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Weird noise after thirty minutes of being on

Tiny
PASTECHI
  • MEMBER
  • 1997 NISSAN SKYLINE
  • 2.6L
  • 6 CYL
  • TURBO
  • 2WD
  • MANUAL
  • 62,467 MILES
I am out of idea's and I not know.
I bought a Skyline R33 forty anniversary three weeks ago.
I serviced it (changed oil, oil filter and spark plugs) and the car runs fine. I do not drive a lot. Probably twenty minutes to work and twenty minutes to go back home after work.

There are times where I drive more than thirty minutes and after thirty minutes while the car is on, I suddenly hear gurgling noise. I can turn the car off let it cool off completely, and start the car back tomorrow and drive to work and that sound will not happen. It only happens when the car is on more than thirty minutes.

Since I am using water in the radiator I thought maybe changing to a coolant might help. But on forums I see people talking about thermostat and a blown head gasket but I am not sure.
I have tried three different mechanics but they seem to not have time so I am desperate for suggestions and help. What could be the cause?
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Wednesday, August 15th, 2018 AT 7:07 AM

16 Replies

Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,772 POSTS
Hi and thanks for using 2CarPros.com.

If you are hearing a gurgling sound, it may be the result of the water in the cooling system boiling. Coolant does two things. First, if prevents freezing in cold temperatures and boiling in hot temperatures. For example, coolant that will not freeze until -45 degrees F has a boiling point of +270 degrees F. Pay attention to the temperature gauge.

If you are concerned that there may be a bad head gasket, here is a link that shows how to check:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/head-gasket-blown-test

If you feel the thermostat may be bad and needs replaced, here is a link showing how one is replaced. The first link below describes the thermostat's purpose and how it works.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-an-engine-thermostat-works

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/replace-thermostat

Let me know if this helps or if you have other questions.

Take care,
Joe
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Wednesday, August 15th, 2018 AT 9:22 PM
Tiny
PASTECHI
  • MEMBER
  • 11 POSTS
Hello Joe and thank you for your reply.

I will do it in the weekend because I do not have much time in weekdays when I get home from work sadly. I am still driving the car to work and going back home without any issues. The distance from my work and home including traffic lights is around twenty minutes plus six minutes of car warming up.
I do not know if it is because I have a turbo charged RB25 engine that the temperature meter takes a while to start rising.
Problem after three minutes of being on that meter starts going up, then I leave my home after six minutes after starting up the car, while I am almost at work then it reaches the "between cold and hot" destination.

Just after thirty minutes of being on, the sound of my car turns into a Harley Davidson noise and I feel like my acceleration is slower.

I am going to go to a mechanic Saturday, and see if I can drain the radiator, check the thermostat and fill it with a coolant instead of water this time.

Some say that one of my coils can be failing but I have not notice any misfire yet and the car works fine for thirty minutes, and all the temperatures are fine even when the sound changes. My white band is also fine. Just that the acceleration is a bit slower (a little drop of performance) but everything works fine so far still. Which is why I do not think it is a blown head gasket or a faulty coil but my knowledge is not problem either. :/

My car is currently on 394WHP so I do not know if maybe my car produce too much heat to have water in the radiator, causing things to happen after thirty minutes of being on.

I will see what I can do this weekend and let you know Joe!
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Thursday, August 16th, 2018 AT 7:08 AM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,772 POSTS
Sounds like a plan. Let me know what they tell you or if you have other questions. As far as the sound change, record it and upload it for me to hear. It could be a misfire.
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Thursday, August 16th, 2018 AT 6:05 PM
Tiny
PASTECHI
  • MEMBER
  • 11 POSTS
I will try driving a bit more before I get home from work tomorrow and see if I can record the sound. I will record the car tomorrow morning so you know how it sounds normally, and then I can record the bad sound if it happens.
I will let you know and thanks for the tips!
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Thursday, August 16th, 2018 AT 6:23 PM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,772 POSTS
Glad to help. I will watch for your reply.

Joe
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Thursday, August 16th, 2018 AT 6:26 PM
Tiny
PASTECHI
  • MEMBER
  • 11 POSTS
I drove yesterday for over thirty minutes but sadly no sound. So I went home. I have not driven the car today yet but I will try later on tonight.

Basically this is my car when I start it up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHx1MOlzlxk

And this is what it sounded like both times I drove over thirty minutes and it happened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiprCFiFk5Y (sounds exactly like this wrx)
And I feel like it also loses a bit of power.
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Saturday, August 18th, 2018 AT 12:18 PM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,772 POSTS
That is a tough one to tell. If it feels like it is losing a bit of power and the sound changes, I wonder if there is an issue with the catalytic converter going bad. Take a look through this link. It discusses symptoms of a bad converter. See if it matches what you are experiencing. The second link is how to test one.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/bad-catalytic-converter-symptoms

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-test-a-catalytic-converter

It is just a thought that it could be related. A plugged converter can cause the engine to run hotter than normal.

Let me know.

Joe
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Saturday, August 18th, 2018 AT 6:34 PM
Tiny
PASTECHI
  • MEMBER
  • 11 POSTS
Well I went to drive my girl friend home and when I got home like ten minutes ago, parked my car in and I noticed the idle changed, there I realized if I drove a bit longer the sound would of change as well. It was night so I could not rev the car. I would wake everyone up, lol.

This was yesterday morning when I started up the car: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHx1MOlzlxk and this is what its suppose to sound always.

This was now after I got home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV-CKTjEnp4

P.s. not sure about catalytic converter because I have a straight down pipe. And this issue happens only after thirty minutes of driving. And it only happened twice, tonight makes it the third time in the three weeks and a half that I owned this car.
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Saturday, August 18th, 2018 AT 7:50 PM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,772 POSTS
That is a tough one. The only difference I am hearing is the idle speed seems lower in the second video. I am going to ask the owner of the site to listen to see if he has suggestions.

The only thing I had a concern about was the amount of noise from the front. I cannot tell if it is the fan running or a bearing in something like the water pump. I listened three times and cannot tell. Do you hear that also? And from the exhaust, I do not hear any misfire, which is a good thing.

Let's see what Ken has to say.
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Sunday, August 19th, 2018 AT 6:52 PM
Tiny
PASTECHI
  • MEMBER
  • 11 POSTS
The noise in the front is one of the front fans. If I put my hand on it that weird squeak stops
The idle noise changed but if I drive a little more it would of fully change and sound a little disgusting. I will see if it happens tomorrow. I will try driving a bit more. I also want to remove the cap from the coils so maybe the heat will not stay in there. I have a feeling the cap is keeping the heat inside causing one of the coils to misfire or something.
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Sunday, August 19th, 2018 AT 8:07 PM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 47,722 POSTS
Okay I listened to the videos thanks BTW. Does this car have catalytic converters? If so it sounds like they have fallen apart and are clogged the exhaust up that's what makes that whistling noise.
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Monday, August 20th, 2018 AT 9:25 AM
Tiny
PASTECHI
  • MEMBER
  • 11 POSTS
I have a straight down pipe actually. I drove with a friend today to see if it will happened and it fully happened. just in a second it just changed on me like one of the coils gave up or something, but I am not sure.

listen to this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQKjAuVxRWI

So disgusting.
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Monday, August 20th, 2018 AT 7:06 PM
Tiny
PASTECHI
  • MEMBER
  • 11 POSTS
Addition: I will turn this car on tomorrow morning and it works like nothing happened.
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Monday, August 20th, 2018 AT 7:08 PM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 47,722 POSTS
Yes, it sounds ignition related. I would install OEM spark plugs and coils also service the throttle bore. Here are two guides to help you:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-tune-up-a-car-engine

and

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/throttle-actuator-service

Please run down these guides and report back.

Cheers, Ken
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Tuesday, August 21st, 2018 AT 10:38 AM
Tiny
PASTECHI
  • MEMBER
  • 11 POSTS
Well, we tested the coils after the car warmed up and started working bad like a WRX and unplugged and re-plugged all coils one on one. Coil three removed and nothing happened while the five other coils removed and the car worked even worse. So my friend who owns an r33 as well put his coil in mine and bam. Worked good as new.

So TLDR: One coil is completely dead and I am going to have to find an OEM coil for now and maybe in the future change all six for a better pack.

Saturday when I am free I am going to drive around and see if it will happen again. If not then the faulty coil would be the only issue I hope!
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Wednesday, August 22nd, 2018 AT 5:48 PM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
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Yep, that will do it. I would do like you say and replace all of the coils. If one went out the rest are right behind it.
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Thursday, August 23rd, 2018 AT 7:54 PM

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