tekstyle

after about a 15 min run on the track, my coolant reservoir is bubbling pretty bad. what does this mean? is it my coolant boiling (going from liquid to vapor phase)? does this mean i need to get better coolant or a radiator? my car is a gsr. because of this, I am afraid to go the full 25 minutes and end up pulling out of the course before my session is over >:O. if anyone have experience with this, please provide incites. thanks everyone.

wenlyone

what is your water temp?
what color is the coolant?

it is possible you your thermostat is bad
it is also possible your headgasket is going

but you should see water temp in the red

Andrie Hartanto

Try new radiator cap first

MAV3RiCK478

i'm with andrie, radiator cap first. but check the lower radiator hose after the car warms up and see if its hot or cold. if its cold the thermostat is bad. but sounds more like the cap is bad and the boiling point has changed because the pressure is off in the cooling system.

tekstyle

My water temp is to the left of the thermometer icon while on the track. It can drop to about midd way between the icon and cold on the freeway with outside being 90f. The coolant is green color and about a year old. It does mot bubble up any othrr time other that when i track the car. I will check radiator cap. Can it also be air in the system? Bc i might not have bleed it correctly. I just topped off the radiator. Start car for 2min, turn off motor and top off again and repaeat until i cant top off anymore. Then max out the reservoir.

Chef Andre

iTrader: (1)

In for an answer.

MAV3RiCK478

sounds like your thermostat is stuck. my old gsr used to drop temp while going down hill, changed the thermostat and temp stayed constant.

if there is air in the system, open bleeder screw (usually located from the top radiator hose on head), add coolant to the radiator until it comes out like a constant stream from the bleeder screw, close the screw, top off radiator, then i usually start the car and run it till the thermostat opens and check coolant level at radiator. it will either boil over or drain down some, top it off or wipe off excess, put cap on and test drive.

tekstyle

thanks for the tip maverick. when you mentioned the bleeder screw, are you talking about the bolt behind the header? do i open the screw and keep the cap off. start the car. then fill from the radiator until the constant stream comes out of the screw. close the bleed screw with engine still on and then top off radiator?

Lo-Buck EF

bubbles usually means blown gasket. but its worth trying everything that was said first. a bad cap can mimic a head gasket. when was the last time the thermostat was done?

rice_classic

I just had this happen on my race car...twice

I explain my situation to help you understand yours better. Yours is most likely not as bad as mine but may be a result of CAP, thermostat, gasket or (hopefully not) worse.

First, my thermostat wasn't opening causing the water temp to rise and coolant was making it past my rad cap into the reservoir.

So I replaced the Thermostat...

No more overheating but I was still filling up my reservoir.

Replaced Radiator Cap

Still Filling my reservoir but race weekend was over.

Next race weekend

Car was overheating AND my reservoir was filling up/ exploding with water.

Removed thermostat, ran the system with no impedence.

Engine temps climbed higher in next race, lost all water and filled up oil catch res until it was spraying oil in engine bay.


Pulled head off engine

Result: Corroded head which didn't allow the headgasket to do it's job. At high RPM's cylinder gases were escaping into the cooling system, adding massive pressures forcing coolant OUT of the system! Cylinder 3 ended up with major carbon corrosion not allowing the valves to seat and pressure from the chamber was exiting through my head and into my catch reservoir taking much oil with it.

I am now building a new head.


HAVE FUN! Good Luck!

tekstyle

i don't think my problem is as bad as yours. this motor was new from the acura dealership in 2002. so far, it has about 100k miles on it. i assume the thermostat is also new along with the new motor. i did swap this motor from the first shell into my current integra. however, i did not follow the bleed procedure listed on team-integra.net nor maverick's. therefore, i suspect maybe air in the system. my temp guage does fluctuate from cold to warmed up, but it never ever approaches anything close to red, not even half way on the track. even after a long 300 miles drive from south cal back to the bay area, the car seems to run fine other than that my coolant reservoir has about an inch more coolant in it than when i started (at the full mark).

i did my oil a day ago, and there wasn't any coolant in it. if i have to replace the thermostat, how difficult will that be?