dbman96

Alright guys I'm back at my overheating situation.

Story goes like this... put turbo in, car overheating, got lots of bubbles coming out of overflow tank so I pull the head gasket and replace it. Check for warpage and appear to have flat block and head. New OEM head gasket.

Problem improves, but still running hot. Car can't go over mountain pass without overheating. Not good. Fans running full time. Try water wetter, all water, 50% coolant, 23% water and 12% spanish fly, no luck.

Try 160F thermostat

Takes longer to overheat.

Try drilling holes in said thermostat.

Now it takes WAY longer to overheat but still warms up...

Now at this point I get hot after about 30 min. But if I go really easy after it warms up it will cool down; it's no longer boiling off fluid and needing more every day.

Today I decided to blast my heater 100% all the way home from work no matter how hot it got. I ran the car into the GROUND for 40 min and it didn't overheat. Temp spiked a little after passing, but backed right off.

So if the increased cooling capacity of my HEATER is enough to keep it cool, then a bigger radiator would solve my problems completely. Right? I kept thinking my head is warped and leaking into the cooling jackets but if running the heater solves it that wouldn't make sense.

If this is the case can someone advise me what model fluidyne to get or at least what size works best??

THANKS I'm dying here.

MiraiZ

hmm...Im baffled...larger radiator,,,,maybe better fans...is there any air getting to the radiator...maybe your IC is blocking the ventalation too much?

TurboIntegra

Hmm how old is your radiator?

I have owned two turbo integras and the stock cooling system has always worked well for me even in 100degree weather.

dbman96

This is why I'm confused! The radiator was replaced, has maybe 35K on it - I've tried flushing it, had a rad. shop check it out... makes NO sense to me.

I am running a 0.48 exh. side and a pretty crappy manifold which may be retaining and transferring extra heat into the head... I don't know. But if the head is still leaking it would be more persistent even with heater on...

WAAAAAH I need help.

89hybrid

Did you have the head resurfaced to makeit true.

dbman96

I was under the impression I should only resurface the head if it was not true.

turbopanda

here's my custom radiator with Toyota 2JZ-GTE core (Supra Twinturbo to those unfamiliar). Since i've had this thing in my car, I haven't seen my temp gauge rise higher than halfway (whic is normal anyway). I have floored my car in 5th gear to redline at 18psi of boost, and it didn't even move. I used to use the stock honda radiator (the one thats half the size of this one) and that would heat up as soon as i'd get to about 200km/h. You can go buy all those expensive Fluidyne aluminium radiators and what have you, but why bother when you can go the cheap way and get the same sort of efficiency?


as you can see, its a tight fit, but it did fit, it barely clears the hood when closed. It is huge, most people still wonder how the hell I managed to get it to fit in the first place. I had to relocate my air condenser to the front of the radiator, that also has 2 of its own dedicated fans. In front of that is my intercooler. Without all those fans, i'd be overheating for sure

MiraiZ

Toyota part...what an unholy alliance!

turbopanda

I also use Toyota 1G-GTE pistons in my engine. They work wonders, can handle the boost i'm pushing, and if they break, it only costs me US$25 to get another one

rtype11

water pump toasted? spanish fly in rad made your car hot and bothered?

dbman96

Hmm... TT Supra OEM radiators aren't exactly a dime a dozen either. Although maybe worth looking into. Lets not mention that the stock GSR radiator is already almost twice the size of the Civic radiator.

Water pump is fine, I just pulled it ane looked it over (wtf can go wrong with these things anyway??) and it was actually replaced about 10k ago with the timing belt anyway. Unless of course the bastard put in the wrong water pump but I'm not sure if that's even possible.

Spanish fly was just a one-time thing; some beatup old accord slipped it in my car's drink at a party. Don't worry my baby still didn't let down her guard.


[Modified by dbman96, 8:48 AM 10/26/2001]

Tomakit

ive got a fluidyne rad and fal fan for sale...(94+ integras...)

Tom

VaporTrail

generally speaking, if you turn your heater on and the car no longer overheats, then you have a blown headgasket or a warped head.

dbman96

Really? How does the heater help if the headgasket is the issue?

More important - what is the BEST way to know if the HG is blown or leaking without pulling the head? This is my daily driver and lifting the head is a last resort! Would a bleed-down test tell me what I need to know?

sgT

i was always under the impression if you turned the heat on and the temp went
down then it was a bad thermostat. In the cases I have seen, a blown head
gasket situation, the temp wont go down no matter how much heat was used.

dbman96

LOL great now this helps a LOT!

Seriously guys thanks for the help it means a lot - I've been going back and forth and I'm confused as hell. One part of me wants to buy a fluidyne right now but if it doesn't fix my problems I will be PISSED!

Any more information would be most useful.

sgT

to test for a blown head gasket, remove the rad cap and run the engine.
if the gasket is leaking you should seee bubbles

VaporTrail

have you done a coolant pressure test yet?

Tomakit

dbman96,

i think you left something out of the orig post about all the stuff you had done to fix the prob...hehe

Tom

dbman96

Coolant pressure test... no not yet; I don't know where to tap a pressure gauge into the cooling system. Any help you can offer would be appreciated.