Ok so i have a 2003 skyline 350gt with about 90k miles on it. A few months ago my radiator cracked at the top so i bought a new one and had a mechanic put it in for me. For what ever reason the lower radiator hose was touching the belt so my mechanic zip tied it so it wouldn't touch.

About a month after that the zip tie broke and the hose was slit in half so i changed the hose and bleed the air out of the system. A few weeks after that the car started overheating again so i tried to bleed more air out and the bleeder valve broke. So i bought a new valve and new thermostat(just to be sure) from z1 motorsports. I installed the parts and bleed it as much as i could and the car was running fine. Fast forward to the present and the car is overheating again.

I bought myself a spill free funnel and bleed the car using it and opening the bleeder valve as well just to be sure im getting as much air out as i can but no matter how much i bleed it the car would overheat again the next morning and i would have to bleed again and it would drive fine. When i turn on the heater i get cold air at idol so i rev it to 3k and hold and the air comes out warm but the heat guage would still rise. The upper hose would be hot and the lower hose cool. Now if i rev it to 6k and hold for a few seconds the hot air comes, the heat guage drops and the car drives fine for the whole day. The overfill tank is also fulling up past max.

There is some orange chalk like build up around the upper radiator hose and by the radiator cap and around the hose that leads to the overfill tank. I also changed the radiator cap (its not oem) but the car still overheats after a while.

My question is could this all just be air still inside my system? Could it be the new thermostat i installed? At this point i am super lost so ill just keep bleeding the car. I just hope its not the water pump or head gasket that would suck.

 

Forget to mention that the only thing i have not done is jack the car up and bleeding it like that. Im just waiting on my jack and jack stands to arrive.

 

Looking at your picture the overflow hose is incorrectly anchored by the clamp. You don't have the clamp on the plastic nipple, just on the hose so my guess is that's why you have coolant residue up there. Probably not the cause of air in the system but it might be. However these cars are a pain to bleed at times and having the front end jacked up will help, you need to make sure after the system gets hot both the upper and lower radiator hoses are hot. It also helps to squeeze both hoses if you can and when the car is off jack stands rocking it up and down can help. Make sure the heat is on full blast this whole time as well.

 

does it overheat right away or after some time driving? Are the fans working? Is the water pump working? Are both belts and pullies spinning?

 

It overheats after about a half mile drive and sometimes if i floor it the heat drops and the car runs normal for a while. Both fans are working fine and everything is spinning as it should. How would i tell if the water pump is working as it should?

I did some bleeding yesterday and the car seems to be running fine. The radiator was not full to the neck so i filled it with the spill free funnel and i left it on the car overnight with some distilled water in it and that might have done the trick. I fixed the clamp blue dream noted was not on properly.

I did all the other things ive read on this form so it should be good now. If it keeps overheating after all of this . Thanks for the help guys.

 

Ok so the car is still overheating. I'm noticing that the radiator seems to be losing water after sitting overnight because if i open it in the morning it makes this weird bubbling noise like pressure is being relieved. The reservoir tank also gets filled with water past the max line up to a certain point then it stays there.

So this morning i opened the hood and took some of the water out of the overflow tank so it would be under max then went for a drive to see if it would overheat and it did. Now when i opened the hood i noticed the overflow tank bubbling and it went to the same spot above max and stayed there .

Ive looked around this car several times and i dont see any leaks so i have no idea what the problem is.

 

Try swapping out the radiator cap. I think you need one in the 88kPa-90kPa range.

 

I guess ill put the old oem one back in.

 

Go to Autozone and rent their block tester kit. It's like 20 bucks, you fill it fluid, siphon out some coolant with turkey baster, put it over the raditor cap opening, and suck in air. If it changes colors then you have a bad head gasket and if it doesn't then you know there is no exhaust fumes getting in your cooling system.

I'd also rent their pressure tester kit. You put it over your radiator cap and pump it up to about 12 PSI and see if it drops or if you have leaks.

Another possibility could be the water pump fins have deteriorated. The orange stuff to me either looks like corrosion inside the system or the wrong coolant was used. I always had only white chalky residue when my cap and overflow hose were bad.

 

Well i live in the Bahamas so it would be kinda tricky for me to go to autozone . But i can buy a block and pressure tester kit after the holidays.

The orange stuff is probably because my car has mostly pure green coolant in it. It looks like rust on the picture but its a really high orange color in person. For whatever reason after hurricane Matthew distilled water is almost impossible to find on my island. I found a few gallons and ive been using those to fill the car in the morning. I just got my jack and stands so im gonna find more distilled water so i can drain and refill the radiator with a proper mix.

Would a blown head gasket cause the overflow tank to bubble up past the max line when i turn the car off? Because today i was leaving from some place and the car started to heat and when i pulled over to turn the car off i heard bubbling and when i opened the hood it was coolant rushing in the reservoir tank but it stopped when it got about 2 inches past max.

 

If you are running pure green coolant in your car that doesn't come premixed, that could have something to do with your car overheating. Pure coolant doesn't transfer heat as effectively as it does when mixed with water. It's about 35-40% less effective at transferring heat away when it's not mixed than it would when mixed about 50/50 or 40/60 with water.

You should be able to buy premixed coolant at the store that you don't have to add water to. It will be more expensive per gallon of total mixed coolant this way, but at least you don't have to worry about trying to get your hands on distilled water.

You can actually use rainwater as distilled water if need be. The next time it rains out, wait until it's been raining for about 5-10 minutes, and then go out and put out a few big buckets to catch the water in. The reason for the 10 minute wait is so that some of the dust and particulates in the air will get pulled down by the initial wave of rain, and the next wave of rain will be cleaner. Take the bucket inside immediately after you are done and cover them up so you don't get fallout or other dust and debris in them, and transfer it into empty and clean 1-gallon jugs. You can then use this in your car as a water mix with your pure antifreeze without introducing any significant amounts of other chemicals into the system.

 

Update: So i fixed the overheating issue and it was air in the system of course.

A few weeks ago i was coming home from work and made a quick stop home and when i came back outside my best friend was all over the floor....radiator fluid . At first i thought it was just a hose that came loose but it turned out to be a leak from the radiator itself. This was just a cheap radiator that i bought from ebay (i have NO IDEA why i bought this in the first place) so i didn't waste anytime trying to patch it, i just took it out and ordered a new radiator.

Now i did some research and i bought a spectra radiator from rockauto.com. I installed it myself and bleed the system no problem, car was running perfect. The next day i checked the radiator and reserve tank to make sure the fluid levels were good, and they were but i noticed a few droplets of water at the bottom of the radiator on the splash shield. I didn't think anything of it so i just wiped them off. The next day i opened my hood and i saw more little droplets of water and again i didn't think anything of it because it was so little (i thought it was fluid i spilled).

So 2 days ago i was switching my two front tires and i looked in the splash shield and saw a nice puddle of my best friend looking me in the eye...radiator fluid . I immediately checked the radiator and it was full but the reserve was slightly lower than i left it. I drove the car the next day and i opened the hood and i noticed droplets of fluid slowly coming from underneath the radiator. The car did not overheat once and the radiator was full, so was the reserve.

Tonight i was driving and all of a sudden the car started to overheat which i knew eventually it would . I pulled over and took out some air using the bleeder valve just so i could get home. Tomorrow im going to remove the fan (or the whole radiator if i have to) so i can get a good look at this leak.

Is it possible that this brand new radiator came with a tiny hole that i didn't notice or is something else wrong with this car thats murdering radiators? Ive checked all of the hoses and the reserve tank, everything is intact. The amount of radiator fluid ive dealt with over the past few months can send a man crazy . I smell this stuff in my sleep sometimes .

 

I hope you waited until the car cooled down until you opened that bleeder. Coolant can hurt you badly and it's under pressure, which can cause that bleeder section to break as it ages.

Maybe the clamps are loose or you have only a leak when the system is pressurized. You can rent or buy a radiator pressure tester from one of the parts places. Could be the cap or it could be the reservoir itself.

 

Out of curiosity, where is the bleeder valve located? Any pics?

 

It's in the top of the engine bay on the passenger side. You'll see a small plastic connection with a screw on it for a philips. I don't like that valve and don't use it after it broke once and I got hit with warm coolant.