Why is my 1988 Nissan ZX car overheating

Asked by Guru9CM24 Jun 26, 2017 at 12:16 PM about the 1988 Nissan 300ZX 2 Dr Turbo

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

My water pump went out and I had a new, not rebuilt, water pump put on, also new thermostat, all new belts including timing belt and had the car tuned up, the first day that I drove it it I noticed that the temp gauge was going up I called the person that did the work and was told to put water in the overflow which I did and got home.  He called a few days later and told me not to drive the car and that it needed a fan clutch put on that was put on and my car is still running hot about 20 min. into the starting, what could be the problem now?

10 Answers

143,545

Have the compression checked on engine,may be blown head gasket or bad head.

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly however I forgot to tell you that the person that did the work put in 2 gallons of 100% antifreeze and, he said, a quart of water. there was a mechanic from Nissan there helping him to put the timing belt on and he said that he went to the school for Nissan and they said to put 50/50 only, could this possibly be the problem as I'm having zero leakage and no noise car sounds good except when the temp gauge goes up then I hear sounds as if the antifreeze is boiling and comes out from the overflow.

143,545

The antifreeze is ok to rum even 100% want hurt engine,have the clutch put on,if that is not your issue you may have head or head gasket damage.

I did this same repair to my 300 Nissan ZX 84 and ended up with a burnt out clutch fan due to the plastic fan guard no properly re installed it would be the thick round shape plastic liner that seeds up against the radiator housing my fan caught it and knocked out the fan clutch stopping the then all together and causing the engine to go into a sudden heat up. Surprisingly, this situation happened unnoticed though I didn't hear the fan blade catch as I was on the freeway driving at the time. I feel that it should have been a recall item because it is a very very poor design for Nissan

Was this overheating problem ever solved? I have a 1988 300zx that had every thing replaced for the cooling system, and still ran very hot. I replaced the Radiator cap, and that solved my overheating problem.

Thanks Mac, no, the problem still exist but I'm not driving the car at present, it's too hard and I'm afraid of doing more damage, I did buy a new radiator cap awhile ago that is not my problem, thinking about selling my baby and letting someone else get her back to new, just don't have the $$$ to keep up.

10

The problem with the Nissan 300zx is the head cylinder sensor. Something like the thermostat sensor ( not the thermostat) Replace the sensor and maybe the harness connected to it. It will cause the car to over heat in a way where the water seems like it’s boiling inside the coolant reserve tank. While the car is over heated it will probably even blow out the over flow cap on the reservoir tank. If you replaced the water pump/ thermostat/ hoses and etc.... then it’s for sure the coolant sensor ! I think it’s about 20 for the sensor and 20 for the harness. Give it a try!!! It’s what fixed the problem on 2 of my Z’s ( 1985 n and 1986)

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