hicas and engine heat question

[DaveC]

first thing first, the most common hicas problem: the steering wheel angle sensor.

when i drive on the highway for a little while, the hicas light comes on in the dash. i ran the diagnosis and it says its my steering angle sensor. so i took off the steering wheel(yes it is aftermarket) o check it. my question is how to know if my wheels are dead straight and if the angle sensor is dead straight?

also, my engine seems to heat very easily from 'normal usage". i mean just driving it around without pushing it hard. i checkd prestone and the color/level seems good. is it normal that the engine is that hot? i didnt burn myself touching it but its pretty hot. on idle the rpm is at ~1200. i know the car has a little psi boost (13.75 if i remeber right) tht the old owner did on the car. i dont know how,by who and if he changed parts. but lets presume the car is STOCK.

its 1990 r32 gtr, rb26dett

[Skym]

Sometimes the wrong boss kit (has to be a HICAS compatible boss kit) can interfere with the steering angle sensor. Sometimes the steering angle sensor fails and needs to be replaced.

Should only use Nissan Brand coolant and check ratio of coolant to distilled water.

Check for air bubbles in cooling system, as can clog passages in radiator and make engine overheat.

[DaveC]

Sometimes the wrong boss kit (has to be a HICAS compatible boss kit) can interfere with the steering angle sensor. Sometimes the steering angle sensor fails and needs to be replaced.

Should only use Nissan Brand coolant and check ratio of coolant to distilled water.

Check for air bubbles in cooling system, as can clog passages in radiator and make engine overheat.

im not the one who installed the afteermarket steering wheel. i took it off earlier to take a look at the sensor and the piece that makes the sensor move with the steering wheel is like a black circle with 4 square holes in it. (one hole at 12,3,6,9 o'clock) is that the right thing?

how do i check ratio of coolant to distilled water?
how can i check if theres bubles in the cooling system? and if so, how to get em out?

(the color of the liquid in radiator is green)

thank you

[DaveC]

*self face palm* when you say 'coolant' are you talking about the liquid in the radiator or the liquid in the reservoir on left left of the battery?

[Skym]

Been years since have removed the steering wheel to have a look, but it sounds like the steering angle sensor.

You would have to fill with the correct amount of coolant vs distilled water. There's different opinions on which ratio is best, some say more coolant is necessary in colder conditions (from memory it was 80% coolant, 20% distilled water) and less in warmer conditions (from memory it was 50% coolant, 50% distilled water). Then radiator specialist's have their own opinion which confuses the matter. But radiator specialist's recommend that you run genuine Nissan coolant and don't mix the brands, as can cause corrosion. Make sure you flush the cooling system fully (including heater core) when running a different brand of coolant.

Many ways to bleed the cooling system. There's a air bleeder bolt that you remove when filling cooling system. On RB20DET it's on the intake plenum, not sure on RB26 (on engine itself). Some with RB26 jack front of car up and use the filler cap as the high point where the bubbles escape while filling cooling system. Also need to turn heater (aircon) on, so coolant goes through heater core. If you don't, coolant level can drop in over flow bottle next to battery and radiator when turn aircon on. Then have to fill cooling system up.

[DaveC]

i checked earlier and the reservoir on the left of the battery is almost empty. ut im a bit confused, is that reservoir for air-con or for cooling the engine?

[Bossman]

For 1990 Skyline the hicas hub holes should be at 10 and 4 o'clock position, 12 and 6 is for the later model, I think the larger hold is at 10. The two hubs are not interchangeable due to the steering wheel bolt pattern.

[future_R34]

The reservoir is like a over flow for the engine coolant. It's level should be at the indicated line. Like mentioned before there is a bleeding port on too of the plenum, just google it sure you can find it quick. You can get a rad coolant tester at crappy tire couple dollars, that has a gauge on it to show the ratio of water to coolant.

I don't know much about the HICAS, still fairly new it.


GL on your troubleshooting

[Skym]

i checked earlier and the reservoir on the left of the battery is almost empty. ut im a bit confused, is that reservoir for air-con or for cooling the engine?

As said above, overflow bottle for radiator (coolant + distilled water expands as it gets hot), as it's linked to the neck of radiator via rubber hose, just under radiator cap (where you fill radiator up). In the old days you would fill radiator to 3/4 full and the 1/4 was the overflow area. In modern times they use an overflow bottle that's separate to the radiator to do the same job and can keep radiator full with coolant. One of those improvements they do with cars.

As long as the coolant level is not below the low mark on overflow bottle you should be ok. I would remove radiator cap when engine is cool and make sure the coolant level hasn't dropped in radiator. It should expand to about half way on overflow bottle (normal) when engine is warmed up for 10 minutes or so.

[MarusGTR]

You would have to fill with the correct amount of coolant vs distilled water. There's different opinions on which ratio is best, some say more coolant is necessary in colder conditions (from memory it was 80% coolant, 20% distilled water) and less in warmer conditions (from memory it was 50% coolant, 50% distilled water).

Careful Skym! The extremum (tipping point) for the mixture is actually 70%, above that value you actually fall back to reducing its anti-freezing properties as you increase concentration. As for summer track cars, the lower the better if you use surfacting agents (like water wetter or etc.) and a high pressure system. For everyday cars I'd say 40 to 50% as an uneducated guess to reduce pressure of vaporization, especially if your system heatsoaks (not sized properly for the engine's waste heat output).

[Skym]

Careful Skym! The extremum (tipping point) for the mixture is actually 70%, above that value you actually fall back to reducing its anti-freezing properties as you increase concentration. As for summer track cars, the lower the better if you use surfacting agents (like water wetter or etc.) and a high pressure system. For everyday cars I'd say 40 to 50% as an uneducated guess to reduce pressure of vaporization, especially if your system heatsoaks (not sized properly for the engine's waste heat output).

Everyone has their opinions on what's best and knowing you, your opinion is more an educated one.