Thread: Strange noise sometimes, and slight overheating

...I made it home, overflow tank was empty radiator was full, so I started washing the radiator out (had some bugs on it but not much), the black paint was coming off of the copper, also when I was washing it out I hit a spot where the water foamed up (could it be a really small hole?) once every one or two weeks I have to fill the overflow tank back up, is it the radiator causing it or something else?

between the foaming water during cleaning and the loss of coolant, i'd say you have a bad radiator. it's leaking. you shouldn't have to add water that often.
50/50 mix of coolant and a Mishimoto ftw!
or Koyo if you wanna spend more
make sure you bleed the system properly after the swap. if there's air trapped in the system the biggest/baddest radiator out there won't keep its cool.

Compression test, oil analysis? Coolant in the oil?

I wouldn't even bother troubleshooting knocks until you get some 93 or better in there. Just throw a few gallons in and run it for a bit.

Right now it's 102-105ish. It's usually above 95 from April/May-September, really depends, we never know for sure, the weather here is crazy sometimes. I think the coldest it got here was in the 20's this winter.

It may have helped that I rarely used the ac during the summer though.

Yea, you really need to run 91-93 octane also. NEVER use 87 in a VE. Also, if your motor is running hot you will be getting more detonation, it will just compound the problem of using 87 oct.

Edit: BTW, detonation WILL damage your head gasket so with running 87 all this time, there is a chance that this has happened

I have a godspeed (yeah I know) in my se-r its been in there for 2 years now no problems so far, and I have the stock se-r radiator in my attic, the godspeed was a pain to get in that car I'm glad I had headers in that car and slim fans, I guess a koyo (or mishimoto) would fit better, believe me I know about bleeding the system, I have a 300zx radiator cap to go on it for higher pressure

The weather sounds like it is the same there as it is here

A few gallons? from what I've heard 87 and 93 won't actually mix right, something like the effect of oil and water, anyway I pretty much fill up my tank everyday so it will just be easier to fill it up

it didn't get as hot today and didn't overheat today

A few gallons. It was implied that you would run the tank down first.

Oh yea, totally forgot about the thermostat. I would also test the temp gauge for the ECU/engine management (not the one for the temp guage on the dash). The FSM shows you how.

thats not right at all lol.. when i used to work at chevron the tanker guy would come fill us up.. he only brought regular, premium and diesel. the pumps mixed the regular an premium to make mid grade aka 89oct

^^^ This. Above 100 degree temps just adds to the issue.

I started in '97 with a new DE, broke it in according to the book, then drove 200 miles/day, 5 days a week for about 3 years. About 80% x-way driving in Georgia. Ran Castrol Syntec 5w-30. My first oil analysis (Blackstone Labs) showed the viscosity to be a little low, so I started blending in some Syntec 5w-50. By the time I got to 120,000 miles, I was using all 5w-50.
The engine had about 350,000 miles when I drove it from Atlanta to Miami and had Miko install a VE for me.
Get your oil analyzed. This will tell you the health of your engine.