i got an 88 nissan safari, over heats whilst towing load and occassionally up rather large hills and offroading. uses about 100mls water per 100kms, but cant find a leak anywhere at all. temperature always reads low, then shoots up above normal and loses a bit of power. also smokes badly under load when towing a trailer with around 2-3tonne on it. anyone have any ideas!
88 safari VRGY60 TD42 diesel
also has issues with the stabiliser, fish tails under brakes while stabiliser is active. any help would be appreciated, thanks
johnf_456,
Feb 6, 10:20pm
When was the last time the radiator was cleaned out properly, not the diy home flush (a radiator guy, who will rode it out and check flow). Thermostat been changed!
What sort of smoke, white smoke, steam, black oily smoke!
jezz43,
Feb 6, 10:26pm
unsure about the radiator flush part, i recently bought the vehicle as a project. have got it back to being warrantable, but still has issues. from what i can tell its never been flushed.
as for the smoke, its black and leaves carbon marks on my wall. doesnt really appear to be oily
intrade,
Feb 7, 12:47am
has it even had antifreeze in the radiator when you purchased it!
johnf_456,
Feb 7, 12:54am
Plain water will soon screw it no time.
jezz43,
Feb 7, 2:49am
i put anti freeze in it myself. didnt have any when i purchased the vehicle. i had someone take a quick look at it and he reccommends getting the radiator barred, not quite sure what he means tho
johnf_456,
Feb 7, 3:00am
He probably means re rod. This involves pulling the radiator apart, removing the tank and rodding it to clear any blockages. The radiator shop will also flow test it has well, has since the system does did not have anti freeze the cooling system will not be in good nick. But really its anyones guess, I'd take it to a mechanic or a radiator shop and let them have a look. The water pump could also be stuffed.
jezz43,
Feb 7, 4:13am
well i found out where the water it uses is going, i havent found any sign of a leak til today when i noticed that its coming back up and through the overflow (coolant) bottle. would this be a typical sign of a blockage somewhere in the system! it appears to be coming out the nozzle ontop of the bottle itself
johnf_456,
Feb 7, 4:14am
Radiator cap
jezz43,
Feb 7, 4:19am
cap isnt pressurising properly! is that just replace the cap or could there be more to it!
msigg,
Feb 7, 4:41am
I would sort the radiator, capand the viscous fan, if need be do the water pump as well. You don't want to over heat a big engine like that. Black smoke = air filter, over fueling, injector timing, injectors ect. put some moreys in the tank it may ease the smoke a bit, or just back of the accelerator.
intrade,
Feb 7, 4:51am
the whole coolingsystem will be rooted if it had no antifreeze. I usually walk away from any car that has plain water in a radiatoras you will be spending 1000 of $ to fix a rooded cooling system all hoses waterpump engine frost-plugradiator internal heater unit all gets rooted when there is no antifreeze
jezz43,
Feb 7, 6:45am
the cooling system appears to have orange water in it, like rusty water. is it worth putting an alloy radiator in! or just recore the old one! also would i need to replace the water temp sensor!
sewnup,
Mar 22, 5:46pm
put a after market temp guarge in it ,factory ones are shit,i tow a 28ft caravan all over the south island on the big hills temp will go right to the line under the "H" on the factory one and after market only goes up about 6c ,try www.offroadexpress.co.nz,www.patrol4x4.com some good reading and info on there cheers
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