Thread: 1991 B13 SE-R overheating issues

well one of the hoops that I haven't jumped through, i still need to bleed the system..

Stock rad is a bad joke, only worse is the so-called gauge. Use less coolant, more water.

KOYO < Another Motor.

Why? Because the OEM should be enough? I have two 91's, one has a GTI-r rad, the other a Koyo. IDK why you'd think it's about mods when you're in stop and go traffic. Bleed it, get the air out, get a better rad.

why should an OE radiator be enough on a stock motor?? because it was designed to be enough... If it isn't cooling my car in stock form, something is wrong that needs to be fixed.. it's true that a larger radiator will cool the motor better. But if there's really an underlying issue, it'd be like buying a larger furnace in the winter for your house and having it run more often because the old furnace couldn't keep the house warm, and come to find out later, there's a broken window in the basement...

I need to find that broken window...

in the summer of '98, I bought a brand new 1998 Sentra SE, it never had any issues with overheating in stop and go traffic..

I bet once I find the problem it will be fine.. i probably have an air bubble or whatever like everyone thinks.. I just don't know how it got there, because last summer the car was fine. I had a shop change my oil one time when I was in a jam.. maybe they were hoping I'd come their way when my car started to get hot.. and created some problems with my car for me that I wouldn't notice right away, (seeing as they changed my oil back in February) ..

Whatever man, this isn't your "brand new" 1998 SE. It's an 18 year old B13.

I am trying to offer you my experience and you try to lecture me about broken windows and furnaces like I am some idiot who does not understand the most basic concepts of thermodynamics? I built my own damn house man, do you even own one? Man that is a dumb analogy, furnaces don't seize up and die because of a broken window, unlike your motor. By the time the fans kick in the coolant temps are already something like 100 deg C, the gauge won't move once you reach op temps until it's way too hot.

I am not frakkin' stupid, nor did I just throw money at the problem. For harder use even the GTi-R rad has only about 30% more cooling capacity than stock, that's marginal. Plenty of people have cooling issues with the B13's perfectly designed OEM system, that's the bottom line.

My '95 U13 has a real radiator, too. '91 B13's don't. Think of the B13 as a USDM Version 1.0 SR20 car. With A/C load and slow traffic, little to no airflow outside the fans, humid hot days, the stock system can be just not enough. If more radiator isn't an answer, why does using your second radiator (heater core) make any difference? What is that besides more radiator?

Then add an oil temp gauge so when you've got this problem licked you can see how unacceptably hot your oil is getting, regardless of coolant temps. You can cook your oil, too, without ever exceeding the coolant temp limits. Then when your oil breaks down and runs like water, you can experience rod bearing failure, big fun.

BTW hit the SEARCH button next time before you start a thread, this has been covered over and over again, and again very recently as a result of problems people ran into at the convention this year. Don't be such a noob.

WOW. This thread sure got a little crazy. Matt, good luck with finding that broken window. Sounds like you are on a right path.

Feel free to shoot me a PM if I could answer any questions and I would be glad to.

get a guage and then tell us what your actuall temps are. who knows your stupid sending unit could be off. i went through 3 of them and they never have given me the right temp reading. sometimes it didnt even work.. i can tell you off top that 170 degrees and 210 degress looks exactly the same on the stock gauge. from reading everyone experiences it seems like most modded or turbo cars run 180 190 driving around and will creep to 210(thats the temp when fans kick on) and come back down when moving. i have blown 2 HG thanks to a faulty gauge reading on my car. now that i have a gauge i get peranoid when the temps get to 210 sitting still but it seems to be normal from reading around the forum speciallty in a top mount turbo nx i couldnt be happier now...

I didn't say a larger radiator wouldn't keep my engine cooler..





however my point is that I don't think it being 18 years old is an excuse to overheat.... something is wrong with it, the system probably needs to be bled...

oh and I did search, just no one had already gone through the exact same troubleshooting steps I had been through by the time I opened the thread.. and no one had the exact same symptoms on a stock car either..
sorry to come off as an asshole man...

oh yeah, I was a homeowner for 9 straight years, January of 2000 to December of 2008... and by saying you built your own house, do you mean were out there with a nail gun putting up 2x4's or that you had a builder build it.. and you picked out the design, land, & carpet?? I did the latter twice..

Sounds like people are going to start comparing cawk size in a few...

personally from having used the koyo i think they are very efficent radiators, and have great design, personally i had my koyo radiator come out of the radiator mounts and it touched the turbo and burnt a hole through 3 on the bars while i was having it fixed i had to use a stock radiator and it was a no go, it wasnt efficent enough to keep my engine cool, but with the koyo back in and 1 radiator fan the car gets up to temp and stays at normal OP temp all the time.

i even tried 3 fans and stock radaitor and it still couldnt cool off my engine, now my turbo does sit close to the radiator which doesnt help but still, the koyo is way more efficent in design than stock.

also jen is right on my gauge temp i seen my temps go from 180-215 and it didnt show any difference on my gauge verses on my laptop through my aem...so the stock sending usit really doesnt gauge it too well