Weird overheating problem :(

[a_ahmed]

Okay so... a week ago I was just pulling in to the parking lot and the gauge suddenly jumped to my shock I was like WOAH and turned off the car.

I completely forgot about it even when I left the office and for a week it was all good, then few days back while grocery shopping with the wife, same thing, pulling into a grocery parking lot and WOAH it jumped I immediately turned it off.

With caution I turned on car and it seemed fine. Just on saturday my wife and I were about to come to my familys home with a few errands to run and WOAH the thing started jumping while on highway, getting off highway it got so high I freaked out and pulled over. It wouldnt settle down. I called my buddy/mechanic and he said could be thermostat staying closed or something, lucky for me... I had a nismo one I bought a while back.

Replaced it... let it run ... not a hitch... I drove it to pick up the helmet for the next day and back to my parents' home no problem. Went to track on highway no problem. Came to track/racing no problem... and then suddenly I noticed it was going up while racing... BUT it would go down when I cornered hard one way or the other way. I was like must be a retarded gauge. I paid no attention to it further as it'd drop the faster I went and was like a trampoline. Car ran strong, sounded great heck I even got compliments from people about the engine how strong it ran.

Anyways... tonight dropped off my wife to her sister's and the thing started hiking up again like crazy... I didnt wana freak out the wife, dropped her off and I drove a bit and it was just up up high right at H.... frickin crazy. I pull over and it doesnt go down... rises up pretty high. On the highway it was like up, down, up, down...

Saturday before the race when my buddy helped me change the thermostat he topped it off with new fluid and everything... now what could it be, is it really overheating?

I popped the hood, clutch fan is running, its hot in the engine bay but nothing crazy going on, engine sounds good, no change in sound, pulling, no steam coming anywhere.. Im freaked out and at the same time worried and pissed at this

Thoughts? It's frickin random so far...

[Bumnah]

Bleed the coolant system. Sound like it's random. Perhaps there is a large air pocket in the system still. I only read snippets of your post.

[formulaJEREMY]

What kind of gauge is it, OEM or aftermarket, mechanical or electric? Does the needle steadily creep up or is it bouncing all over the place?

[e1_griego]

Needle bouncing randomly = bad ground. Add a few wires, should clear up.

The gauge itself is a 3 position gauge -- it moves up to the H spot at ~218*F.

[Matt93SE]

bad grounds, bad connection at sender, air in system. those are the three main problems with gauges.

as said above, my opinion is that it's an electrical problem, not a cooling problem. (this is why many/most racing teams use mechanical sensors vs. electrical)

[98koukile]

I hope for your sake its a bad ground, same thing happened to my buddy and it was a cracked block... always start with the easiest thing first tho

[Bumnah]

Obviously I did a poor job of reading...

[a_ahmed]

Okay this morning it went even above H ****... and i popped the hood and the overflow tank was empty...

I noticed a leak at the rad beneath..... cracked at mount or something (maybe that time i went off track at shannonville -- was a bad off track).

The thing was, when i started the car it took quite some time to warm up i even went driving but then suddenly gauge jumped to half and then suddenly started rising up up and up...

[McCoy]

You know I never did trust my OEM gauge... an aftermarket gauge is pretty damn cheap, maybe it's time you invest in one, Ahmed.

[a_ahmed]

I know its a newb question but what kind of mechanical gauge should i look for, how to and where to install, the whole procedure...... never done this sort of thing before..

[Cory]

Yea you need an aftermarket gauge if you are going to race the car.

BTW, I see my water temps hit 110*C on track. They do it all the time and are fine on the street, so I think that I need a better vented hood, and for the time being I consider that normal. I think it would also be better if I didn't track my car in the armpit of hell.

I use a Greddy electrical temp gauge. I like the Greddy gauges.

[McCoy]

tsk tsk tsk... no spoon feeding here, Ahmed. Maybe a search on one of other forums would help, as I'm sure the process has been well documented. Or, maybe just go to one of the gauge mfg's websites and download the instrustion manual.

I prefer the electronic gauges, but that's just me. Greddy is nice, but I've been a fan of ISSPRO. Similiar to the greddy, electronic, good back lighting, and a full 270 degree sweep but not as costly.

[2Fass240us]

tsk tsk tsk... no spoon feeding here, Ahmed. Maybe a search on one of other forums would help, as I'm sure the process has been well documented. Or, maybe just go to one of the gauge mfg's websites and download the instrustion manual.

i LAWLed

[Bumnah]

tsk tsk tsk... no spoon feeding here, Ahmed.

You're turning me on.