Boiling coolant at the track.

2011 Nismo#91 · 09-28-2020, 07:21 AM

Was at the track this past weekend with the new TT setup. Was having some odd power problems would lose power seemingly randomly, half throttle, full throttle, straightaway, or corner. Till I noticed a small poof of white looking haze from the top front center of the hood vents. I never had a Coolant temp issue so I wasn't in the habit of checking the gauge and saw that it was completely on the end of the gauge (270F+ or 132C+). Once it cooled down I was able to add 1/2 gallon of distilled water.
Specs:
CFS Radiator & Nissan Coolant(thought I had switched to water+waterwetter)

So a couple questions.
Does the engine go into limp mode for coolant temp, I would think so, could that be the loss of power I was experiencing here and there?

Is there anything more I can do? Planning on adding some better ducting and a splitter but not sure if that's enough.

Wish I could have run more sessions to try some different things but the clutch stopped holding at full throttle.

BGTV8 · 09-28-2020, 05:43 PM

Hmmmm

You need an engineering rethink

Cooling, drive-line and also a head gasket check - if you blew that much coolant out.

Hotrodz · 09-28-2020, 06:58 PM

I had an issue once after a flush of the system and refill. It got hot and puked up some coolant. I thought head gasket immediately and did not run it after that. I called Seb and he said bring it to him but before I do to get a leaked down test and or a compressed test. So I took it to the shop that had recently performed some work on the car and they did a smoke test and found no issues so on the way the way to Specialty Z I stopped at my brother's (he is a mechanic) and he did a compression test and it came back all good. Seb did similar test to assess the issue and he found lot of air in the system. He said he had a bitch of a time burping the system. I had no issues after that with water temps.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Spooler · 09-28-2020, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2011 Nismo#91

Was at the track this past weekend with the new TT setup. Was having some odd power problems would lose power seemingly randomly, half throttle, full throttle, straightaway, or corner. Till I noticed a small poof of white looking haze from the top front center of the hood vents. I never had a Coolant temp issue so I wasn't in the habit of checking the gauge and saw that it was completely on the end of the gauge (270F+ or 132C+). Once it cooled down I was able to add 1/2 gallon of distilled water.
Specs:
CFS Radiator & Nissan Coolant(thought I had switched to water+waterwetter)

So a couple questions.
Does the engine go into limp mode for coolant temp, I would think so, could that be the loss of power I was experiencing here and there?

Is there anything more I can do? Planning on adding some better ducting and a splitter but not sure if that's enough.

Wish I could have run more sessions to try some different things but the clutch stopped holding at full throttle.

Check your CSF radiator for a leaky endcap at the welds. They don't last that long. I have one also but I am going to treat it as a maintenance item. 2 years, get a new one.

2011 Nismo#91 · 09-29-2020, 06:06 AM

Thank you for all the responses,

I don't there there is a leak in the radiator, under the car looks dry, but I do know they are prone to failure. I did install the Soho oil catch can/ coolant overflow just recently maybe that introduced a bubble, but driving to and from the track the temps looked very normal. I didn't notice any contamination at the top of the coolant tank or white smoke out the exhaust. But I'll have my mechanic do all the checks mentioned.

Hotrodz · 09-29-2020, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2011 Nismo#91

Thank you for all the responses,

I don't there there is a leak in the radiator, under the car looks dry, but I do know they are prone to failure. I did install the Soho oil catch can/ coolant overflow just recently maybe that introduced a bubble, but driving to and from the track the temps looked very normal. I didn't notice any contamination at the top of the coolant tank or white smoke out the exhaust. But I'll have my mechanic do all the checks mentioned.

That sounds similar to my experience. It was fine under normal driving. Good luck and hopefully that is all it is.

2011 Nismo#91 · 09-29-2020, 01:04 PM

I hope so too.

Here's the video of the AIM Race Studio 2 Data logger for engine temp and speed. Sorry for the poor quality, I don't have a screen recorder on that laptop yet.

https://youtu.be/Ba3ty0euwVM

At the very bottom you can see the temps for each lap/session constantly creeping up till a cool down lap or end of a session.

09-28-2020, 07:21 AM	#1 (permalink)
2011 Nismo#91 A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: NJ Posts: 2,400 Drives: slowly Rep Power: 40569	Boiling coolant at the track. Was at the track this past weekend with the new TT setup. Was having some odd power problems would lose power seemingly randomly, half throttle, full throttle, straightaway, or corner. Till I noticed a small poof of white looking haze from the top front center of the hood vents. I never had a Coolant temp issue so I wasn't in the habit of checking the gauge and saw that it was completely on the end of the gauge (270F+ or 132C+). Once it cooled down I was able to add 1/2 gallon of distilled water. Specs: CFS Radiator & Nissan Coolant(thought I had switched to water+waterwetter) So a couple questions. Does the engine go into limp mode for coolant temp, I would think so, could that be the loss of power I was experiencing here and there? Is there anything more I can do? Planning on adding some better ducting and a splitter but not sure if that's enough. Wish I could have run more sessions to try some different things but the clutch stopped holding at full throttle.

09-28-2020, 05:43 PM	#2 (permalink)
BGTV8 A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: 03350 Australia Posts: 1,514 Drives: 09 Nissan 370Z M6 Rep Power: 39973	Hmmmm You need an engineering rethink Cooling, drive-line and also a head gasket check - if you blew that much coolant out. 2011 Nismo#91 and jchammond like this.

09-28-2020, 06:58 PM	#3 (permalink)
Hotrodz A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: NW, AZ Posts: 9,330 Drives: 10 Nissan 370z Nismo Rep Power: 2684385	I had an issue once after a flush of the system and refill. It got hot and puked up some coolant. I thought head gasket immediately and did not run it after that. I called Seb and he said bring it to him but before I do to get a leaked down test and or a compressed test. So I took it to the shop that had recently performed some work on the car and they did a smoke test and found no issues so on the way the way to Specialty Z I stopped at my brother's (he is a mechanic) and he did a compression test and it came back all good. Seb did similar test to assess the issue and he found lot of air in the system. He said he had a bitch of a time burping the system. I had no issues after that with water temps. Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk 2011 Nismo#91, Rusty, Spooler and 1 others like this. __________________ *Fast Intentions TT Installed and Tuned by Seb at SpecialtyZ 610whp 560tq:\|Fast Intentions 3" TT-TDX*\|SpecialtyZ/Fast Intentions 72 Row Oil Cooler\|SZ 6 Puck Clutch & Flywheel\|3GsCustoms\|Z1\|Wavetrac\|Hotchkis\|Whiteline \|Blitz\|Fortune Auto 500\|Fujimura\|SPL\|H&R\|TK\|TWM\|RPM Rollbar\|Sparco\|Next Level Performance\|TrackSpec\|AeroFlow Dynamics\|Pioneer\|

09-29-2020, 06:06 AM	#5 (permalink)
2011 Nismo#91 A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: NJ Posts: 2,400 Drives: slowly Rep Power: 40569	Thank you for all the responses, I don't there there is a leak in the radiator, under the car looks dry, but I do know they are prone to failure. I did install the Soho oil catch can/ coolant overflow just recently maybe that introduced a bubble, but driving to and from the track the temps looked very normal. I didn't notice any contamination at the top of the coolant tank or white smoke out the exhaust. But I'll have my mechanic do all the checks mentioned. Hotrodz likes this.

09-29-2020, 01:04 PM	#7 (permalink)
2011 Nismo#91 A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: NJ Posts: 2,400 Drives: slowly Rep Power: 40569	I hope so too. Here's the video of the AIM Race Studio 2 Data logger for engine temp and speed. Sorry for the poor quality, I don't have a screen recorder on that laptop yet. https://youtu.be/Ba3ty0euwVM At the very bottom you can see the temps for each lap/session constantly creeping up till a cool down lap or end of a session. Rusty and Hotrodz like this.

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