Small overheating problem

General information about the first-generation Nissan Maxima in the US. What was the Datsun 810 became the luxury leader Maxima in the US in 1981.

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kassim503
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#151

Post by kassim503 »

The fans are in, almost all is well.


Except for one little thing, the temp gauge is at 5/8th up instead of its usual 3/8-1/2 position, after replacing the head gasket I feel this is way too hot for the engine and this is no good.

Before this I ran the engine with no fan and t stat for a system that usually runs at 120F and will work its way up to 180 once I hit a light. Now im running that twin electric fan with the thermostat on, could air be trapped in the T stat that cant get thru the little weep hole on the thermostat?


I think there was probably some kind of air bubble in the system because the upper rad connector is lower than the engine coolant outlet, but I think the water pump should be able to "blow" the air out into the radiator and out the caps. But I drove the car for a good amount of time and I didnt have a problem with massive overheating, it was stuck on 5/8th. Anybody got any suggestions? I dont want to open up the cooling system and do any kind of flush or have lots of coolant drop out of the car, im running that royal purple "water wetter" product, and its surely not cheap.
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
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kassim503
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#152

Post by kassim503 »

Found the running hot problem, I just forgot that my water temp gauge has been messed with and dosent take "correct" readings, it always reads hotter than it actually is.

With these electric fans I find that I do run hot when stopped, but only a little bit and was nothing like before. I wouldnt care that much but today was a cool day, 65 degrees, A/C belt snapped right now so I dont know what itll be like when the a/c kicks in, but its obiously going to run hotter.
Should I put a set of pushers on there too? I have one pusher, im looking to add 2 more (gotta use the small fans because of the bumper being in the way of everything).

Also I will set up a shroud in the near future, I have a 3/4 inch gap that is between the rad and the a/c stuff, either I run a shroud or move the rad back the 3/4 of an inch, and possibly run a bigger fan.



http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 0034094154

Dont these fans look good enough to cool the car? Mabye its the 5 rows that are not touching the fan, mabye ill move the fan up, dosent heat rise so the hotter coolant will be up top? Its a crossflow radiator.

see drawing below

Image
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
glenlloyd
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Location: Des Moines, Iowa

#153

Post by glenlloyd »

I was checking on electric fans the other day because I would like to get rid of the WP fan on the Dodge B250. I went to the Hayden website and they have an estimator for fan sizing for particular vehicles. I don't know if I agree with what they come up with for certain models but it does give you a general idea I think.

Good luck
sa
97 Jetta TDI, 86 VW Golf D
89 VW Fox diesel, 92 MB 300SD W140

gir - won't the sploding hurt?
zim - silence!
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kassim503
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#154

Post by kassim503 »

Well, I find that the fans cut it, but not by alot. I butchered up my dashboard more and installed a water temp gauge, the kinds with the numbers for the degrees so ill get really accurate readings, at operating temp the car reads 178F and after idling it reads about 185, a/c on a mildly cold day brings it up to 187ish, obiously nothing serious but the fans dont hold the temp very good if I do burnouts followed by low speed crusing. Even though burnouts are not part of my normal routine and probably happen about once every 2 months (get it out of my system), it shows that the fans are not able to keep with up with "extreme service," which includes trailer pulling uphill at 5 mph, ??pulling trees??, those types of things.

Do pushers help? The fan is rated for 351 CI/ 350 hp, so it HAS to keep up with my monster 2.4L, but idk why its not. Could it be the water pump? It is the better B/A pump with the stock design, im thinking of a possible flow issue at low speed.

Someday I gotta put some weight on the car on a hot day, blast the a/c and beat on it to make sure the system is bulletproof, I cant live with anything less.

Ben I got your ecu on the way- I PM'ed the tracking number

Did I post any pics of the fan? Ill throw some in someday, so what if it dont work, it looks so damn cool! Also the power gain was so much more than I ever thought possible.
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
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philip
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#155

Post by philip »

kassim503 wrote:
Someday I gotta put some weight on the car on a hot day, blast the a/c and beat on it to make sure the system is bulletproof, I cant live with anything less.
Do you happen to know if the Ark of the Covenant or the Holy Grail are on display somewhere?
-Philip
Passed 08May2008
My friend, you are missed . . .

1982 Datsun 720KC SD-22

"Im slow and I'm ahead of you"
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kassim503
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#156

Post by kassim503 »

philip wrote: Do you happen to know if the Ark of the Covenant or the Holy Grail are on display somewhere?
:lol:


Holy grails in my backyard, shhhh dont tell nobody
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
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asavage
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#157

Post by asavage »

That's a holey grail in your backyard, also known as a sieve (or collander). You've been using it to clean parts, I'll bet.
HowlerMonkey
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#158

Post by HowlerMonkey »

The L series motor in the maxima gen. 1 has very little tolerance of low water level.
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kassim503
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#159

Post by kassim503 »

Decided on resurrecting this old thread cause its a good thread for my ongoing coolant problems, good news is its not a fan clutch or head gasket related problem.

I was just kinda wondering how much the exhaust from the manifold can heat up the coolant? The first cyl's exhaust is about 1/8" away from the t-stat housing, and I have a exhaust leak there to blow more hot air on there.

Shes been running hotter than normal and the exhaust leak got much louder, so thats the reasoning behind my thinking.

Also, does anybody run a 170 degree t-stat? I am more comfortable with running the car around 170-180 instead of 180-195 that its doing now.

Any opinions would be appreciated, and Merry Christmas!
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
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asavage
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#160

Post by asavage »

An exhaust leak can dump a lot of heat. Whether or not this is raising the coolant temp is debatable though.

On coolant temp, I am in favour of hotter rather than cooler. The engine's internal tolerances are designed with thermal expansion in mind, and the parts fit as designed at the designed operating temperature. Definitely no cooler than 180°, for me.
Regards,
Al S.

1982 Maxima diesel wagon, 2nd & 4th owner, 165k miles, rusty & burgundy/grey. Purchased 1996, SOLD 16Feb10
1983 Maxima diesel wagon, 199k miles, rusty, light yellow/light brown. SOLD 14Jul07
1981 720 SD22 (scrapped 04Sep07)
1983 Sentra CD17, 255k, bought 06Jul08, gave it away 22Jun10.
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kassim503
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#161

Post by kassim503 »

asavage wrote: On coolant temp, I am in favour of hotter rather than cooler. The engine's internal tolerances are designed with thermal expansion in mind, and the parts fit as designed at the designed operating temperature. Definitely no cooler than 180°, for me.
Good point, I wasnt thinking about it that way, Ive been shy of running things hot after I blew the head gasket on this motor. I forgot about clearances, so I guess im happy keeping her at 180.

The exhaust leak is actually heating up the coolant around the T-stat, the stock sender, which is at the bottom of the gauge is reading kinda hot- 3/4 up the scale, and the aftermarket water temp usually reads from 180-195, I think its just heating up the coolant around the senders to make it seem like its running hot.

Im gonna try putting some high temp rtv around the connection, hopefully id find a solution without turning a wrench. Today, im gonna try going to town with some permatex sensor safe high temp orange RTV. Hopefully id be able to find something that works, im sure I could, there really isnt alot of pressure in there.
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
83_maxima
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#162

Post by 83_maxima »

Dude, fix the exhaust leak. You probably have another on cyl. # 6 too. It's easy enough to fix, you just have to get the manifold surfaced.
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asavage
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#163

Post by asavage »

83_maxima wrote:Dude, fix the exhaust leak.
That may be the Cowboy Way, but it's not the Kassim way. He'll have to pussyfoot around the fix for a few months, before doing the professional fix.

Anybody who's read this entire thread knows that!
Regards,
Al S.

1982 Maxima diesel wagon, 2nd & 4th owner, 165k miles, rusty & burgundy/grey. Purchased 1996, SOLD 16Feb10
1983 Maxima diesel wagon, 199k miles, rusty, light yellow/light brown. SOLD 14Jul07
1981 720 SD22 (scrapped 04Sep07)
1983 Sentra CD17, 255k, bought 06Jul08, gave it away 22Jun10.
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kassim503
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Location: Stony Brook, NY

#164

Post by kassim503 »

asavage wrote:
83_maxima wrote:Dude, fix the exhaust leak.
That may be the Cowboy Way, but it's not the Kassim way. He'll have to pussyfoot around the fix for a few months, before doing the professional fix.

Anybody who's read this entire thread knows that!
Yea- exactly! Its 11 pages of one broken head gasket

Id rather dick around for years and spend several times more money than fixing the problem the right way, only to do it the right way after trying every easy way out.

I had the exhaust leak for a while, and its only the #1 cyl that leaks, the #6 used to leak until I cranked the stud down, which did something- surprisingly. I just wanna put the sludge on to keep the hot air out, the noise level is still acceptable, and there is a surprisingly little amount of stink so its not even close to being on my radar, ive got bigger problems to dump my money into elsewhere in the car.
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
dlh
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Location: Denver

#165

Post by dlh »

Do you have another head to throw on when you do get around to fix it?
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1982 280zx turbo 4 spd auto
1973 240z, lsd, cv axles
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