hollums2k

98 Integra LS. I recently built my head (port and polish / new valves / springs and retainers / new cams) and after I put everything back together my car keeps over heating. When I put the head back on I replaced the water pump, thermostat, and thermostat gasket. My problem is my fan wont come on, bottom hose is cold, and the thermostat isnt opening up. Ive tried 2 different thermostats and I checked both of them in boiling water, so im guessing this is not my problem...burping the radiator doesnt seem to help anything. Could my new water pump be bad? Or do I have a clogged radiator? Any help is appreciated...

hollums2k

bumpity bump bump

VTEC_PRODUCTION

did you drain the radiator? and your not leaking anything right? could be bad water pump...

hollums2k

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by VTEC_PRODUCTION &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">did you drain the radiator? and your not leaking anything right? could be bad water pump...</TD></TR></TABLE>no leaks - water pump is duralast from autozone...but it is brand new. i just put the water hose in the top radiator hose and let water flow it and out through the bottom hose (while it was not connected to the thermostat housing). same way through the motor, just with that hose attached to the head. im guessing that this caused a massive air bubble in the cooling system...only problem is i cant get it out...im going to try checking the water pump tomarrow by removing the thermostat and seeing if i get anything out of the bottom hose.

CompanyFlow

You are burping the system with the cabin temperature to its hottest setting right?

mac_24_seven

iTrader: (1)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hollums2k &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">no leaks - water pump is duralast from autozone...but it is brand new.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Unfortunately, thats means nothing. I've had several "new" parts be crap from the get-go. Alternators, starters, distributors (yes, multiples of each over the years), heck, my buddy had an OEM Honda head gasket be bad!
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Now, this is a simple question but: Did you put the thermostat in correctly? With the probe going TOWARDS the head?

Have you used the bleeder valve on the head?

Try running it WITHOUT a thermostat if nothing else, see what happens.

Also, maybe the water pump is bad: If none of the above help, stick your old one back in.

Let us know

johncdoyle

These are the best ideas so far. If it has a bleeder, you definitely need to bleed it. Great idea just to take the thermostat out of the picture. Also, after taking out the thermostat and refilling the radiator, just leave the cap off and start the engine. Top off the coolant as it goes down. Let it run for a while with the heater on high. I have had success with this method -- watching and topping off. The coolant level could be much lower than you imagine. I can't imagine your new water pump being bad enough to cause this problem, but there are guys on this board who have seen a whole lot more of these cars than me. Good luck.

hollums2k

Ive tried flushing the block and the radiator and letting the coolant bubble up and top off. patients is not my problem here because i sat and watched it for over an hour this morning. this morning i removed the thermostat and tried seeing if i could get anything out of the bottom hose - which was a success. i believe this indicates my water pump is working. so when i got home from work i put the thermostat back in and filled the upper radiator hose completely with coolant. im not seeing any more air bubbles come out of the neck. ive checked for any vacuum leaks and have found nothing. to add insult to injury i just popped codes p0172 and p0170. since these are fuel system codes i dont think they have any relation to my coolant problem. im GUESSING they came from either the cams being un-tuned or the fact that i adjusted the valves to the factory spec and they are .5mm oversize. im not sure yet but my bigger problem right now is the coolant issue. any more help?

mac_24_seven

iTrader: (1)

So after you put your thermostat back in, you had the same problem or is it fine now that you've bled it? You never told us

And I wouldn't worry about the codes right now: Unrelated to the problem.

hollums2k

same problem after i put the thermostat back in. i just took it for a ride for about an hour and a half or 2 hours with the thermostat out and my temp stayed fine. until i can think of a better solution i guess this is going to have to work. im more worried about the codes now(which i think are coming from my new cams - i adjusted the valves to factory spec and i believe they need to be adjusted according to the new lobes) because my county has emissions and my birthday was friday!

mac_24_seven

iTrader: (1)

Ok... When you put the thermostat back in, was your lower radiator hose no longer getting warm again? Obviously, that would mean the thermostat is blocking it/is bad.


Now, if it's overheating and spewing water out the overflow and overheating even with the thermostat working (lower hose getting warm)

Well, my car did that and a new headgasket/milled head later it was fixed :S Whoever did your head may have did a bad job, or the headgasket may be defective.

vtecb18c

it sounds like you have an electrical problem somewherewith your fan . test your fan by taking it out and connecting the neg and poss to the battery and see if it turns on.if not than you need a new fan. if you tried to purge your rad and its not flowing than its def clogged. run a hose through it for about 15 min than soak it in boiling water for about a half hour. after that go back to the hose and flush it out again. note: that just because it flows fine doesnt mean its still good. the fins can be dent or damaged so bad that there is no air flow going through it. so if that all doesnt work than i would invest in a new rad

HONDACURA-DB8

Is your thermo installed correctly? There are 2 lil nipples that line up with thedimples in the housing. If ur fan works when u coneect directly to the battery, u have a bad fan switch.

silverAC

This one may seem silly but stranger things have happened. Is the thermostat in the right way? I believe it will fit in backwards, in which case it would not open. It would test OK when you have it out and boil it.

hollums2k

lol im putting the thermostat in correctly and with the little pin facing upwards. the only thing i can think of is to try getting another thermostat from honda -- these other 2 that i have will open in boiling water but its not opening up in the car. ive made sure that theres coolant in the block as well when im trying the thermostat. ive tried completely filling up the motor and the upper radiator hose as well - nothing is helping these thermostats open up. <TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mac_24_seven &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ok... When you put the thermostat back in, was your lower radiator hose no longer getting warm again? Obviously, that would mean the thermostat is blocking it/is bad.</TD></TR></TABLE>
The lower hose will stay cold with the thermostat in - therefor its not opening up and fresh coolant is not getting into the motor.
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mac24_seven &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well, my car did that and a new headgasket/milled head later it was fixed :S Whoever did your head may have did a bad job, or the headgasket may be defective.</TD></TR></TABLE>
You say your car was doing what mine was doing or yours kept spilling over into the resivour? As far as the resurfacing of the head and the vavle job - im positive they did a good job. I took it to a cylinder head specialist that is renowned in the atlanta area. As far as what your saying here the only thing i would be worried about would be the head gasket -- which is an ROL gasket....

Like I said my next approach is going to be getting an original honda thermostat and try that. I have had guys at my shop go through 3 or 4 oem replacement thermostats before they got one that worked right..

mac_24_seven

iTrader: (1)

My car was overheating and spewing water out the resivour when it had a bad head gasket.

I'd roll without the thermostat until you got one that worked

hollums2k

This is really starting to **** me off. I have now changed my head gasket (which i ordered from Acura so its absolutely the right head gasket.) after i got the timing belt back on and everything running the thermostat still wont open up... I was 99% sure that was what was causing my problem... since my last post ive changed all of the temp sensors / senders and still nothing has changed... And yes - i made sure there was no air in the system before i gave up and took the thermostat out again... Anyone..Someone...PLEASE HELP!!!

wankel kel

I had a similar problem on the thermo housing there is a sensor. about 23 bucks at autozone.anyway test it
unplug the cable and jump it together with a wire. make sure both fans turn on. my sensor was bad which made the car overheat and fans to never kick on,also made temps very high after a short drive. hope that helps.

Intocable

hey hollums2k, have you gotten it running right yet?? It seems I am having the EXACT same problem you have. My lower hose stays cold and I have already replaced the thermostat. I have a B16a2 (99 Civic Si) engine that I just swapped into my 89 CRX Si. Unfortunately, I have not been able to fix this problem either since I barely did the swap this past week.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wankel kel &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I had a similar problem on the thermo housing there is a sensor. about 23 bucks at autozone.anyway test it
unplug the cable and jump it together with a wire. make sure both fans turn on. my sensor was bad which made the car overheat and fans to never kick on,also made temps very high after a short drive. hope that helps.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I think you are talking about the fan switch (or ECT switch). I bypassed mine and the fans turned on strong so I went to buy a switch (at autozone too) but my fans still dont turn on. I think its because the hose never gets warm enough for the switch to activate. I completely agree with hollums2k that this problem is a real PITA and head buster. I will take out my thermo to see if I get the same results you do. The only other thing I can think about is if the wiring is bad which makes the sensor read wrong (my cluster temp sensor is also new) but I have not found anything wrong with it so I really dont know!!!! I really hope someone who's had this problem and fixed it is reading this!

mac_24_seven

iTrader: (1)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hollums2k &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> the thermostat still wont open up... .PLEASE HELP!!!</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well, this isn't "fixing" your problem, but.... I'd just pull the thermostat and wire your fan to a switch and get a temp gauge (if you don't have one already) and just keep an eye on your temp.

If your car runs fine, aside from this problem.... I'd leave it be. I don't see how you could have had several thermostats bad in a row, but I suppose it's pheasable.

Maybe it would be a good idea to check and see if any any combustion gases are in your coolant.

http://www.arrowheadradiator.c...t.htm

If you were to check that, and it was fine... I'd just drive without a thermo (as already stated).

Wish I could be of more help. I hate it when things don't make sense.

hollums2k

blah...still no progress...master technicians are stumped on this one...ive been rolling without a thermo for a while now and i only seem to start jumping heat in traffic...im MOSTLY worried about SUMMER being right around the corner...as for you mr.Intocable i ll let you know if i find a solution to our problem...BTW the fan switch has nothing to do with your bottom hose staying cold..your bottom hose is cold because its your return line to the block that brings cold coolant into it..the thermostat is not opening up and it is blocking the flow...im going to try replacing my radiator b/c i want to do a half radiator to open up for turbo room anyways...so..ill let you know in a few weeks if that helps anything.

hollums2k

bump

Intocable

Ok, yesterday my brother took out the thermostat and the fans still didnt turn on and the engine overheated again. I told him to bypass the fan switch and he did...then he drove the car for about 10 mins and he said it did not overheat, both hoses were warm and everything seemed fine. Today, he drove it to a city 20 mins away and back (he said it was about an hour of driving) and the car did not overheat!!! So, am guessing my problem is either the thermo, the fan switch, or both! Hollums2k, I'll let you know when I have more of an update on this!

hollums2k

let me know buddy, were in the same boat. summers right around the corner though and cold air against the radiator is not going to be a cooling option for us

mac_24_seven

iTrader: (1)

That is just so strange. Why would the thermostat not open, when you've tried multiple ones?

Doesn't make sense...