Hi can someone please help me out. I have a fully built b18 bored to a 2.0L I知 $30,000 into this build and I知 having a temp creeping issue. Car runs better now since I致e added a push fan on the front of my half Mishimoto rad. My intercooler is blocking the rad is why I added a push fan. my tablet via Bluetooth reads 196f but when under boost (7psi) the cluster gauge creeps up while the tablet stays at 196f but than goes back to normal while cruising. I dont have bubbles in my rad not any back full into the reservoir so I ruled out a head gasket. But I could be wrong. Any assistance would be very much appreciated.

 

Well,

- not using a full size radiator but I do see a dual core half size radiator which leads me to the next issue
- don't see a fan shroud (probably bad angle) so not all of the coolant is getting its temp dropped

It looks like you're not cooling your coolant fast enough. Get a thermo cam and get 2 readings from the thermostat housing and at the outlet of the lower radiator.

 

Thanks for replying. I checked at the upper rad hose housing and the temp is around 198/200
and at the lower outlet from rad it痴 around 145/155. When I have both fans my temp via tablet Bluetooth stays stable at 196f big on my dash the gauge is almost 3/4. Is the gauge supposed yo be that high at that temp? (196) also when I click on my lights the temp will glitch up and when I shut them off the temp goes down abit.

 

It is most def not suppose to be there. Here is where you'll have to verify your connections and hope nothing is causing the high output. There are two ECT sensors on the head, one for the cluster and one for the ecu. I'd just check them both against what the FSM says though.

 

Can u please get alitte more specific, I replaced the ECT and the sending unit.

 

Download the FSM, look for the section where it tells you to test the ECT sending unit and ECT.

 

I知 getting 5volts on the ECT sensor connector unplugged and around 300Ohms on the sencor itself. And when I ground the sending u it the cluster goes to max hot so I think it ok?

 

Did you compare temps with your bluetooth display to see if it matched up?

 

Yes my temp is very close on the temp gun in relation to the tablet I just burped the system again, this time I pulled on the throttle several times. I知 hoping it will be good. I知 gonna go for a ride and test it.

 

When you ohm test the 'sending unit' was it close to what the bluetooth display was showing. The FSM shows you this.

 

The FSM only shows how to test sending unit sensor and the plug coming to it. As far as the actual temp i tested with the temp gun on engine and just watch my tablet reading

 

You need to be looking at the temp reading from the ECU! the gauge cluster temp is useless because the ECT sending sensor can crap out, if you have spent 30K you should have a good EMS I will guess and hope your running a Hondata S300, open up smanager or if its on your tablet and that's what your using see what the temp the ECU is reading that's the temp you want to be looking at! as long as that is stable you should be fine at 196, Turbo setups get pretty hot under boost but at 196 you should be fine. you can do what was suggested and use a full size radiator with a fan shroud. You can use a low temp thermostat from mishimoto you should see a few deg lower in temp and also run a additive in the coolant to lower temps. You can try a radiator cooling plate as well.

 

Hey thanks for your reply aswell, yes I知 using hondata S300 And tablet is stable at 196. But the cluster gauge goes up pretty high so I worry and don稚 know what to trust. I致e replaced both sending unit and ECT sensors.
if I crank my heat to full blast the cluster gauge will slowly start coming down and the tablet maintains its temp at 196. I don稚 have room to go with a full sized rad. A shroud I will have to custom make and hopefully the shroud will help abit

 

Sounds like you have air in the cooling system!
Bleed the radiator! easy way is from a cold start remove the radiator cap and jack the car up as high as possible, turn the engine on and turn the heat inside to full blast! let the engine idle and watch for the fans to come on at least once, top off the fluid and make sure no air bubbles are present in the radiator. Make sure both hoses get hot then put the radiator cap on and lower the car and drive it.


As long as the Hondata temp stays under 200 your fine. Its showing the temp the ECU is reading from the ECT sensor. At 196 deg the stock temp gauge on the cluster should go past the middle line which it sounds like it is so it seems to be working fine.

 

So here is the update. I built a custom rad shroud added a push fan and it helps cool the car down when I slow down but the damn thing still over heats unless I keep my heater full blast. I have tried bleeding it multiple times with the front end up as high as I can get it with jack stands and I feel like it痴 bled. I just did a compression test and all cylinders are at 150. I pressurized the coolant system and it holds at 20psi changed the sending unit changed the ECT sensor added water wetter to the coolant system and still overheating. I知 getting really frustrated. I want to go boost this car up but with this overheating issue I don稚 think it痴 a wise idea. Can someone please tell me what I can Check next. Is it a small head gasket leak? Is my water pump no flowing fast enough. I even drilled 4 holes in the t-stat. Both hoses get hot. Turbo down pipe is wrapped the header is not. What else could it be. Maybe a bad set up. Maybe I need a triple core rad ? I dunno. Man this is frustrating after spending 30 grand on my car to have these issues is beyond my comprehension.

 

Don't give up! start with the easier stuff, get ahold of a full size radiator even a stock radiator will work get it on and bleed the system again and see where your at, next step would be leak down test.

What head gasket are you using? OEM?

was the head and block properly surfaced I would assume so but its possible you could have a head gasket issue but I wouldn't jump that far yet.

While your at it I would put a new OEM thermostat when you replace the radiator thermos can fail often.

 

 

Problem is that I don稚 have the room for a full size radiator. I have 16 inch wide space available only

 

I have read that the DA chassis is known to have cooling flow issues when a turbo is installed, You most likely have flow issues. Some recommend the triple core intercooler, You can also look into a back door type intercooler/radiator combo. Maybe you can have something custom made by Greg at go autoworks

 

What kind of fan is that on the radiator, the one thats pulling?

 

Mishimoto 12 inch

 

when it starts to overheat again pull over and check your coolant reservoir? is it boiling?

 

Hey that痴 a good idea. I値l check this tomorrow after work and let you know. Mind you I took the hood off yesterday and I found it to be better but after a few hard pulls it started to go up. I had the heater off aswell. I知 starting to think it痴 a cooling issue. I wrapped 3 out of 4 header ports today hoping it will take some heat away.

 

Did you ever verify if you had a wiring issue with the gauge?

There are a couple things to try, the thermostat like wunfgstr suggested, change the coolant to something better (no turbo'd engine here so I use regular honda/acura coolant), a better slim fan that gives you better cfm (SPAL comes to mind here), last would be a PWM fan controller that will keep the fan spinning at low speeds but increases as temps rise.


I hope you're using a good thermostat.

 

So I checked the reservoir and no boiling. I flushed the coolant system and put fresh coolant and added a litre of the ice blue additive. I知 still overheating, I guess I値l replace the T-stat again. Maybe a malfunction. I知 ordering a SPAL fan so maybe this will help. If not than maybe a slightly bigger rad. This is sooo annoying.