LudEcrous

I have a H23 turbo benson sleeved and running JE's and hondata tuned 2b.

I was running on the highway in 4th boosting around 13lbs. I suddenly noticed my temp was in the red after i let off. Pulled over and the overflow tank was full and some coolant had sprayed out on that side. Got towed home.

Just to make sure i changed the thermostat and flushed out the coolant. It seems to idle fine, but when i rev it in neutral I don't see white smoke, but there is like a 5 foot spray of water looking stuff out of the exhaust. Temp is in the middle when at idle...i didn't drive it around yet.

What do you guys think? I checked the old coolant for signs of mixing oil and didn't see anything to signal that...the coolant was kinda dark green though. Hadn't changed it in like 1.5 yrs. I looked at the oil cap and the dipstick for mixing and just saw dark black oil, but haven't emptied the oil yet from the engine.

What are your thoughts?

LudEcrous

bump

PrecisionH23a

When was the motor tuned? Was it tuned TUNED or are you running a base map? If you are overheating under load and blowing coolant out of your overflow tank it is most likely your headgasket is gone.

If you continue to drive it like this you are asking for melted pistons, a warped deck on the block/head most likely near a water jacket and scarred up cylinder walls. I know because my h23a did the SAME exact thing when my headgasket went. And I was not smoking white at idle or under load but i had TINY droplets of oil in my radiator. You could take a cloth and insert it in the radiator and you would have a nice film of oil on the cloth when removed.

Yank the head asap and see how your pistons look. Pay special attention to the piston on the intake side and have your block and head checked for warpage.

RTW DC2R

the "5 ft spray of water looking stuff" just sounds to me like water vapor and will probably go away once the car warms up. you could have simply had a bad thermostat or hose, and replacing those as you did may have solved the problem. Did you check the radiator and its condition? Did you notice if the coolant was low when you were overheating? Was your cooling fan coming on when it was overheating? If it was the head gasket, chances are you would either be smoking white, or have oil in the coolant, both of which you DO NOT have. Oil will float in the coolant if you have any in there, it wont mix and make the coolant look darker. You can also check the bottom of the radiator cap, if there is oil in the coolant system, it will "build up" on the bottom of the cap. I would just drive it around some, but dont beat on it and dont go far from home. Let it get to normal operating temp and just watch the gauges for signs of overheating. Or like the other guy said, you can take the extra safe rounte and pull the head, inspect the pistons and replace the gasket.

LudEcrous

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RTW DC2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the "5 ft spray of water looking stuff" just sounds to me like water vapor and will probably go away once the car warms up. you could have simply had a bad thermostat or hose, and replacing those as you did may have solved the problem. Did you check the radiator and its condition? Did you notice if the coolant was low when you were overheating? Was your cooling fan coming on when it was overheating? </TD></TR></TABLE>

That spray of "stuff" never happened before. i started it up when i changed the thermostat and the spray of "stuff" happened when the car was at normal temp at idle. The radiator is a C&R radiator, and the coolant was fine before i overheated and it blew into the overflow. The cooling fans also were on.

PrecisionH23a

I am leaning towards a headgasket failure. Before you yank it apart do this:

Flush coolant system, replace thermostat let motor run until fans kick on 2x. Run motor without the radiator cap by the way... when fan kicks on install a new radiator cap then bleed out any existing air through the thermostat housing.
Take the motor for a spin. If you blow coolant out again through the overflow tank under boost you have a problem internally. You can do a comp test or cyl leakdown but I did both and got perfect numbers... it turned out the HG was blown. You can also yank your spark plugs after a hard drive and see if one is whiter then the other. With a 11:1 afr your plugs should all be black so it should be easy to see if one plug is leaner and what not. If one is, that is most likely where the HG has failed at in reguards to location.

Your head could also be lifting under boost, did you use new head bolts/studs? If you do need to yank the head, check the torque of the head studs. But like I said before, I'm betting its the HG. That's the only time I have ever seen the overflow tanks blow out coolant. Pressure is entering your system somehow and is most likely only doing so under full load.

RTW DC2R

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PrecisionH23a &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> That's the only time I have ever seen the overflow tanks blow out coolant. Pressure is entering your system somehow and is most likely only doing so under full load.
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last time that happened to me it turned out it was the HG, but I had oil in my coolant so that was a dead give away.

LudEcrous

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PrecisionH23a &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I am leaning towards a headgasket failure. Before you yank it apart do this:

Flush coolant system, replace thermostat let motor run until fans kick on 2x. Run motor without the radiator cap by the way... when fan kicks on install a new radiator cap then bleed out any existing air through the thermostat housing.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah i did that already and the temp was normal at idle. I haven't taken it out for a spin yet. I'll try it tonight.

If coolant was getting into the combustion chamber what would the plugs look like?

PrecisionH23a

They will be white. Take the car out in daylight, not when it's dark. Drive the car normally for about 5-10min. Pull over check the overflow tank. Then do a few nice pulls in 3rd gear and then inspect the overflow tank. Do not go far from your house. If you start overheating cut the motor off and turn your heat on with the car key in point ign 2. Let it cool down then drive it home. Remember, do what I said first about the coolant system before you drive it around.

blitzteggsr

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PrecisionH23a &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">They will be white. Take the car out in daylight, not when it's dark. Drive the car normally for about 5-10min. Pull over check the overflow tank. Then do a few nice pulls in 3rd gear and then inspect the overflow tank. Do not go far from your house. If you start overheating cut the motor off and turn your heat on with the car key in point ign 2. Let it cool down then drive it home. Remember, do what I said first about the coolant system before you drive it around.</TD></TR></TABLE>
I have sort of a similar problem. I did what you said. I drove my car normally for 5-10min and temp gauge was at normal. I did 2 pulls in 3rd gear and a huge cloud of white smoke came out of the exhaust. I drove back home and I could smell something burning from the exhaust. The temp gauge was at normal the whole time and didn't go any higher. What is the problem?