Jay_Sensing

I can't seam to figure out this temp problem I am having and for once, I don't think it's a blown headgasket (my worst enemy).

I just did a full flush of the system, replaced cap and thermostat (new gasket as well) and took it out for a test drive. It will sit and idle for an eternity pefectly normal operating temp and even drive that way. The minute I get on it hard though, it over heats.

I brought it back to the house and popped the hood and the damn lower hose is cold as ice. WTF is causing this thermostat not to open? There are no obstructions and it's getting all the way to the housing because the heater works like a champ but for some reason, it's not making through it. I am about ready to go ghetto and run with no thermo because I would rather stay on the cold side than this smoking hot nightmare I have having now.

Someone smarter than me (almost everyone) give me a hand here.


Oh yeah, the car is 9:1 and running a small temp turbo now (my other ate something). This HG only has three track passes on it and on the street I drive like your grandmother. It has never seen more than 16 lbs and I am VERY conservatively tuned as far as timing so there has been no hint of detonation. I really don't think it's a HG issue this time but I am freakin lost as to why the stinking coolant isn't making past the thermo.

drintegra

Check all the grounds, had the same prob and it was the tranny ground was coming loose under acceleration. I re-did the head and a whole bunch of ****, just to drive my car back to the builder and he look at me with a dumb look and laugh as he tightend a loose ground. Also check your thrmo switch to make sure it is tunrning your fans on. Other than that I don't know.

Zakar

i know its simple.. but often overlooked.. did you bleed the system?

Jay_Sensing

Man bled the system so long and so overdone it can't have air in it. Seriously. I have never bled one so much in my life.

The fan is on a switch at the moment because my temp sensor died and wouldn't turn it on anymore.

I took the thermo out (yes, ghetto I know) and it's fine now but it's still pushing a little coolant under WOT but I think it may be because I am not running a catch can.

This weekend I will put in a catch can, change my HG again and install a new OEM thermo and see if that fixes it.

If not, anyone wanna buy a boosted and built Honda with a mild cooling issue?? lol.

batboyvaj

bad water pump?

Zakar

haha Pm me with price

Jay_Sensing

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by batboyvaj &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">bad water pump?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thought that for about a minute too. I just changed it when I went through the head and replaced the last HG like 3k miles ago.


Zakar, I will let you know in a week lmao.

jared99

Sure it's the hg again? Doesn't it cool fine with the thermostat out? I noticed when I took mine out that's when steam started coming out of the exhaust and I could tell the hg was part of the issue. Also had kind of a rough idle becuase of the coolant in one of the cylinders.

CivicMike

maybe the head is lifting and you need some ARP headstuds.........

turbosi03

What kind of radiator are you using? It's possible your cooling system just can't keep up. Also, having no catch can with excessive blowby (that's inherent with turbo setup's) could cause cylinder gass to push into the coolant under boost.

Just another idea, get a hydro-carbon tester (or find a shop with one) to see if there's any sign of exhaust gass in the coolant before you pull the head.

Good luck!

abnaasefmb

is the thermastat in the right way?

jared99

thermostat..wait..aren't all hondas air-cooled? ;p

Jay_Sensing

I do have ARP headstuds and they are properly tq'd. I have not had any other signs of a HG other than this coolant pushing issue so I have been thinking it all could be from a catch can not being installed as well but that's why I posted here. Thermo was in the right way and I will give that hydrocarbon tester a shot.

I forgot to get ECP to do that for me this time as that is one of the few tools I don't have. Thanks for the help so far. I will figure this SOB out.

crucian

If your bottom hose is cold and the top one is hot, then something is not allowing the coolant to flow through the radiator. The top hose should stay cool until the thermostat opens, but if the top hose is hot, then that means the thermostat is working. If your car sits at idle and holds normal temps, thermostat is working. Could be that your radiator might be a little clogged, or air either in the system already or headgasket.

Zer0_SpeedWorks

iTrader: (1)

have the same prob...

but mine overheats when i turn on the ac...

cleaned my rad,switch my rad fan on,change my rad fan but still no used...

it doent overheats but i think the temp is too hot 96degrees when the ac is off and when on reaches 104degrees..

crucian

oh yeah, cracked head o block could be the problem too. Had the same problem with my BMW. Turned out to be a cracked head under the camshaft. Not noticecable without removing the cams!

Jay_Sensing

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crucian &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">oh yeah, cracked head o block could be the problem too. Had the same problem with my BMW. Turned out to be a cracked head under the camshaft. Not noticecable without removing the cams! </TD></TR></TABLE>

Comon man, don't say things to depress me like that lol. I had the head in the shop 2 months ago when this problem surfaced before (Shop was Edge Brothers in Jville NC, do a lot of sleeving for Darton, hell of a machine shop) and they trued it for me. Motor has perfect compression with like 2 psi difference between all four cyl so I didn't crack a sleeve.

Also, I think you are backwards on the flow of the radiator aren't you? If it were from bottom to top, then water pressure could open the thermostat. It's actually pulled from the top and fed back into the bottom I thought.

I have week spots on cars, cooling systems and tranny's. I can tear a B series down to a bare block and reassemble with proper clearances and Tq's with my eyes closed and no manual but I am at a loss with cooling systems because they seldom fail so who knows.

crucian

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jay_Sensing &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Also, I think you are backwards on the flow of the radiator aren't you? If it were from bottom to top, then water pressure could open the thermostat. It's actually pulled from the top and fed back into the bottom I thought.
</TD></TR></TABLE> Yes I know that the flow of water comes from top to bottom of the radiator. But I don't think you ever stated if the top hose gets hot unless I missed it. I think you only said the bottom hose is cold. So I was trying to state all possiblities. Guess it didn't come out right. My bad.

mstolars

You wouldn't have happened to block off the hose that goes from the T-Stat housing to the Intake manifold/Head, I wasn't sure what it was for on my car so i blocked it off. The car had perfect temp while sitting and idling, but when I went to drive it, it overheated like crazy. Lucky I didn't go to far.

Jay_Sensing

crusian, yeah, it did just come out wrong I guess lol, but I am so frustrated right now, I was doubting myself for a minute and saying damn, I don't even know how this works lol.


mstolars, no I didn't do that but thanks for the idea, I would have never thought of that one if it were the case.

The search continues.