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Overheating Supercharged Zed


AngryHippo

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Hi everyone,

 

I am hoping for some help and advise. I have a vortech supercharged zed, had run it for 1000 miles has been mapped by Jez at Horsham Developments, car ran perfectly, loved every second of it.

 

After around 200 miles of driving coil pack went replaced, car ran perfectly again. My issue now is the car constantly overheats. At first thought it was thermostat, so bought a new one, replaced it, same issue, overheats.

 

Thought it may be an air lock in system, checked all hoses, all fine no leaks, then noticed radiator had pretty much cracked at the top. Aha, think we found the issue, bought a new mishimoto rad and fans thinking this would solve the issue as this surely was where air was getting In creating an air lock. No luck, bled the system, topped up coolant, let the car run for a bit, drove it, overheated again.

 

At this point I'm getting a bit frustrated, everything I replace is not solving the issue and more and more money is being thrown at it without the issue getting solved.

 

Mate came round and we had a look, he thinks it is most likely a head casket failing. Car under normal driving once system has been bled doesn't overheat, runs fine, and I get hot air flowing through the fans in the car. Everything I boot it, car overheats and get cold air through the fans in the car.

 

Any advice would be massively appreciated, it's really getting me down, got the car boosted and haven't been able to enjoy yet.

 

Thanks In advance

 

Jay

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Sounds like an air lock still to me if your not getting heat through to the car? ZEDs are notoriously bad to get all the air out of the system!

Also have you checked the fans actually come on? As fan failure can be quite common as well! But if your getting cold air it's unlikely that

 

Edit: Just seen you've replaced the fans so very unlikely that

Edited by chippychip123
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Initially I was going to say fans, but as they have been replaced, so could be an air lock but I doubt it after this time, are you sure the fans are wired correctly and pulling air flow through the rad and not blowing?

 

Otherwise I would say it could be a head gasket, however it could simply be a case of the std rad is now not big enough to provide decent cooling with the extra power/heat being generated, are you sure the rad is not partially blocked, and not restricting cooling, IE internally or perhaps externally with an obscuring body kit?

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@evilscorp yep I have a stiller oil cooler.

 

I really am hoping it's just an air lock still, it's just so hard to gauge where the problem is and what's causing it.

 

@tricky-ricky, I'm pretty sure fans have been wired in correctly, you can hear them turn on when gets to temp the mishimoto ones are pretty loud when they start up.

 

It's really strange, when we bled the radiator and ran the car, drove it around everything is fine, as soon as you boot it, after a few minutes temp starts to rise and blowers blow cold air through.

 

Thank you for the responses guys, massively appreciated

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Whoops sorry GMballistic, thanks for moving it. Not yet, I've sent him a message, but I'll probably call him tomorrow to see what he thinks.

 

gsexr yeah sorry I meant the heaters keep blowing warm air when driving normal speeds and then when I accelerate hard, temperature goes up and cold air comes through heaters. I'm thinking either still have an air lock behind the thermostat, or blown head gasket in turn causing air lock and screwing up thermostat and causing overheating. It all seems interlinked but struggling to find the sole cause of it all.

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I would bleed the system again to make sure its not an air lock but also consider that it could be a head gasket.

 

One of these http://www.ebay.co.u...dXAq3f����Would help confirm it

 

If you do get one of these to test it make sure you dont suck up any water as it will give a false reading

Edited by gsexr
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My input is good and bad, I have seen the behavior you refer to in 2 different 350z's that is the overheating and the cold air in the cabin when the engine is hot and heater set to hot.

 

on 1 it was an air lock and it was a real PITA to get it out we ended up lifting the front of the car on ramps adding a coke bottle with the bottom cut out to the rad filler to increase height and act as a funnel/reservoir (you must block the overflow pipe and make sure the bottle is sealed to the rad) then running the engine until hot - few bubbles let it cool - same again after about a days work and numerous repeats of that it eventually gave up a big bubble of air - we refilled to correct levels and the problem never came back.

 

Bad news on the other it was a blown head gasket we actually think that this was due to the previous garage reusing the gaskets after some work on the heads, we confirmed it with one of those type of kits as linked to above replaced the head gasket and all was well.

 

As a site note we ran the 350 that had the blown gasket with no thermostat in for a while (trying to find the fault) the problem does not go away completely but it did reduce so although I hope its only an air lock I would definitely test for a blown head gasket.

 

Hope it helps

 

K

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Ok small update...replaced the bleed valve at the back...seemed to be leaking, had coolant on the screw and hose was a bit wet. Replaced with a straight connector. Car runs, can drive it and get hot air through heaters. When I park it up and let car cool down the coolant level drops a bit so topped it up. All seemed to be ok, went for a drive last night...gave it a proper boot since all seemed to be ok. Temp crept up again, and overheated stopped the car bled the system again...drove home no issues. I feel I'm no closer to finding the cause, is it a case of air still being in the system?and when I boot it pressures too much and creating an air lock again?It all seemed to be ok, really thought the bleed valve was the issue since it was wet and made a hissing noise when I pushed on it.

 

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

 

 

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What Alex said^. Bleed valve might have been the issue and letting air in, if you've done bugger all about it other than change the bleed valve surely there can still be air in the system?

 

 

Sent from my Zed using Nangkang tyres front, RE040's rear

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Whereabouts you located bud? maybe one of the more experienced in dealing with airlocks on the Zed might be able to help; Zed Shed - Horsham - Sly - Etc ...... Assuming you are southern based.

 

Might just better off taking the hit on cost to have it done by one of the pro's rather than keep getting yourself frustrated by the problems....... at least you might save your sanity :teeth:

 

I know when I was into MR2's, they were exactly the same - bloody nightmare getting airlocks out, had to resort to all sorts of ticks to sort it.

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I'm based down in Ashford near twickenham. I've got a head gasket tester kit which I was advised to check as well so hopefully that will eliminate suspicions of a blown gasket. Realistically how long does can it take to get all the air out of the system?I did it around 3 times, and car drives fine...just when I booted it and drive it really hard did it happen again, whereas before I couldn't even drive down the road without it overheating. The hot air is coming through heaters now after bleeding the system which made me think the air lock had been got rid of.

 

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

 

 

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