Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hi there,

While driving yesterday (35 C heat) the coolant started to leak through the hood of the car. When I had a look it was boiling and vaporizing.

The first symptom seemed to be when the A/C temperature although on the lowest stopped being cold and then I also noticed the temperature gauge go all the way to 'H'.

I've currently got water in in the coolant tank.

About 2 years ago I had the same problem. I believe a radiator flush fixed the issue.

I'm just wondering why is this happening again. Is it expected? or is the problem more serious?

thanks..

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/420064-v35-coolant-evaporatingleaking/
Share on other sites

Firstly, water. I was told never to run water (unless distilled, even though, just don't do it).

Water expands in heat and boils = added pressure on the radiator = fracture. Whether it be a hairline or a large crack, when things heat up, the crack will open up and thus goes your coolant. Water can also cause rust and I've seen some pretty good rust f**k on engines where they've completely disintegrated the inlets.

Secondly, find out roughly what area it's coming from, either front, middle or back of engine bay.

Front - Radiator

Middle - Possibly some hose loose or cracked due to age or other chemicals that could have come in contact and dissolve a part. Highly unlikely that it would be anything serious like engine parts, but it is still a factor to consider.

Rear of engine bay or firewall - Likewise with middle, but could also be the coolant running into your firewall.

I wreck mainly R33 and R34s and with them, yes there an occasional problem but since your car is a V35, I'd guess there would be better stuff in there.

My suggestion:

Diagnose where the coolant is coming from, change the radiator if that is the case.

Pick up sludge or rust remover additive at your local auto store and run it according to the instructions on the bottle (usually has to be left in for a certain ammount of KMs)

Buy Anti-Freeze & Anti-Boil Coolant

Once leak is diagnosed and repaired, additive is added into coolant and run for the specified KMs by manufacturer of the additive, flush and refill coolant with the same stuff you used before.

Bit of work but would save you a heap in the long run, also gives you the peace of mind that it won't happen again, not in your ownership anyway. Also don't run your car when the temp is right up to H. I don't run my 34 higher than 75% of the temp gauge.

Estimated Total cost if DIY: $250

Edit: Don't forget to bleed the air out as well. There should be a screw plug thing within the coolant line that is the highest point of where the coolant runs, unscrew it, run your engine till it sits at its normal temp, get a mate to help or pull on the throttle cable in the engine bay (MAKE SURE IT IS IN EITHER NEUTRAL OR PARK AND HANDBRAKE IS ON, otherwise you will run yourself over with a phantom driver). Leave it off until you get a constant stream of coolant running out. It will spit air, bubbles and coolant out then when all air is bled, constant coolant. Bleeding will require you to replace the coolant lost as it goes. I do this by using a 1.5L coke bottle, cut off at the bottom, no cap and tipped upside down to where the radiator cap is, hold it down firm and funnel coolant in. You'll see the level rise up and down and up again and down lower again as it flows through the radiator.

This is a general idea coming from R33/R34 RB25 experience.

Just search, there are many overheating threads for VQ series engines and they all point back to poor bleeding procedures. (the coolant system is fail in VQ's)

If you can hear a waterfall behind the dash, or if there is a cupful of coolant missing from the system, the whole cooling circuit can airlock causing no coolant flow. Let it cool and top it up fully from the rear bleed point as a start. You may have to re-do it a few times.

Here is a recent thread on the subject.

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/418084-help-cracked-headhead-gasket/?hl=%2Boverheating#entry6713914

lol yes they're bending you over and using the remaining cash to buy lubricant and lube you up.

Thermostats you can buy genuine Nismo ones on ebay for under $150.

$850 for labor, your judgement. I'm no mechanic but if it's faulty, it wouldn't leak, just wouldn't workand car will overheat unless the thermo stat is damaged itself then fair enough. Get a few mechanics to look at it and see what they say. My guts still tells me that it's the radiator and water problem

It's 3 screws to get the thermostat out, then dunk it in boiling water to see if it opens. You will need to get the water up over 85 degrees before it does, so do it in a pot on the stove.

The mechanic is ripping you, and probably doesn't even know where the thermostat is on the VQ.

Had a mechanic look at it and he said that the thermostat motor is fautly. Replacement/fix quoted to me was about $1000 :wacko:

Am I being overcharged or is this figure correct?

Hmm thermostat motor? If my calculations are correct this mechanic is talking shit.

Chances are it's not bled properly or you have a leak.... or your radiator cap is old and can hold proper pressure anymore.

And xntrq I have to correct you. Whether you use tap water or distilled water it will be the pressure in the cooling system that determines the boiling point. Higher pressure pushes the boiling point higher so if you have a leak or the raditor cap is old you can't hold enough pressure in the system and the water boils.

  • 9 months later...

Hi Mate,
I bought a skyline v35 250gt 2005 model clocked 75000 kms last week,, i experienced pretty much the same problem you had experienced aeround february this year.In one service station they said coolant flush should solve it and in other they said thermostat and coolant flush to be done and gave me a quote of 900$ :(.. please tell me what you ended up doing which solved the issue for you.. need an advice badly,, two days back when i was driving it got so heated up even smoke came a little bit piut of front bonnet and then the cooolant was spilled and fuming,,Is it the thermostat which is causing the problem.Thermostat change with a coolant bleed should solve it??

hI Greenpool,

I badly need an advice on how did ya sort this problem out,, im experincing the same in my V35 250GT,, what solved the issue,, thermostat and radiator/coolant flush fixed it? need a peace of mind here,, thanks!!!

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Very decent bit of kit. Definitely black it out I reckon.  
    • Because people who want that are buying euros. The people with the money to buy the aftermarket heads and blocks aren’t interested in efficiency or making -7 power, they’re making well over 1,000hp and pretty much only drive them at full throttle  best way to way make money is know your customer base and what they want and don’t spend money making things they don’t want. 
    • It's not, but it does feel like a bit of a missed opportunity regardless. For example, what if the cylinder head was redesigned to fit a GDI fuel system? It's worth like two full points of compression ratio when looking at modern GDI turbo vs PFI turbo. I'm pretty reliably surprised at how much less turbo it takes to make similar power out of a modern engine vs something like an RB26. Something with roughly the same dimensions as a -7 on an S55 is making absolutely silly power numbers compared to an RB26. I know there's a ton of power loss from things like high tension rings, high viscosity oil, clutch fan, AWD standby loss, etc but it's something like 700 whp in an F80 M3 vs 400 whp in an R33 GTR. The stock TF035HL4W turbos in an F80 M3 are really rather dinky little things and that's enough to get 400 whp at 18 psi. This just seems unwise no? I thought the general approach is if you aren't knock limited the MFB50 should be held constant through the RPM range. So more timing with RPM, but less timing with more cylinder filling. A VE-based table should accordingly inverse the VE curve of the engine.
    • I've seen tunes from big name workshops with cars making in excess of 700kW and one thing that stood out to me, is that noone is bothering with torque management. Everyone is throwing in as much timing as the motor can take for a pull. Sure that yields pretty numbers on a dyno, but it's not keeping these motors together for more than a few squirts down the straight without blowing coolant or head gaskets. If tuners, paid a bit more attention and took timing out in the mid range, managed boost a bit better, you'll probably see less motors grenading. Not to name names, or anything like that, but I've seen a tune, from a pretty wild GT-R from a big name tuner and I was but perplexed on the amount of timing jammed into it. You would have expected a quite a bit less timing at peak torque versus near the limiter, but there was literally 3 degrees of difference. Sure you want to make as much as possible throughout the RPM range, but why? At the expense of blowing motors? Anyhow I think we've gone off topic enough once again lol.
    • Because that’s not what any of them are building these heads or blocks for. It’s to hold over over 1000hp at the wheels without breaking and none of that stuff is required to make power 
×
×
  • Create New...