34 Overheating in the Summer.... Any ideas??

[N/A®]

Hi guys,

I fitted a brand new Blitz FMIC on my 34 few months back and im not sure if its the cause of my overheating. I havent had any heating problems till this Hot Summer came along. Temp seems to rise toward the danger level on hot days if i drive the car long enough.

Could it be the FMIC stopping air for the radiator? I seem to remember something about FMIC causing overheating probs.. Maybe even from the Blitz Cataloque... Please let me know what u think.

Btw, coolant levels all seem good.

Thanks.

[\\\Wiktor]

Yes probebly its stopping the air some but not too mutch. The skylines are known for their heat problems. But the easiest way to solve this is to mount a big electric fan instead of the viscous one. if this dosent do the trick or you want to be sure of that it never vill overheat a new big raditor from ex ARC would do wery mutch that is coming on my friend R34 in a near future..

W

[mist]

my car's water temp used to head north of 98 deg in traffic with the aircon on. Also have a big FMIC fitted. I obtained a triple-core radiator and haven't had any problems since, with water temp stable at 80 something degrees, depending on how hot it is outside. Radiator upgrade highly effective for Aussie weather..

[N/A®]

Well its just a car i drive sometimes so i dont want to upgrade the radiator. Any coolant fluid i should use that might help? Temp goes up on days above 35degress with aircon on too...

[ed]

I have no FMIC and no over-heating problems on mine.

[Guest RedLineGTR]

How thick is the intercooler and what type is it tube and fin, bar N plate?? usually the thickness of the intercooler is the problem.

[Cubes]

Wiktor.

Skylines are not known for their overheating problems.. Far from it.

I've got a very restrictive bar and plate 90mm FMIC sitting in front of my a/c condensor/radiator.

Origionally I had a set of Twin Thermo fans fitted as I assumed it would help cooling when fitting the thick fmic. BOY was I wrong. Winter the temps never budged. I could sit idling for hours without any overheating problems. As soon as the temps started to hit 30degree's the temp guage no matter if I was sitting on 100km/h or 150km/h it would still creep up to the hot.

I tried getting the radiator reconditioned, block power flushed etc etc with zero change.

I then fitted the origonal clutch fan & shroud and the extra air movement amazing. Zero over heating problems even on the last 43.5degree day in peak hour traffic. When on idle when the clutch fan kicks in i can feel air being sucked through the fmic when i place my fingers in front of it. At traffic lights i can feel the hot air being blown up the side of the car.

Get your Clutch fan checked out. Chances are its nacked.

When cold you should be able to hear it make a loud whooshing noise for approx 10 seconds then it should go quite. If not the chances are its stuffed or on its way out.

Just because its an R34 doesn't mean it hasn't died already. My old man bought a new EB falcon years ago that had the clutch fan die 1 year later.

[sweetr33]

An easy fix for this is to take out your thermostat and drill a couple of holes around the outside of the t-stat if u understumble what i mumble? Seen it done b4 and it worked on all occasions. brought the temps down to a respectable level. hope it helps

[Cubes]

Increasing coolant flow is not always a good idea.

It doesn't have time to cool in the radiator.

The Lines have an extremely well designed cooling system. Something must be a-miss.

[gtrGhosTDoGG11]

Maybe changing your coolant to Redline Water Wetter, just buy a bottle from S&J Auto, and add distilled water, it will make heaps of difference.

[benjiman74]

Yeah use Redline Water Wetter to fix your overheating problem and should you ever have blowby problems a bottle of Stop Smoke should do the job!

Seriously find the cause of the problem rather than drilling holes in your thermostat or buying overpriced additives.

Remember other cars without these additives aren't having overheating problems.

my 2c anyway

[rb26dett]

yea i think if u drill holes in the thermostat you'd reduce the pressure in the coolant system, which is bad. the higher the pressure u have in the system, the harder it would be for the coolant to boil, i.e. a higher pressure in the system = higher boiling point, which is the reason aftermarket radiator caps are rated at 1.3 bar instead of the stock 0.9 bar.

i have consulted many reputable skyline mechanics in brisbane regarding changing to an electric fan, but for different reasons. i have been advised to keep the stock one as it is because it is the most effecient by far. i was also concerned about the temps when i hit the track, but the only temp that rises seems to be the oil temp. no worries in the coolant dept.

[N/A®]

-Joel-,

what do u mean by clucth fan? I asked nissan and they think its due to the size of the cooler. Full restriction. Plus it only happens on hot days with the aircon on. With it off, not bad at all.

[SLY33]

hi guys,

my thoughts are that the intercooler shouldnt make too big a contribution to the car overheating.

i say this because the fan shrouds are so good (on 33's anyway, havent seen a 34 shroud), that air is pulled very efficiently through the radiator. The intercooler is fitted a fair distance away from the radiator, which will restrict air flow when on the move, but as mentioned if the fan is working correctly, it will pull the air it needs through the radiator whether their is a cooler in front of it or not.

My point being that usually temps are going to rise when sitting in traffic on a hot day, where the intercooler wont restrict air coming through as there is no 'flow' while doing the low speed traffic crawl anyways.

N/A when does your temp problem happen? Only when you have to sit in traffic or does it even happen when you get moving? My temp went to 97deg, a/c on, while sitting in traffic for ages on the last 40 odd degree day, but as soon as i get moving it comes back down. Also if you are still using the factory sender, it could be a bit off. My factory sender sits dead in the middle ALL the time once warmed up. Normal temp ~80deg=middle. 97deg on the FC and it still sits in the middle!

[Sydneykid]

REtarded igntion timing will cause a car to overheat. Checked it lately?

[sweetr33]

timing, dragging brakes, low engine oil, lean mixtures, all can help a car get warm. Its hard for people to make assumptions when we dont know when it happens, ie, rpms, idle or cruize, temp drop when u start to move, how much higher is the temp really sitting on the gauge. Easiest thing to do is see a mechanic near u and ask em.

[BOOSTD]

Bah, you don't have a exhaust flap jammed shut...... hehe

[Cubes]

I've ran my car lean (on boost) by disconnecting an inline bosch pump.

It really is amasing how you can see the temp guage start heading up towards 3/4 as soon as you get hard on the throttle.

Clicked third and heard the worse pinging i've ever heard. Pulled over and the car was lumping over for a while. Drove it nice and easy home, by then the lumping had smoothed out and the car idled normal again. Connected the inline pump back up and all is well. Was a silly thing to do.

My car has had a real hammering. I had a dodgy coolant temp sensor that was reading cold. At the same time I had twin 12" thermo fans that were not keeping the car cool during hot summer days. Basically with the stuffed coolant temp sensor the temp would go up to half way and start spitting out the water.

I replaced the coolant temp sensor and realised the car only spits out water when it is sitting on the H. That means I drove the car around last summer on the H almost every where. Can't belive its running still. Does feel a little sluggy compared to what it used to be like.

Origionally the car would spin up first with light throttle click second sending the arse end swinging around until i clicked third. Now it only gives a solid chirp. It also used to really pull hard in second with the rears wanting to spin up, if it hit a little bump or change in road surface some times it would totally spin up. She's getting tired.

Good excuse for a new motor.