Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

OK. old engine was overheating, and burning mad oil. Just swapped the exact same engine (D15B7) into the car. Wanted the easiest swap possible. Everything on the swap went fine, except for some minor stuff I have already figured out.

When the motor was first started, what seemed to be carbon deposits were coming out of the exhaust. Engine was real boggy and then better, boggy and then better, and that continued for about an hour. Eventually got waaaay better, and now it is barely there. (White smoke coming out of the tailpipe, now its virtually gone). Filled the radiator correctly etc. Car had been sitting and just running in idle for about 2 hours or so, because I wanted to get all of the gunk out of the engine. Never overheated during that time. Then I Drove around the block, and back etc, not too far... and the car never overheated.

I then proceeded to drive home(swap was done at a friends house) 45 mile drive, all highway. When I got off the highway the car started slightly overheating, and I saw white smoke coming out of the hood. I finally got home, and opened the hood and this is what I saw:

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...sfnbs/1555.jpg

In all of the time today the car has been on, I never saw the fan kick on. I know that is a problem. I just dont know if that is the main problem to cause the car to overheat. in the 2 hours today the car was sitting on in idle, it never overheated. I'm going to check the relay/fuse tomorrow. The radiator cap looks pretty terrible too, so I am going to change that. Those are the first two things I am going to start with.

Any thoughts? The thermo is working, because the lower rad hose is hot, and I did NOT change the waterpump on the motor, because it seemed to look good, and I did not want to break the seal on the gasket. Radiator may be gunked up with oil, seeing as the entire resiviour was gunked up from the old engine before I cleaned it today.

It may be hard to diagnose the problem, seeing as the old motor was overheating before this new one installed. meh.

I'm just brainstorming outloud. I gotta get this fixed. Any help would be appreciated.

Edit: Pretty sure timing is correct. We went back in there after we realized the timing was off. Very Certain timing is correct, motor seems to drive fine.

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

Is there still any white smoke in the exhaust? If so, the head gasket may be blown.

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

When the car was first started, tons of white smoke was coming out(with some other crap), however as the motor kept running over 2-3 hours, and my 1 hour drive 70mph home it eventually kept getting lower and lower. I will check today, but I want to give the motor a little bit more time to get all of the gunk out of the inside before I just say "white smoke headgasket" ya know?

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

What do you mean when you say you wanted to get all the gunk out of the engine?

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

Seems to be the rad fan since you were fine at highway speed (air flow over the rad) and over heat at the light or lower speeds. Re-fill and burp the coolant. Your ECT sensor can be tested with a voltmeter, but they are relatively cheap so I would just replace for the $20. Could also be the rad switch relay. Test this by pushing your A/C button. If fans start then Relay is OK. If not, then your issue is ECT sensor or the Fan motor.

Rule out head gasket by compression or vacuum testing.
a head gasket or thermostat issue will tend to overheat within 10 minutes of idling in neutral.

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

I figured since the motor had been sitting a while, carbon buildup amongst other things would be burned out...when the car was first started, it bogged alot, but stayed started. Then after timing was set, and the motor ran more the white smoke started to go away.

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

UPDATE:

I bought a new rad cap, just because the old one looked really gunky, and bad.

The fan is working, I guess I overlooked the fan not coming on when the engine was installed.

The engine warmed up REALLY quick.(Assuming because the radiator is near empty). SO, I know I can only leak, or burn coolant, and im 95% sure that I did not leak All of that coolant on a 45 mile highway trip, and I noticed that the white smoking coming out of the back seemed to get worse. Pretty sure it is a blown headgasket now.

I hear D16Y8 headgaskets are better to use with D15B7 engines because its made of better material?

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

Is this the headgasket you guys would recommend for my D15B7?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/OEM-C...#ht_2641wt_939

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

What does your oil look like? Clean or milkshake?

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

I have only driven the car for about 60 miles since I put the new engine in. Have not looked at the oil since I put it in the new engine 2 days ago. I am pretty much set on it being a head gasket failure with the amount of white smoke coming out of the tailpipe, and the radiator being low on coolant, after I completely filled the system and bled it properly 2 days ago.

I dont mind doing the headgasket job, as long as the head and block is not warped, however I have no history of what the motor has been through previous to me installing it. The motor is under warranty, however I dont feel like taking the motor out and driving the 2 hours each way to get another one. Im going to end up calling the shop and see if they will give me some sort of partial refund.

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

Update:

So the head was taken off, and headgasket was replaced with a D16Y8 headgasket. Torqued to spec and everything. Razorbladed the block, and head very good, cleaned then both. Radiator changed. Rad cap changed, waterpump changed.

Seems like the engine still burns coolant, and bogs.

WHAT THE ****????

Seems like I have a cracked block, or the head or block was warped. Im pissed off.

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

I have yet to see someone successfully replace a headgasket in a D15B7. And i've seen a lot of attempts.

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

DO a compression/leakdown test.

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

Where did you get the replacement engine?

Assuming a good water pump, a partially clogged radiator will lower the cooling capacity and make your car slowly heat up more and more at highway speeds. At a standstill the engine can run cool with a partially clogged radiator and operating fan. If it overheats at standstill the fan would be suspect.

If your radiator cap looked gunked up maybe the whole radiator was too. Radiators are pretty cheap.

But now it looks like a blown gasket so you'd likely have to check for warpage/variation on the head and block before replacing, decking both if necessary (might as well rebuild at that point).

An engine builder I talked to said because of the cylinder sleeves being different metal from the block on these engines, after so many miles, the aluminum tends to shrink away a miniscule amount more than the sleeves and cause problems with the headgasket. Only cure is properly decking the block.

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

As far as the D15B7 goes, even slight overheating is fatal for the headgasket on these things (speaking from experience - "it didn't even go into the red!")

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

I owned another civic, with the same motor. headgasket went with 83k original miles, was driven until 100k until replaced(was a minor leak) and still driving great today after changed and its at 140.

bad luck I guess on this new motor, or the block is cracked.

Couldnt hurt.

I have a new rad, rad cap, waterpump... I know the fan works, I know the thermo works. and a TON of white smoke comes on the rear(well at least it did for the hour after the headgasket was changed), AND the engine bogs once driven for a while... almost like its trying to die because of the mix with the coolant getting inside the combustion chamber.

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

the motor I bought is under warranty, and I paid 424 for it. I called them previously and received a $100 credit for the headgasket leaking(what I thought it was) but it turns out after changing that, its most likely a serious issue. Its under warranty for 90 days, but taking it out is going to be a pain in the ass. Its an all day job to take this old motor out, and replace it with ANOTHER engine. If I do go that route, Im buying a JDM engine, and might as well get a transmission with it too so I dont have to FUC* with this car for a while.

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

OBD-1 D15B baby!!

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

ok..same concept with my engine and radiator. Bought a new radiator last year, and a new (used) d15b7 motor, just like my last one. Well i keep on losing coolant/water from my radiator to my reservoir tank, which is now completely full. any ideas of why this might happen? it keeps on overheating a little bit and I add more coolant and it goes right to the reservoir tank.

another question, if i took out the entire a/c system, would my a/c button turn on my rad fan still if I wanted to see if it works properly? or is that button completely useless now? thanks

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

Most likely a blown headgasket, you can try a new rad cap first if you want to, but you have about a 99.9% chance of a blown headgasket

The A/C button has nothing to do with the rad fan, thermo switch in the thermostat housing controls it.

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

quite similar story, and same exact problem....

ive had the intermittent overheating problem for 4 months since the HG was changed up until two weeks ago the car just kept overheating (all the way to red mark) i didn't drive the car since.

yesterday morning i just took the bare block to the machine shop. i have a hunch that when i replaced the HG and had the head resurfaced, the block was warped.

hopefully i can finish everything tomorrow and this fixes the overheating issue

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

When you suspect a blown headgasket due to overheating your best tool to check it is a block tester(do a search if you have not heard of it).
Cheap tool and very easy to use,if the fluid turns yellow you have combustion gasses in the cooling system.
I found one on Ebay for $9 buy it now.

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

^ This.

I bought my block tester kit at Napa for $50 (I got ripped off?). It will do multiple tests until you run out of fluid, but you can buy more. You have to drain an inch of coolant out of the radiator then get to operating temp and stick the tester in the radiator neck and pump some air from the radiator through the fluid in the tester with a rubber bulb. If it turns from blue to yellow you have exhaust/combustion gasses in your radiator, and it is time to disassemble/check for cracks or blown headgasket.

Great test to do before buying a used vehicle.

I can almost guarantee that if your coolant is pushed to the overflow tank you are looking at a blown headgasket.

Even slight overheating is usually fatal for a D15B7 (it must be reborn by a machine shop - deck the block and head).

The shop that did my current D15B7 engine used a Y3 engine/gasket kit. So far so good. Doesn't leak a drop of anything.

Re: Del sol D15B7 engine replaced, overheating issue. lots of info
 

shop called and block is ready to be picked up. replacing the piston rings too since the block is already apart.