stevenDAtegra

My LS/VTEC has always been close to overheating and at first the thermostat wasn't opening so I replaced that.

I bled the cooling system, but the stream is only steady when the car is overheating and once I close the valve, shut the car off and add more coolant to the radiator, the bleed valve barely has any coolant coming out again.

The car idles at a good temp until about 7 minutes after warmed up, then the gauge climbs slowly and then goes faster and faster.

The heater control valve opens and closes as well. Both heatercore hoses are cold

-No heat
-Overheating
-Heater Core Hoses Cold
-New Thermostat

Thanks for any help!

nothing_shocking

is it actually overheating? like, is the engine too hot to put your hand on?

stevenDAtegra

Yeah, really hot, especially the radiator hoses

nothing_shocking

well that rules out the battery... probably the head gasket. that seems to be a common problem i've seen with LS/Vtec.

are the hoses really swollen and hard?

stevenDAtegra

I hope it isn't. My compression is 225-235 with closed throttle.

The hoses are soft though. The motor runs good

nothing_shocking

it might be that something is blocking the coolant hoses somewhere... are the heater hoses cold with the heater on max?

thermostat, water pump, coolant hoses, radiator, head gasket... that's about all i can think to check that has to do with the cooling system...

check the passenger side floor for wet spots. it could have something to do with the heater core.

stevenDAtegra

Yeah, hoses stay cold with the heater on max. I did check for water dripping and nothing there.

When I squeeze the heater hose that goes from the head to where the heater valve is, I hear air.

stevenDAtegra

I bought a test kit with the blue fluid that you put on the radiator neck and it tells you if you have a blown headgasket, warped or cracked head and the results showed that it was all fine.

The only thing I can think of is air is either getting in somewhere or isn't being bled

thathmongguy

Does your air system blow air at all? My old DA had just about the same problem. My radiator fans weren't turning on so thats what caused the car to overheat. Also my blower motor was fryed and the entire air system in my car didn't work. I took it to a shop and it turned out to be my fuse box. I'm guessing it shorted somewhere and F'd everything up. Check your fuse box and check if your fans turn on.

stevenDAtegra

My fans would only turn on once in a while, but lately haven't turned on so I will check that, thanks.

I did solve the problem though and I feel really stupid. I tooks hoses off to make sure coolant was going through them and put the heater core line to the intake manifold.

Thanks for all the help that was given

nothing_shocking

wait... so what was the problem then?

stevenDAtegra

there is the coolant line that goes from the thermostat housing to the intake manifold and another from the thermostat housing to the heater core. I was taking lines off seeing if coolant was present and accidentally swapped the heater core and IM hoses