Help with overheating zd30ddti

[patrolnica]

Hey guys! I would appreciate some help or guidance!

I recently bought my Patrol and yesterday decided to change the coolant and flush the system.

today while i was making a 150km drive @ 80 to 100 km/h, I noticed that the temp needle started to climb towards hot section.

I stop on the side of the road, pop the hood and notice that steam and coolant was coming out of the coolant reservoir, the expansion tank was extremely hot, but as soon as stop needle started to step down towards the normal section.

do you guys think there might be something wrong with my radiator and expansion cap? the engine has not lost any performance and oil still clean (thought of the headgasket) since i have not overheat it. as soon as i noticed moving, stop and refreshed the radiator.

guidance please.

cheers.:1087:

[Hodge]

Welcome to the forum!
First thing to ask is, did you bleed the system free of air ??

[Rumcajs]

G'day mate,
Chances are that there is still air trapped in the cooling system, worry is that if you have noticed gauge moving to high it means you have been overheating it for a while as gauge soens't move until too hot way too hot!

You need to purge the air thoroughly from the system. If it is still overheating then possibility for blocked radiator (internally or externally) or non working clutch fan should be investigated.

Regards

[4bye4]

G'day and welcome to the forum mate. What Rumcajs said may help. Park facing uphill and run the motor with the radiator cap off, topping up with coolant as required. Don't forget to have the heater switched on so water flows through that too.

[mudski]

G'day and welcome to the forum mate. What Rumcajs said may help. Park facing uphill and run the motor with the radiator cap off, topping up with coolant as required. Don't forget to have the heater switched on so water flows through that too.

I have a 1.25L Coke bottle cut in half and electrical tape around the thread to take up the gap when you sit the bottle in the radiator. Then fill up via this way and it makes things real easy when bleeding the cooling system.
Also you actually don't need to have the heater switched to on. They don't run a heater tap in the system, so coolant flows regardless. Instead there is a flap system which basically blocks and /or redirects the air flow in the heater box. Crappy system really though, as if the heater box flap doesn't shut properly or isn't sealed right, you will get warm air out of the vents even when off. Common issue for Patrols it is. I'm trying to think of a way to incorporate a heater tap setup much like a Crumpydore so the heater core is bypassed when switched to the cold position.

[MyGU8]

Something to remember if it happens again, never shutdown the engine when (too)hot, keep the engine running and turn the heater on full speed to get the heat radiated. If the engine get shutdown the coolant won't circulate and the temperature gradient may get too much and MAY crack some engine components.