Water Temp Question??????

P

PB&J

//HELLA-FLUSH\\
Driver
well I'm still stumped and very worried, all start with the info:
I Got-
-sr20det
-v-mount setup
-1-12inch electric fan
-NO-Thermostate
-Stock Water Temp. Guage
-Autometer Water Temp. Electrical Guage tapped into an coolant line coming
-off block for v-mount setup
-all extra coolant hoses for heater and accessories are czped off.


problem-

i drive to school everyday(about 6miles) i let my car warm up in the morning(6:30am) till the stock water temp gets mid level, then i drive to school the the whole trip to school my stock temp doesn't go up or down. my autometer guage doesn't pass 150degrees F.!

Now i get out of school at 1:45pm in the dead of the afternoon the hottest part of the day, same thing i let my car warm up till the stock guage gets mid-level and autometer guage reads 150deg.F i drive the same way home but now if i get stopped at intersections or have to wait at idle for awhile my stock guage rise slowly to H!!! and the autometer guage slowly rises to about 180deg.F, it will very slowly cool back down when i drive again but still to the point where anyone would pull over thinking there car is overheating!

Questions I need answered?

why is this happening??

whats the operating temperature of an SR20DET? i think its 190deg. F but not sure

Should I even be worried at all?

why does my stock guage read hot but not the after market one?

which guage should i trust?

i konw these are dumb questions but please im very conserned, if you could answer these questions and give me help please
 
Last edited:
What's the temp outside in the AM? What fan are you running and do you have a fan controller?

KRM
 
Do you have the autometer water temp sensor on the return from the engine to the radiator. (the water pump is the intake from radiator to the engine).

The fan is installed a pulling or pushing the correct way right?

Do you have a highest point of where you can bleed the coolant system from?

Got fins on that water pump?

have you tried putting a thermostat in it?

Do you have the pickup radiator hose (the lower hose), drawing from the bottom of the radiator. And the top hose returning to the top of the radiator from the engine?

Do you have any ducting to channel airflow through the radiator and intercooler?
 
water meter guage is hooked up to the llower rad hose

the fan is mounted on the backside of rad and is pulling air through it

yes i have bleed from the bleeder screw on the top water neck, no air just coolant

water pump is in excellant condition

with thermostat in the motor it just get hot sooner and overheats

radiator is hooked up the normal way

the radiator and intercooler are boxed in with tinshear(ducting)
 
im using a koyo aluminum rad, and a 12inch electric fan,
my car only seems to over heat when its at idle in the HOT ASS SUN

Early mornings i can sit at idle for awhile and wont get pass 155deg. F
 
drftns14 said:
im using a koyo aluminum rad, and a 12inch electric fan,
my car only seems to over heat when its at idle in the HOT ASS SUN

Early mornings i can sit at idle for awhile and wont get pass 155deg. F
Click to expand...

When you're overheating, is your fan actually running and if so, is it running at capacity (poor ground and other electrical issues can cause them to run at less than full speed)? Do you have a fan controller?

KRM
 
This actually happens to my car too.

In the morning's it wont go past 183.2 degrees F at idle, but during the hot parts of the day it will raise up to 194 to 203 degrees F...

I found that this only happens at idle. One of the reasons I have found is that there is:

no sufficient air flow to cool the engine at idle,

also there is no updraft do get any of the hot air out of the engine bay as there is during normal driving.

I am running 2 10" fans and I jacked up the back of my hood...

What kind of coolant are you using? I just flushed my system and put the water wetter stuff in today but I havent driven it since.
 
im about to get a vented hood on my car, to help with the air flow situation, im running a 50/50 mixutre of water and coolant
 
the water meter gauge should be mounted on the top radiator hose.............. which returns coolant back to the radiator. The lower hose is always the pickup because there will always be water at the bottom of the radiator rather the top.

Note: an engine at idle dose not produce as much heat as a loaded engine.

Thermostats provide a happy medium, allowing just enough coolant flow to regulate engine temperature, while this is happening the coolant also stays cooling in the radiator longer then with out a thermostat. By regulating the coolant flow, the radiator is able to cool the coolant that is about to enter the engine, thus coolant that has a lower temperature and will be able to absorb more thermal energy.

zak says: "Take a hot potato(coolant), and throw it through a refrigerator(radiator). Well the hot potato goes through the fridge so fast that the fridge dose not have enough time to cool it down."

So first make sure that you have your water temp gauge on the top radiator hose and monitor engine temperatures.

your radiator and all radiator hoses are clear and not blocked or restricted are they?

how do you have your fan wired?
 
all my coolant hoses are new and unblocked, my coolant guage is tee-d in a coolant line that is connect to the neck where the stock coolant sensor is located at. i wired up my fan to the stock high speed relay in the engine bay compartment-it comes on when the key is in the key on/run postion and stays on while i drive the car
 
Is your temp guage wired to your stock temp guage in the cluster?

Sorry for the noobie question, I really have no idea. But this is on a 95 240sx right? I have the same, and at 180degrees my stock guage still reads in the middle.

Does anyone else have temp information they can post on here soo we can see what everyone is running at?
 
how long has this problem been going on?
Did you just put this engine into the car this winter?
Does you 12" fan have a shroud around it?
 
yea ^^ do you have a shroud? cause that will definately help direct that air. try getting a coolant flush (professional). they flush the coolant from your radiator and ALSO suck it out of your block, since there is really no way you can do this part yourself without having the machine for it. that will make SURE youre really at 50-50.
sears charges 69 for it, i dont know any other place's prices

as far as the running temp, i BELIEVE an SR is supposed to run at around 10 degrees hotter than a KA, so i believe around 185 or so is correct. since i assume youre using usdm stock gauges it may be reading that hotter temperature as overheating (thinking it should be lower since it assumes you have a ka). note that the AM gauge shows you the actual temperature, while the stock gauge just shows that its running 'hot' which is somewhat ambiguous.
 
240jw said:
yea ^^ do you have a shroud? cause that will definately help direct that air. try getting a coolant flush (professional). they flush the coolant from your radiator and ALSO suck it out of your block, since there is really no way you can do this part yourself without having the machine for it. that will make SURE youre really at 50-50.
sears charges 69 for it, i dont know any other place's prices

as far as the running temp, i BELIEVE an SR is supposed to run at around 10 degrees hotter than a KA, so i believe around 185 or so is correct. since i assume youre using usdm stock gauges it may be reading that hotter temperature as overheating (thinking it should be lower since it assumes you have a ka). note that the AM gauge shows you the actual temperature, while the stock gauge just shows that its running 'hot' which is somewhat ambiguous.
Click to expand...

this is good but you live in Miami, so unless you drive north for the winter you don't need anti-freeze in your car. I run only water with an anti-rust additive and I'm up in Tampa.

LOL just don't forget that shit and drive to aunt Sally's for Christmas in Ohio this year.
 
I flushed my coolant by filling it with pure water, then running it for about 30 seconds, letting it drain for about 30 seconds with the car on, then turning it off and letting it finish draining... I did this until it the water came out perfectly clear.

I'm not sure if this was a very good thing to do. but I don't think it damaged anything because there was still water in the radiator when it was running.

I refilled with distilled water and Water Wetter stuff by redline. I am running 4 to 5 degrees celcius cooler.

You might want to try the coolant flush. And a fan shroud would be a great Idea. Unless your like me and have 1/2" between your drive belt and radiator.
 
without a thermostat the coolant is running right through the passages, not giving it enough time to stay there and cool anything.. try getting a lower temp rated thermostat.

maybe theres air in your system?!
 
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