Cooling Issue on boosted b16

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Old Oct 18, 2010 | 03:35 PM
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Icon6 Cooling Issue on boosted b16

Here is my setup and situation.
My motor is semi-built... pistons and rods. Ported and polished head with springs, retainers, and head studs. It's turboed and tuned. (Nothing out of the ordinary)

the car runs excellent and i just did a leak down test and had virtually perfect numbers. I didn't belive this so i had a local tuner do the leak down test and he had identical numbers.

My problem:
On low boost the problem is not as bad. When i drive the car on high boost my overflow tank ends up full of coolant and my temp strats to go up due to low coolant. So every time i go anywhere with the car i have to add coolant/water. I am not running a thermostat on the car (it's gutted). I don't think that this is the issue, because I've ran the car without it for 2 years and haven't had any problems.

Could this be a head gasket? I just replaced my radiator to a thicker one because i thought that my old one was the problem but the same thing is happening. My fan works on a switch so it runs constantly.

When I start the car and take the radiator cap off i can see the coolant moving and when i give it gas the i it spits up a little out of the radiator. I am not sure if it can be anything but the head gasket? But I am very confused because the leakdown test showed the engine to be healty.

Any help is appriciated, sorry for the long write up, I'm just trying to include everything and as detailed as possible.
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Old Oct 20, 2010 | 12:44 PM
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Default Re: Cooling Issue on b16

Can anyone help me with this?
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Old Oct 20, 2010 | 08:24 PM
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Default Re: Cooling Issue on b16

b
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Old Oct 25, 2010 | 12:11 PM
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Default Re: Cooling Issue on b16

There is no way that i'm ther ony person to experience this????
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Old Oct 25, 2010 | 12:28 PM
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Default Re: Cooling Issue on b16

Is an exhaust pipe touching the radiator? You may want to pressure test the cooling system. I will also copy your thread to the Forced Induction subforum to see whether you get useful replies there.
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Old Oct 27, 2010 | 06:12 PM
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Default Re: Cooling Issue on boosted b16

Nothing is touching... everything is lined up just like it has always been...

thank you for posting this here as well.
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Old Oct 27, 2010 | 06:30 PM
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Default Re: Cooling Issue on boosted b16

tune or stretched head studs.

your pushing coolant, your detonating or your head studs are stretched.


and its not good to run without a thermostat.
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Old Oct 27, 2010 | 06:48 PM
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Default Re: Cooling Issue on boosted b16

hay mate hows it going.
ive got a fully built b16a making 450hp bla bla
i had the same problem. check everything and it was fine. but i could not find a reason for why it was getting hot.

do u run a half size rad.
i run a 60mm half size radator.
i had a 10" fan on it with no shrowed around the radaitor.
this caused it to only pull air through a small part of the raidator.

u ither need to make a shrowed so ur fan pulls air through the hole radator ,or put a bigger fan on.
i upgraded to a 14" fan. it touches courner to courner on the raidator now.
make sure u have antifreeze in it and a thermastat.
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Old Oct 28, 2010 | 07:25 AM
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Default Re: Cooling Issue on boosted b16

Just an idea, have you installed a block brace?

I had a similar problem for quite a few months, low boost was absolutely fine, high boost it would push water and overheat.
It turned out to be the head gasket, it was pressurising the water system when the boost was over a certain level,
All testing prior didn’t capture the problem, it was only when the engine was pulled apart for a check and refresh we picked up the slight mark on the head gasket.
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Old Oct 28, 2010 | 08:08 AM
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Default Re: Cooling Issue on boosted b16

you could have a bad head gasket. Did you have the block decked and the head surfaced to make sure both mating surfaces were flat and true?. If so then the other thing could be a tuning issue.
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Old Oct 28, 2010 | 08:29 AM
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Default Re: Cooling Issue on boosted b16

My car is doing the exact same thing....

I am making 435whp at 13psi... car does not begin heating up until 9000RPMs in 4th gear but temps never go over 196
I am making 635whp at 28psi... the overflow will be full and coolant will be all over my exhaust... and it gets up to 220

i will be replacing my cometic headgasket with a golden eagle 84mm and upgrade my 13" spal pusher to a 13"spal puller with shroud.

i would do the t1 fan and shroudcombo first... check after that... then do the headgasket....
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Old Oct 28, 2010 | 08:43 AM
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Default Re: Cooling Issue on boosted b16

I had the same issue.. your most likely stretching the headbolts and pushing coolant in the Res. not running a t-stat also doesn't help. The coolant doest have enough time in the rad to dissipate heat before it circulates back in the block. Thus keeping the coolant temp high also. If you have different head bolts it would be wise to do a retorque on them. I've learned for past experiences putting motors together after a few heat cycles i went and checked the head bolts and they were alittle looser then others.. I torque my head bolts 5ft/lbs over what is recommended This is what I do, an by all means im not saying for you to do it. Its something that always worked for me especially if you re used head bolts.
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Old Oct 28, 2010 | 03:22 PM
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Default Re: Cooling Issue on boosted b16

Originally Posted by tagperformance
you could have a bad head gasket. Did you have the block decked and the head surfaced to make sure both mating surfaces were flat and true?. If so then the other thing could be a tuning issue.
I did take the head and block to a local machine shop and they made everything flat... like i said in the OP I haven't had any issues for 2 years straight.
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Old Oct 28, 2010 | 03:24 PM
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Default Re: Cooling Issue on boosted b16

Originally Posted by EddieCRX
Just an idea, have you installed a block brace?

I had a similar problem for quite a few months, low boost was absolutely fine, high boost it would push water and overheat.
It turned out to be the head gasket, it was pressurising the water system when the boost was over a certain level,
All testing prior didn’t capture the problem, it was only when the engine was pulled apart for a check and refresh we picked up the slight mark on the head gasket.
That is what I'm thinking... i'm going to replace my head gasket. I am running a OEM head gasket and i'm sure that it's not intended for 600 HP... I will replace it here within a week and post my results if it fixed it.
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Old Oct 28, 2010 | 03:25 PM
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Default Re: Cooling Issue on boosted b16

Originally Posted by x-s-i-v
hay mate hows it going.
ive got a fully built b16a making 450hp bla bla
i had the same problem. check everything and it was fine. but i could not find a reason for why it was getting hot.

do u run a half size rad.
i run a 60mm half size radator.
i had a 10" fan on it with no shrowed around the radaitor.
this caused it to only pull air through a small part of the raidator.

u ither need to make a shrowed so ur fan pulls air through the hole radator ,or put a bigger fan on.
i upgraded to a 14" fan. it touches courner to courner on the raidator now.
make sure u have antifreeze in it and a thermastat.
I was running the stock radiator with the stock fan... and like i said no problems for 2 years or so... then it started happening, so i bought an aftermarket radiator and the stock fan bolted right up to it... but the issue was exactly the same... if it is the radiator then why is it taking over 2 years for this to start happening? it doesn't make sense to me?
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Old Oct 28, 2010 | 03:28 PM
  #16  
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Default Re: Cooling Issue on boosted b16

Originally Posted by turbociv910
tune or stretched head studs.

your pushing coolant, your detonating or your head studs are stretched.


and its not good to run without a thermostat.
I will replace the head studs when i replace my head gasket and see... as far as the thermostat, i haven't had any issues running without it... i agree that you need a thermostat, but the car is not my daily driver, and when i drive it, I do beat it up so i'm trying to keep it as cool as possible.
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Old Oct 28, 2010 | 03:29 PM
  #17  
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Default Re: Cooling Issue on boosted b16

Originally Posted by Hondaruss
I had the same issue.. your most likely stretching the headbolts and pushing coolant in the Res. not running a t-stat also doesn't help. The coolant doest have enough time in the rad to dissipate heat before it circulates back in the block. Thus keeping the coolant temp high also. If you have different head bolts it would be wise to do a retorque on them. I've learned for past experiences putting motors together after a few heat cycles i went and checked the head bolts and they were alittle looser then others.. I torque my head bolts 5ft/lbs over what is recommended This is what I do, an by all means im not saying for you to do it. Its something that always worked for me especially if you re used head bolts.
Everything was torqued and checked over and over again when the engine was put together... but i haven't gone back at all to re-torque anything... might need to.
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Old Oct 28, 2010 | 03:45 PM
  #18  
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Default Re: Cooling Issue on boosted b16

Originally Posted by DelSolMarine
My car is doing the exact same thing....

I am making 435whp at 13psi... car does not begin heating up until 9000RPMs in 4th gear but temps never go over 196
I am making 635whp at 28psi... the overflow will be full and coolant will be all over my exhaust... and it gets up to 220

i will be replacing my cometic headgasket with a golden eagle 84mm and upgrade my 13" spal pusher to a 13"spal puller with shroud.

i would do the t1 fan and shroudcombo first... check after that... then do the headgasket....
I am going to replace my head gasket too... it's OEM now, but i'm going to keep it OEM... from my understanding if you get a different brand or thickness head gasket you have to re-tune.... so i'm going to use OEM head gasket and OEM head studs (new from dealer of course) and just put it back together and see how things go.
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Old Oct 29, 2010 | 05:16 AM
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From: Suffolk, Virginia
Default Re: Cooling Issue on boosted b16

arp head studs or golden eagle head studs are proven to be stronger than stock head studs.

i personally would order headstuds from golden eagle and a headgaskets from them.
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