-hole absolutely p1ssing out water/steam back towards the firewall. It was a hose by the looks of it and it looked like it was a small split in the middle of it but i'm damned if i can find the hose now.

In any case I had a farking hot engine (possibly f**ked), no water in the radiator and hardly any in the overflow. I'm guessing that the water couldn't flow into the system from the bottle due to the steam/pressure.

I wait....half an hour....did I mention that I had bought dinner (prawns) at the shops? Yucky!

Decide to top up the overflow bottle to just over-full then brave opening the radiator cap. Dry obviously and with the PFC now displaying 96, I start the motor and VERY VERY slowly fill the bastard up.

To cut an INSANELY long story short, after idling for about 15 mins and topping the radiator up, I had it idling at 76deg which is 2deg cooler than normal. Whatever!

Drove to dad's which is about 2 mins away and pull up at 76deg. Awesome. Then I remember MADGT4 and his wonderful thread about a wet foot-well.

The only place that had any water left was the passenger foot-well. Green water.

Guys'n'gals, if you're still with me, please read the following...

** IF YOU HAVE A WET PASSENGER FOOT-WELL, DON'T IGNORE IT (stupidly) LIKE ME OR YOU COULD COOK YOUR FRIGGIN' MOTOR AND END UP WITH A BILL FOR MANY THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS!! **

Right.

Well I might not have a broken engine as it was only running at those ridiculous temperatures for seconds but please be aware that as the fluid level drops and the steam/pressure builds, the remaining fluid is forced out of the cooling system at an exponential rate! It even (as in this case) creates FREE BONUS LEAKS for you to deal with later on :-(

Hope this helps people in the future. I'm p1ssed off so this is now gonna be a sticky in the Maintenance section cos I don't want you wonderful people to break your cars.

Adrian

[predator]

er yeah, long story - but hence why i've got onto it straight away. Any problem in the cooling system can mean the end for an engine and many more $thousand. Seeing as I've got time, I've tackled it.

I hope your engine is ok there! Might have been lucky.

Day 2 of "pull my whole insides out just for the fun of it in 34 degree temps".. i finally got the entire heating unit out (see below), and then the heater core (heater radiator). I can tell you it is one *bitch* of a job. Its been about 6 hours so far I've spent. Its probably the only job next to dropping out a gearbox or engine that takes so much time.. ack!

This is your problem (notice the foot and what i think of it!)... and to get to it you have to pretty much pull your *entire* dash apart. There is the alternative option of bypassing it altogether (which i've done temporarily), which i'll post in another thread.

[predator]

Here is the actual core itself, and what is the root of the entire problem, tucked right behind everything. Notice the leak in the corner - that is pretty much where the water has been coming from. No obvious sign of rust or damage, but when i filled it up, that is where the water was leaking from.

Tomorrow I'm going to give nissan and/or Natrad a call and see how much a new one is going to cost me. I'm hoping its just a "nissan parts bin" special (e.g. shared with other nissans), and readily available