91 si, with b16a, eg half rad aluminum radiator.

Heres the deal, car never over heated ever! Untill the intercooler install.. Im going turbo so i test fitted a small intercooler, and left it on. Now going to work on the free way up hill car gets almost to the red! So i figured it has less air flow. So i installed a 12'' slim fan as a pusher.

Both fans are on non stop. The air it pushes is alot. Car still over heats going up hill, just not as bad now. Im guessing it has to be a different problem since many efs are turbo and have no over heating issues.

ALso i do have to ADD some coolant every week, about 6oz. It just disappears.

Any suggestions?

 

Blown head gasket or something of the sorts...

 

The guy above me is worng. Find a better spot for the intercooler because its blocking air flow to the radiator. Does it only happen when your moving?

 

the guy above me is wrong ...if you already have two fans one as a push and the other a pull and your not turbo yet you should be moving more than enough air to cool it down ...the coolant loss is what needs to be addressed first.. check your radiator cap, for every pound of pressure the temperature drops 3 degrees so if your running say a 13lb cap it should be 39 degrees cooler but if your cap is worn and not holding pressure it could cause an overheat...also check the thermostat housing for a leaky gasket hondas are bad for that...last but certainly not least pull the timing cover and take a good look at your water pump if it has any moisture around it at all i would replace it and throw a timing belt on while youre at it
thats my .02

 

oh yeah and the guy above the guy above me might be right too ...lol

 

Oh? Obviously you have NEVER built or owned a turbo car. Even if he blocked off the front of the car, it shouldn't peg the gauge.

Saying I am flat out wrong is a bold statement to make child. If he is adding coolant every week there is a leak of some sort. This is why I said exactly what I said... there is a leak internal or external either way. For the car to be overheating when moving there has to be air in the system causing the system to not flow properly...

 

Exactly.
However, it might not flat out be a headgasket at this point...
Might as well try some smaller things first instead of jumping to conclusions.
Thermostat and gasket, maybe a cracked hose?



Hmm... going turbo, but not yet, so you mounted an intercooler... maybe you accidently nicked a line.

 

Even might have a pin-hole leak in a water line.
Take a look around your engine bay and look for dried up fluid spots.
Be sure to change out your thermostat when you figure it all out.
Thermostats often get tweaked after they are overheated even just once.

 

very good info

 

if he was leaking anti freeze externally he would smell it. I think i has to be internally, water pump took a dive, but a head gasket would explain fluids disappearing is your car smoking any color?

 

I SAID THAT IT COULD BE THE HEADGASKET OR SOMETHING OF THE SORT... Keyword OR... Get off it already...

On a side note, if a headgasket is blown, cracked head/sleeve, OR something of the sort... that doesn't always lead to white smoke out of the tail pipe. If it is a minimal amount of fluid it will get burnt off in the chamber with no real ill effect.

 

actually ive owned a 262whp 288tq crossflow turbo gti which i built from an 8 valve. A b16a2 turbo si eg hatch that made 351whp and 206tq with stock internals. Also a second b16a2 turbo that i never dynotuned because i built it because i was bored. All of these were put together by me and so were the turbo kits. My last b16t eg use to over heat because the intercooler was too big and air couldnt get to the radiator. I switched to a smaller one and it solved the problem so i know it is a possibility that the same thing is happening to the op

 

Ya i was think head gasket too. I have ZERO leaks, the car does not even leak oil. I only smell coolant as the temp starts to rise.

Ive checked under the oil cap and never see a milk shake. Also the car does not puff not one peice of smoke. Water pump works fine, both fans are working, no lines in any hose.

So i was leaning towards a Blown HG, like a minimal blown one. But i could change the cap. One time my fan got unplugged and i was sitting at a light but didnt notice the gauge was almost pegged, so i pulled over and the coolant was gushing from the cap, so i plugged the fan back in. After that the car was fine and never over heated. That was like 2 months ago and the intercooler install was 2 weeks ago. Maybe the cap is bad. Ill try to replace it and report back in.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

 

Yea try the cheapest things first. Also if your waterpump gasket is leaking and you have timing covers on itll be harder to notice. My water pump gasket was bad and it did cause.me to blow my head gasket

 

Another thing is, after crusing the freeway at a steady pace, only certain spots the temp starts to rise. but if i rev the **** out the car for a good 5 seconds the needle drops down to normal temp and is fine from then on... I dont get it! Lol.

 

that definitely sounds like air in the system....either that or the impeller is completely toasted on your water pump

 

Ok update, i replace cap, and remove thermostat. Car still over heats only on freeway after driving on it for about 10 mins. So im just going to replace the head gasket, it has to be it.

 

Ummmm....this may be a dumb question but did you bleed the air out of the cooling system, with the heater turned to the full hot position? Failure to do so will result in air lock that will push coolant out of the overflow.

Does the temp gage go from stone cold to hot quickly, like in just one hill? When you squeeze the upper radiator hose at operating temp (with a gloved hand) does it feel like there is regular (13lb) or is there excess pressure on it, or no pressure at all?

Lastly are you running a thermostat? No stat can result in coolant flowing thru the radiator too quickly and not getting cooled all the way.

 

removing the thermostat won't tell you if it's a headgasket or not.
replace your thermostat. I just got finished doing this since my car was over heating. It's worth spending $20 on a new thermostat vs headgasket...

Replacing the thermostat doesn't mean your car will remain cool. Coolant has to remain in the rad for a little while in order to cool down. If not, the coolant will never cool... it opens and closes at specific temperatures for a reason...

Replace your thermostat.

 

Do what's stated above. Removing your thermo is just jimmy rigging anyways. Which is NEVER good.

 

Car runs cool like 1/4 the temp all day long. Until free way after about 10 minutes on a incline it will start to rise to 3/4. ALso i have notice my car is alot slower, and as before my coolant is disaperaring, and its not leaking at all i know for a fact. So it has to be head gasket. Thanks for all the suggestions though. There is not air in the system.

 

you're describing the symptoms of a stuck thermostat... replace it, i bet your car won't over-heat anymore.

 

Losing coolant is a sign of a stuck thermostat? Interesting... OP do yourself a favor and do a leak-down test or at least a compression test...

 

don't be such a smart ***.
over-heating with a load is typically a bad thermostat. when coolant over-heats, even if the thermostat was good, now it is bad.
disappearing coolant? it's gotta be going somewhere. smoke would be visible if it was a bhg, and if a substantial amount was lost.
since it expands when it's hot, and contracts when it's cold... it really depends on how you bled the system.
if the thermostat is not opening, it'll be pretty hard to bleed the system fully.
there's a lot of stupidity in this thread, don't add any more.

 

Agreed.

Stuck thermostat might be in play as well, but I don't see being the source of the problem.
Thermostats are fragile - one overheating and the thermostat could be toast.
... but they don't cause loss of coolant -ever.

Since OP stated they are 100% sure coolant isn't leaking out of hoses and they don't smell coolant ever (if the thermostat didn't open, then coolant would be expelling from the overflow tank and would be very noticable), then it's got to be going someplace where they can't readily smell it... the tailpipe.