Well my piece of shit just doesn't want to stick around. Last night I left the house in the TGP and didn't get 5 miles before the heater went ice cold and the temp went too high (close to the 260). Pulled over on the interstate (-20 wind chill) and let it cool off only to find it about 3 quarts low of coolant(wife drove it all day with no problems and no low coolant light) Why doesn't this thing give me a low coolant light when this is the case? Must be because the stuff was already circulating or something. Anyway I let it cool completely and got it to the next exit and parked in the nearest parking lot. Went back today and added another 2 quarts of coolant and turned heater on to get circulating. No luck heater would blow only cold air as I watched the temp climb. I shut it off at least 4 times and let it cool trying to get the dam thing to blow warm air, no luck. Went and bought a 195 degree ( had 180 in it) thermostat, changed that out and still made no difference. Does anybody know how the two coolant temp sensors are wired and which one would control the fan in the rear of the radiator. This fan is not coming on when my temp guage gets to 218 like it is supposed to, when the car runs fine this fan is like clockwork, just when I get the cold air from the heater is when it does not want to work. I will go back there this evening and see if I have more air in the coolant system in a last ditch attempt to drive it home otherwise it's getting towed and the garage door will be closed until I've got the money to f___ with this POS. Chris A. ,Idbeast, anyone know what the problem could be. The head gaskets are getting replaced ( will also have the heads checked for warping after all this overheating) as soon as I can get this thing home. I think that the bars leak has caused me more problems than I had to begin with, just as you said it might do idbeast. Please, someone got any clues???? Thanks in advance Dale Malcolm.
She's officially F'd up. Towing home tonight and tearing it apart tomorrow for the 2nd time in 8 months. The guy that rebuilt my motor will be checking the heads as soon as I get them to him on Sat. Does anyone know how much you can mill these aluminum heads without altering the compression and is there a bolt on cast iron head that will fit the turbo 3.1 without any major problems (fitment or machining). I am tired of babying these heads and will probably etiher sell them after machining or just buy something else and put the aluminum under the bench where they belong. I am very depressed and nearly out of money after all the work that I have done to this car. I did get to drive it for 12 days, what a just reward for $3,000. That's even worse than the 86 days I got out of it when I bought it for $3,800. Time to start the first generation DatsunZ project with GM V8 horsepower. The TGP might very well be for sale after I get it running again. Any replies with advice or sympathy greatly appreciated. Dale Malcolm Omaha, NE.
Man what a bummer Dave, It really sounds to me like it either has a air pocket or it, (if you have blead the system from the thermostat housing bleed screw, then turn the heat all the way hot while bleeding it again) if that doesn't help I think it has developed an combution leak into the cooling system...
Well Maddux, I don't know where you live, but round these parts a cooling fan is absolutely optional. I have not had a fan in the TGP for a few months now. My Cutlass fan is not turning on either for some reason. No biggie, (when it's nice enough to drive it) the TGP was out for about 3 hours city driving and temp never got over 170. No fans mind you. So, I really think you have a combustion coolant mix going on there. Good luck w/ it.
Yes I definitely have a leak from combustion to coolant, I just hope that my feeble efforts to get the heat to come on didn't bend a rod due to any water on top of the pistons. Does anyone know anything on changing the heads over to cast iron. My advice on using anythng to fix a leaking headgasket would be to bite the bullet and tear it down and fix it, Hindsight is always 20/20. I'm hoping that the internals are all OK but if there is any water on top of the pistons I will have to take it all apart and have everything blueprinted again. It is a shame that out of a cam failure and a complete rebuild I am ultimately back to square 1. I'll update for those who want to know more sometime over the weekend after I tear the motor down. Any info on the cast heads will be greatly appreciated. Dale Malcolm.
The cast heads have a different CC size. So IIRC the compression will be way too high with the TGP heads. Additionally, the intake won't bolt up, and alot of the accesory mounting is probably different. Curtis walker is using cast iron heads, but he has changed alot of stuff on his z24. The aluminum heads shouldn't be a problem, and imo not worth changing over the cast iron. I don't mean this offensively, but hopefully its something stupid that caused the leak. I don't know what, but if its not catasrophic it will be better. Usually if you have a coolant leak into the CC, its not enough to cause the cylinder to fill up to the point of hydraulicing. The pressure in the CC is greater than that of the coolant and will push the coolant out and not suck it in. So even if you do have some evidence of coolant I would not cause concern.
Quote from: Chris AThe cast heads have a different CC size. So IIRC the compression will be way too high with the TGP heads. Additionally, the intake won't bolt up, and alot of the accesory mounting is probably different. Curtis walker is using cast iron heads, but he has changed alot of stuff on his z24. The aluminum heads shouldn't be a problem, and imo not worth changing over the cast iron. I don't mean this offensively, but hopefully its something stupid that caused the leak. I don't know what, but if its not catasrophic it will be better. Usually if you have a coolant leak into the CC, its not enough to cause the cylinder to fill up to the point of hydraulicing. The pressure in the CC is greater than that of the coolant and will push the coolant out and not suck it in. So even if you do have some evidence of coolant I would not cause concern.
The motor overheated and I should have just took the back head off and replaced the head gasket when I discovered the leak instead of being an idiot and trying to baby the car. Anyway that was the stupid thing that caused this to be the problem that it has become. You have made me feel a little better with the info on the pressure and all so thank you Chris and I still want that motor. IF anyone inquires on it, and you can sell it, keep the deposit for all the problems I've had making good on it. Dale Malcolm Omaha, NE.