alright i need to know if this is a load of crap or not and its pretty simple.

i keep hearing people say these cars have an over heating issue.

is this true?

i mean any car with a neglected cooling system is going to have an issue
i have a feeling the guy i bought it from was full of **** in having a "motorad one way thermostat" installed in the thing and saying that these cars in general have over heating problems as his excuse for doing such a thing. considering how brown and foul smelling the coolant was (coffee brown not milkshake brown) i am supprised the rest of the car wasnt as neglected.

 

mmmm..... no? never had a Z over heat on me yet. ever ever. even whhen i forgot to turn on my fan once when in the garage trying to figure out a problem with the motor on, guage went way up but never started to run out the overflow for when the pressure is to high and hot.

 

I've had one Z ever overheat and it was because the radiator was literally falling apart, when we pulled it out over half the fins in the radiator just fell out. Replaced the radiator and it was fine. Actually I did recently have to replace the radiator on my 280ZXT as well. It finally sprung a leak, but I still didn't even have that car overheat or even move up the temp gauge as I still had plenty of circulation as the leak wasn't that bad.

 

if the coolent was that dark brown it sounds like he never did any preventative maintenance on it at all. It was prob the same fluid that car came with from the dealer 20 some years ago. And the only time i had an over heating issue was when my clutch fan went out and took the water pump with it.

 

there is not an overheating issue with the 280ZX. The radiator is more then enough for the factory engine. Turbo or non-turbo use the same.

I had issues with overheating when my radiator leaked I bought a new radiator and drove 100K miles with no overheating. Then that radiator started leaking and I had trouble again.

 

having had 3 z31 zx cars at the same time and driving all 3.....not at the same time.......i found the only overheating problem i had was when my NA had a lower radiator hose vs fan/alternator belt dysfunction wherein the two kept rubbing and the lower rad hose kept holing-----and losing all the fluid-----looked like a dying and bleeding bug with all the green juice flowing over the dizzy.....fun stuff----but the repair is easy and permanent.....other than that...no problem, NA or turbo..............

 

alright so i am gonna replace this thermostat for something a little more standard, i dont know what temp i whould get, it gets to about 120F in the summer at the hotest and it gets down to about 25F at the coldest.

 

get the one bleachie sez....or skittle...or...

 

Even with a stuck shut thermostat, my car never made it over 200deg. I have only pegged the temp gauge when through my own dumbness I have run out of coolant. I run a 180 thermostat and a 195 degree fan switch (electric fan) The heat hasn't hurt my L28 and I dont think it ever will.

 

i pegged my gauge twice when the belt for the water pump broke. other than that, they work pretty good. a 185 deg t-stat will be fine. once there open, it flows and cools. and they stay closed until the car warms up. so no matter the temp, it does its job.

 

Niku, I've been running a 180 degree thermostat with no overheating problems in the summer over here around Klamath Falls. Right now I have about 3/4 of my radiator blocked with cardboard just to get the engine to warm up enough for the heater to work in the winter.

 

Bleachie sez 180 deg, stat!

 

I have had problems in the past, with my '81. When I first got it. But it wasn't taken care of well, before I got it. And then I didn't take care of it very well. When I got the Z at first. Shame on me.

I would go on the freeway, and the temp gauge would sweep over to the right, within a few minutes. I had so many overheating problems with that car. So when I wrecked it, and decided to fix my '82. When I took the engine out of my '81. I went through everything thoroughly. Including the cooling system and such. Since then my Z only got past the halfway mark once. Since I got him running. And that was July 4th of this year. And it was a over 118 degrees. When I was trying to find a parking spot to see the Transformers movie. Other than that, my boy usually always runs around a 1/4, or just below half always.

 

so 180 and it'll still warm up at a decent rate?
and i can never rember something either, to warm up the car faster you need a t-stat rated for a higer temp right?
for some reason i have never been able to get that down.

 

Hey so before i bought my Z i came across this site and found it very useful in the overheating section, tell me what you think...

http://www.zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/280ZXCool.html

 

to make the car warm up faster, drive harder. it really just depends on outside temp. the car just kinda warms up, its really not a science, every car is different. the only thing that really matters is that the t-stat opens at a specified temp, and doesnt overheat the motor.

 

its possibnle to get a t-stat so cold so that it'lltake for ever to get to normal operating temprature. my maxima is such a car, it would have to be about 70F out side for it to get to normal temp, other than that it runs cold and uses a richer mixture to try to warm up and never does, then i get shitty gas milage.

thats why i ask

180 sounds pretty standard so i'll jam on in there. the max has 160F, you wouldnt think it would make much if a difference but it did, it had 190F before though

 

If you're in a warmer area the 160 might be better, so it opens sooner since the outside temps are generally alot higher. Then a hotter thermostat would be better for cooler areas as it will allow the temp to get higher otherwise the colder outside air and earlier opening thermostat will cause your engine to keep running alot cooler.

 

sounds like your maxima has its fans on, caused by many factors, or the t-stat is stuck open. try looking, itll show its face.

 

You all seen the pics of my overheating problem when my water pump took a dump. I live in a pretty warm climate and I have a 160 degree stat in mine....I am going back to stock because she runs too cool for my taste.....like that is a bad thing right lol. The kicker is I don't have the upper portion of my fan shroud on either...just the lower part and it still runs icy cool. Doesn't tickle when you tap the fan with your man ***** though. However the radiator is from my 5 speed '82 Turbo and it is in my 5 speed '79 NA.

 

nope, checked, one doesent work! either way its hell on gas milage

 

my x gurlfriends 1983 280zx non turbo automatic liked to over heat after about 180,000 miles on a stock engine... even after replacing the radiator fluid ....to 70/30 mix... i honestly think it was the water pump but it doesnt matter now shes gone and she took the car with her.... she was a ZX hater any ways...

 

Chicks....what can ya do right.

 

Flush the cooling system, put a 180 thermostat in and spend a few extra bucks to make sure it's one that fails OPEN! Most of the cheap thermostats fail CLOSED! I HATE those things!

 

niku, to check your fans, turn on the a/c, they will both come on! its the way the system is. only one comes on for regular cooling, and it should only come on for short intervals, or all the time if its freaking hawt outside. other than that, id say t-stat. when the car is cold, it runs rich to compensate for air density, that is why the crappy fuel economy. could also be the air intake temp sensor, if its dirty it can do weird things.