Overheating RB26 saga, more info, help!

[xfixiate]

I would check your turbos. I had a blown turbo on my r32 GTR and had 10 types of crud in everything (and lots of smoke).

Also sounds like your o2 sensors might not be working correctly. Have you connected up a dx computer to your ECU?

The miss and carry on you are seeing is typical of a warped head. Only leaks when under pressure. Not bleeding the air out of the top of the head on radiator fill will cause this as well.

Got air bublles coming up the radiator cap when revving engine? blown gasket.

Get a leakdown test done. results will be:

- bubbles in radiator - blown to water

- air coming out of engine vent - bad pistons

- air coming out of exhaust - burnt/bad exh valves

- air out of inlet - bad/bent inlet valves

- air coming out of neighbouring cyclinder - blown gasket.

[underground]

What I am going to do is to make a video for all to view..

I'm going to simply start the car and drive it until it gets hot....

Hopefully maybe the rate of pace, etc might explain to you guys whats going on...

Once it gets to about 210 degrees Farenheit, I will pull over and pop the hood, and film what's going on...

This is the only thing I can think of. That way you can experience what I am experiencing and maybe get a better idea..

Chris

[hungry6]

When you had the transplanted done, did the shop hooked up all the coolant hoses properly? or did they ditch some of the excess piping. there are coolant pipings that runs around the back of the engine across the firewall and then under the turbos, collecting the superheated water and then returning it into the head just infront of your power steering assembly. If for some reason you are missing any of these pipe works, what u are experiencing is that superheated water is not being recirculated to the system, and are allowed to heat up and when your thermostate is registering the heat buld up it is too late to be cooling it down as it has reached a point where it will boil any other coolant it comes into contact with. The simple test for this is that you supposedly have a 1/2 or 5/8" pipe running out from your turbo. after starting your motor from cold within 5 mins see if this section of pipe is boiling and your bottom hose of your radiator is still cold then you have had your coolant circulation pipes truncated during the transplant. I hope this isn't the case if it is it will require engine out to fix it or some small gnome to get in there with skinny little fingers to get it back together.

[Cubes]

Double check you have all the air out of the cooling system.

Make sure you are dragging enough air through the radiator (via a shroud).

When my clutch fan is engaged it moves an absolute huge amount of air.

No thermo fans I have seen can move that amount of air.

[DAN00H]

1. simple test on the airflow of the elec fans, place your had on the front of the cooler and you should feel the air being sucked through. this will indicate of the fans are sufficient.

2. if your car has reached a really high temp there is every chance you have cracked/warped the head. when it first got hot, did you put any cold water into it? Once a car has had a really bad overheating it will always run hot (happened with an alloy head falcon we had... nothing fixed the high temp...)

3. When HPI/Zoom (don't remember which) covered the clockwork conversion of an rb20 into a silvia, they had major overheating issues - this was due to the intercooler / front bumper assembly and was only fixed by removing the original bumper and cutting away some of the metal / plastic...

4. when the engine was installed, one of your coolant pipes may have been crushed...

5. remove the rad cap and see that the water is circulating properly... sounds stupid, but a rag may have been left in one of the pipes casuing a blockage...

6. substance in overflow tank looked to me like oil... is your car using water??? might be a problem with the head as above, or the gasket.

7. when the car is hot, is the cap pressurised? DON"T FULLY REMOVE IT OR YOU WILL GET MAJORLY BURNT! place the thermo in a pot of water and bring to the boil, is it working???

8. when you did the back flush, did you do it from various locations? might still have a blockage - squeeze all teh rubber pipes, might have rust/scale buildup...

9. that's about all I can think of for the moment....

Good luck!

[underground]

Well guys, its been a few weeks and temps seem to be more under control...

I built a box around the radiator that connects to the intercooler, I also put a scoop on the bottom of the box to grab air from the outside.. (I copied that Supra's scoop that one of you guy posted a link to.)

The temps seem to hold steady at 210 F while driving around, but under boost can reach 220F... I know this is still hot, but it's a definate improvement. At least it doesn't climb endlessly anymore....

Here's what I found today:

Mineral deposits, a.k.a motor grime, it's like muddy type residue that is all in my radiator cooling fins...

I've flushed the motor, but the residue is just glued on my radiator fins it seems. I took a knife and scraped some off, and it looks like mud and has the same texture.. It's thick and I can tell it's not oil..

I'm wondering if maybe I have a blockage in the radiator from all this mud substance stuff..

Anyways, there's the update and as always, any help is greatly appreciated...

Chris

[blind_elk]

All that gunk in the radiator will be seriously affecting the heat transfer from the water to the metal of the radiator. Get the radiator fully cleaned by a reputable radiator repair place, and you may start having a bit more success.

Have you been using coolant (glycol, etc) in the cooling system?

[Cubes]

Best bet is to get the block & heater core powerflushed also.

No point having the block full of crap, bolting on the new clean radiator only to have it block up again.

---

I got my car back from a crash repairer that had the radiator etc out only to find the coolant was a brown colour. Next thing I know there was heaps of gunk appearing on the radiator cap etc.

It looks to me they simply topped up the system and didn't flush the old crap that had been sitting in the block exposed to the elements for 1month.

[RBsileighty]

Well guys, its been a few weeks and temps seem to be more under control...

I built a box around the radiator that connects to the intercooler, I also put a scoop on the bottom of the box to grab air from the outside.. (I copied that Supra's scoop that one of you guy posted a link to.)

The temps seem to hold steady at 210 F while driving around, but under boost can reach 220F... I know this is still hot, but it's a definate improvement. At least it doesn't climb endlessly anymore....

Here's what I found today:

Mineral deposits, a.k.a motor grime, it's like  muddy type residue that is all in my radiator cooling fins...

I've flushed the motor, but the residue is just glued on my radiator fins it seems. I took a knife and scraped some off, and it looks like mud and has the same texture.. It's thick and I can tell it's not oil..

I'm wondering if maybe I have a blockage in the radiator from all this mud substance stuff..

Anyways, there's the update and as always, any help is greatly appreciated...

Chris

That "mud" is exactly what I found in my radiator... builds up in the top of the rad and looks like clay almost? I just had my radiator pro cleaned by a buddy of mine who works for a dealership in town. He said he did 2 cleanings... one then drove it around and then drained and did another flush/cleaning. They have a special solvent for it... he said everything coming out now is clean.

Glad to see that MKIV link helped you out a bit. I think this "mud" thing is just part of the game when you swap a motor that's been sitting a while.