I only make 25k a year. I've put 30 plus into my ITE race car..... please help!

89 civic dx with 1'st Gen b16a
Edelbrock mani
Hondata s200

My thermostat isn't opening at all!
I tested the thermo in boiling water.... at 175 or so it opens up.

According to hondata, my car gets upto 180f or so and stays there...... but my lower radiator hose is still cold, and not pressurized...(or however you spell that :} )

Also, my fan turns on after a while..... which usually means it's running HOT! right???

My radiator gets hot to the touch after a few minutes or running.

All my hot-rod buddys are saying that the radiator hosees are hooked up backwards.... but my street car is a 89 si with b16 and it's hooked up the same.

Help me out here guys.... I'm thinking of buying a Mustang...
I'm kind of lost.. I just don't want to pay the guys at my local shop 100 bucks an hour.

 

I should also mention that the only reason I noticed that the thermo was not opening, was that I have a hunting/jumping idle.

I've checked for vacume leaks, but have found no leaks, or wrongly hooked up vacume lines.

Why the hell would my thermo not open..... The sensor the hondata reads is located in the head from what I remember.

Should the radiator get hot before the thermo opens?????

 

How long are you driving the car before you touch the hose? If your sensors are reading safe temps, I wouldn't worry to much. Your hunting idle could be a number of things, though it could be related to your coolant system. Air bubbles or a faulty FITV could cause a hunting idle. If you search FITV or IACV or Idle, there's a million of these posts.

 

The bummer about it is.... It's a fresh race motor. 12:1 comp with 0 miles of load on it.
About an hour or so of idle time trying to fix this issue. The sensors are reading fine.... if they are working properly that is.

The only thing I am worried about is trusting the hondata loggers readouts.
I know it's not overheating, because it's not steaming up like my street car does when it overheats.....

Do you think I need to just quit worrying about it so much and take it out on the road?

Because of the Edelbrock mani, I had to re-rout some of the coolant lines. They are all hooked up correctly according to all my car buddys, and me. I don't see a problem there, but I never know, untill I know, you know???

 

Bump.... because I need something to try today gentelmen.

It has to be something simple, so simple I can't think of it at all.

Any suggestions?

 

Today I removed the thermostat to find out that the lower hose would get hot.

Basically all that proved is that there was not a block in the system before the thermo.

So maybe the thermostat just isn't getting hot enough to open......
My fan turns on after just a few minutes, but when I temp probe my water temp through the radiator cap opening, it reads at 160.

@ 160 the thermo is still closed all the way
But my hondata reads 180 and steady.
The radiator starts to get hot to the touch on the top of it, so I'm confused like normal.
Any suggestions???

 

bump I'm having the same issue

 

keep running it........i think the thermostat fully opens around 192-195f.....the stat will probably not start to open until 185ish or so(according to the ecu).....

is the stat new?

 

I don't understand, does your car actually overheat? You say your thermostat does not open at all yet in the next sentence you say it opens at 175. What are you trying to fix?

 

buy a new thermostat....that opens at a lower temp if that is what you want.

 

I would replace the thermostat, just in case it is warped and sticking when mounted.

Coolant temp. will always be lower in the rad then in the engine, that would account for the diff. in the Hondata temp. and temp. at rad cap, but if Hondata is saying 180 and thermostat is still not opening, I would switch the thermostat. 94

 

What he said

 

Sorry for bring it back from the dead.
I actually posted before I even needed to.

I bought a OEM EM1 thermo & OEM GSR rad cap.

Because I have a full DA radiator, it takes a loooong time before the car is even hot enought for the thermo to open. I timed it from cold start to when the lower radiator hose was starting to feel warm.... it took 20-22mins


problem solved. (I don't think there was one) but just had to be patient and not over react too soon.