95 ka24de Overheating

[diomedes]

**LONG STORY. DON'T FLAME**
*Just trying to be as clear as possible.*

My 95 s14, ka24de, has been overheating on me for the past two days.

First time I noticed the problem was when I was driving, 30-35mph. The heat temperature was at H. I pulled over and shut the engine off, open up the hood to cool down the engine a bit. I looked under the car to see if there was any leaks and there was none. The overflow reservoir was empty. Pulled out my 1/2 gallon coolant and added some to the overflow reservoir tank and waited till the radiator was cool enough to open and pour the rest of the coolant in the radiator.

Yesterday, it did the same thing on me. I noticed the temp gauge was at H again, while driving, and I stopped. No leaks and this time the overflow reservoir was full to the cap. Just now when I drove the car around the block a few times then stopped and left the engine running, the temp gauge rose up nearly to H. I also notice at that time that the overflow tank was at the correct level for coolant and it started to fill up to the top again.

The previous owner replace the radiator, clutch fan, shroud, and all radiator hoses with brand new items. The new radiator cap says 16 PSI on it. Everything was replaced roughly 5 months ago.

The only thing I could think of that's making my car overheat is a bad thermostat or water pump because it looks old, but it's not leaking coolant.

Any help will do.

Thanks in advance.

[SnakeKack]

Replace the thermostat. They are only like 7 bucks. Just make sure you put it in right. If that's not the case it's one more thing off of your list. Water pumps usually leak when they go bad I think. And I'm not sure but isn't the cap for the KA supposed to be 13-14psi?

How long do you have to be driving for it to start overheating?

[DunG HAB SP]

be cheap cut out the t-stat and buy a new rad cap..

[Palmer]

^^ Yeah if it was the water pump it does usually start to leak around the bottom. It does sound like you need a new thermostat, they are pretty cheap and very easy to replace. if that's not it replace the rad cap.

[diomedes]

Thanks for the info guys.

snakekack: It's a 20-30 drive or with engine running, that it'll start to overheat. And I'm not sure what the psi for the rad cap is, but I read on another site and it says 14-16 psi should be good.

Dung_HAB_SP: I had an cut/open thermo on my last s14 and I didn't like it. It ran cool all the time and during the winter time, I had no heat at all.

Yeah, I had a bad water pump on my last s14 and it was leaking at the bottom of the water pump.

Replacing the thermo or water pump won't be a problem.

[Gnnr]

Did you bleed the system for air? Also did you run the heater?

[diomedes]

Did you bleed the system for air? Also did you run the heater?

No I didn't bleed the system for air. Unfortunately the little head of the hex bolt on the intake manifold broke so there's no way for me to see if there's any air running in the system.

I run the heater sometimes in the morning and is always set to hot whenever I'm not using the climate control.

EDIT:UPDATE: I have just drove the car around the block and left the engine running for 15-20 minutes and heat gauge rose up to H again. I stopped and noticed that the overflow tank empty and the radiator was half empty. Jacked up the car to see if the water pump was leaking and it was NOT leaking at all. It's dry as hell. There seems to be no leak anywhere.

Hope it's not the head-gasket. My s13 just blew it's HG and I don't want it to happen to my DD.

[Gnnr]

Is the top and bottom hose hot?

[diomedes]

The top hose is hotter then the bottom one. There seems to be no clogs in the radiator because when the engine is running, both the hoses are not pressured beyond what they should be. I could still squeeze both hoses, with a small amount of force and could hear coolant moving when squeezing them.

I've been reading about over heating ka24de for the past hour and it seems that most of the time it's the thermo or water pump. Also seems like the water pump leaks a little at a time, while the car is in motion (driving).

Any ideas?

[jackjack]

UPDATE: I have just drove it around the block and left it running fohe overflow tank or the radiator. Jacked up the car to see if water pr 15-20 minutes. Heat gauge rose up to H and NOW there's no coolant in tump was leaking, it's dry as hell. Seems to be no leak anywhere.
.


the last part is a little hard to understand. so you're saying there's NO coolant? did you mean pump was leaking?

[diomedes]

the last part is a little hard to understand. so you're saying there's NO coolant? did you mean pump was leaking?

That's weird. When I wrote that, it wasn't like that. I even re-read what I wrote and I didn't spell "tump" or them other stuff. That was a little weird, but yeah, there was no coolant in the reservoir and the radiator was like half empty because I poured in the remaining of the coolant I had.

And no the water pump was NOT leaking.

[phobos]

Try jacking the car up and make sure the radiator is higher than the block and all that (if you didn't know about that already). Run the heater and then bleed away! Like Gnnr said!

If that doesn't work, follow the t-stat/water pump route etc...

[nissanguy13]

Like everyone said thermostat and bleed. If your headgasket was blown you would know. I've seen a blown headgasket and white smoke pours out of the tailpipe like crazy.

[diomedes]

Like everyone said thermostat and bleed. If your headgasket was blown you would know. I've seen a blown headgasket and white smoke pours out of the tailpipe like crazy.

Yep. No smokes so it's a good sign. For me at least.

Changing thermo and water pump tomorrow morning. I'll also be seeing if there's any clogs.

Thanks for the tips/hints/help guys.

[drft911]

um check inside your car for leaks under the carpet to see if your loosing water through the heater core. how much water are you loosing?and how soon?

[diomedes]

um check inside your car for leaks under the carpet to see if your loosing water through the heater core. how much water are you loosing?and how soon?

Ahh, yes. Forgot to check that. Will do that in the morning.

[SnakeKack]

I just had the same problem as you like a few months back. I took the radiator out and stuck a hose on the end to get any gunk out, replaced the water pump and put a new thermostat in. I also flushed the system and put all new coolant in. It still overheated. It turned out the new thermostat was bad from the factory, cause it worked fine when I tried another.

Apparently that happens alot.

[ManoNegra]

Replace the rad cap while you're at it. Get some water wetter. Make sure you bleed the system well.

[beetlejuice]

Use a OEM Nissan thermostat (generic parts store thermos are often shitty).

To bleed without the bleeder screw:

1) start car with radiator cap off

2) add coolant until radiator is full (make sure coolant res is 1/2 full)

3) while the car is still running, squeeze upper radiator hose to remove air bubbles

4) top off radiator

5) squeeze some more to get the last few bubbles out

5) put on radiator cap

6) done

[diomedes]

Use a OEM Nissan thermostat (generic parts store thermos are often shitty).

To bleed without the bleeder screw:
(STEPS)

Thanks beetlejuice. That will help me a lot.

And thanks for all the tips/help guys. I appreciate it.

[Dream240]

As far as bleeding, if you've got a bad thermostat it won't bleed properly. If you're getting magically disappearing coolant from the reservior, it's most likely that the last owner didn't bleed the system properly. You lost all the tank fluid because the system opened up and sucked it all in. And you've still got air in there with a sticking thermo.

1. Drain all the coolant, how much did you get? Should be about 1 gallon just from draining the radiator.
2. remove upper hose, remove lower hose and replace thermo with new unit. New thermo should be 76.5 C (170 F)
3. Thermo spring goes TOWARD the engine, you should see the thermo vent valve when you install it, position so the valve is on top.
4. Reseal the thermo housing with RTV
5. Replace hoses, refill coolant via radiator until it tops off, keep filling as bubbles lower level until it's full.
6. Get a new radiator cap (11-14psi)
7. fill reservior to full cold level
8. warm up engine, turn heater on full blast to help open system.
9. Fill coolant once the system opens and you see the level drop in the radiator.
10. test drive and you should be golden, if it overheats again, stop it let it cool, pop cap and check level, fill as needed. Should solve problem.

[diomedes]

As far as bleeding, if you've got a bad thermostat it won't bleed properly. If you're getting magically disappearing coolant from the reservior, it's most likely that the last owner didn't bleed the system properly. You lost all the tank fluid because the system opened up and sucked it all in. And you've still got air in there with a sticking thermo.
(STEPS)

THANK YOU! I did have air in the system. A whole lot of air. And thermo was bad. Replaced with a new OEM one and fresh coolant. I drove from my house to school (30 miles total trip) and back without over heating.

Thank you everyone and thank Dream240. That was very helpful.

PROBLEM SOLVE.

[Xandy Boosts]

Don't think that you're done! Keep checking it. Some air can get trapped in heater core, so check it every few days. Only takes a few seconds and it's better than overheating right!

good luck, glad you fixed it though.

[diomedes]

Don't think that you're done! Keep checking it. Some air can get trapped in heater core, so check it every few days. Only takes a few seconds and it's better than overheating right!

good luck, glad you fixed it though.

Thanks for the heads up. Will definitely do that.