Help Please!!!

[GTRREX]

Hi guys,

I have a '97 R33 GTR with HKS GT2530 turbos. Earlier tonight I was having some fun driving it when I noticed that it started to feel a little "sluggish". I then noticed that the peak boost it had achieved in my last run was only 1.2 bar instead of the 1.5 bar I was getting earlier. I quickly pulled the car over and smoke was absolutely pouring out the exhaust. It was difficult to see in the dark but it looked like the smoke was white in colour. I lifted the bonnet could hear water or fluid bubbling in the radiator (don't know if that means anything but I haven't noticed that before). I also noticed a couple of strange sounds when I noticed the car was sluggish but I can't remember what they sounded like but only remember hearing something out of the usual. The car still runs but is now is running very badly so I just got it towed.

Does this sound like a blown turbo? If so can it be repaired or what's involved getting it fixed. If it doesn't sound like a turbo then any ideas on what has happened.

As I'm sure you can tell, I have very limited mechanical knowledge but am very concerned. I hope someone can help.

Thanks.

[Amaru]

To me the coolant bubbling in the radiator sounds like you may have overheated the car and blown a headgasket, which would cause the white smoke and performance problems the cars now having. Possibly get that checked out. Did you notice if the water (or even oil) temp was abnormal?

[GTRREX]

No I didn'y think to look at the temp guages unfortunately. It was a progressive event that took about 2 minutes in that firstly everything was fine then I stopped then accelerated very hard and noticed performance was quite poor compared to 5 minutes earlier, I then backed off and noticed that it only made 1.2 bar boost, I then cruised for about 1km and then noticed the engine did not sound right when I accelerated, I did not notice smoke at this point but then it was just pouring out the exhaust.

If it's the head gasket, is this a big deal? Does it take long for a mechanic to fix or cost much?

Thanks again!

[GTRREX]

To me the coolant bubbling in the radiator sounds like you may have overheated the car and blown a headgasket, which would cause the white smoke and performance problems the cars now having. Possibly get that checked out. Did you notice if the water (or even oil) temp was abnormal?

Aha! I think you're right. Just thinking about it now, I was running the car quite hard with acceleration and at high speeds and then pulled over for 5 mins and just let the car idle while I was talking to a mate. At this point everything was fine, then jump in car, accelerate hard and find poor power and so on.

So probably after giving the car a hard run, then pulling over and without airflow through the engine bay it was overheating while I left it idleing. Does this sound like it could be the case?

And further again about a head gasket, is it a difficult job to fix/replace and would it take long for a mechanic to do?

Thanks.

[400kwgtr]

head gasket on a gtr? maybe $2000. fair bit of work to get the head off. On all of my past performance cars i have installed a cheap and money saving device. Its a bloody big siren that is wired into the water temperature, so that when it starts to overheat for whatever reason the thing goes off and scares the crap out of you. Sometimes on the track its hard to check your guages when you are racing.

Was there any coolant under the car? Did you notice the cars acceleration do a quick stutter or just do a big miss for a second? I have noticed my cars do this before when a radiator hose blows.

[Mr GTS4]

i have a simialar problem in my R32 GTS4 - no performance loss, but after a drive in the hot wheather after i turn the car off the coolant overflow tank and almost full and is making a bubbling noise. they is not leaks, not smaoke out of the exhaust, temp gauge doesn't go up at all, stays at halfway. i also had a water pump replaced about 4 - 5 months ago and the guys only put water back in, about a week later i drained the radiator and filled it with coolant. could the problem just be that the water is overheating.

p.s. colour of water is green and no signs of oil or anything. also no water in engine oil.

any help would be great