Update: I pulled the head last night and could not find any blown out parts of the headgasket. The only thing I noticed was that the HG was not flat, it had a slight wave in it. Can I put the head back on w/o taking it to a machine shop to have it milled?(I have ARP headstuds...) Should I use copper spray on the oem HG? Thanks! ttt

I got my car back from my tuner Friday night, made 309whp at 16psi...but my tuner said it wasn't reaching full boost until 6000rpm (SC34 should spool faster)and kept overheating on the dyno. I made a couple pulls and the temperature gauge would go up when in boost, then it would cool back down quickly when just cruising. When I let the engine idle for a couple minutes then shut the car off, my overflow tank was bubbling and I was low on coolant when I checked the next morning. Then I made a 2 1/2 hour trip (little to no boost) this weekend and had no issues with overheating at all. I drove to work today (30 miles all highway) and the temp gauge was below half way then entire time until I got to the exit ramp, the temp started rising again, even at idle with the fan on. I had bubbles and steam coming from the overflow tank again. I had to put about a half gallon of fluid in to fill it back up. Is my headgasket blown or could it be something as simple a thermostat or could it be worse?

Cliffnotes:
Built B18B gets tuned, makes 309 @16psi
Overheating on dyno
Overheating on highway under boost
Bubbles and steam from overflow tank even after easy highway drive

Sorry about the long story, just wanted to include as much info as possible...

Thanks for any help!


Modified by MilanoRedLST at 9:44 AM 7/26/2005

 

"here's a good quote from mike1114:

"Common over heat problems

T-Stat---usually it is because of this piece of **** that you overheat.
Bubbles in cooling system. 2nd biggest reason, you didn't bleed enough, you have to leave the car idling for like a half hour to get all the bubbles out with the heater on.
Rad Cap is bad--wont hold pressure.
Leaking coolant somewhere---this can happen only at WOT and not at idle so its hard to find sometimes.
Make sure you fan is coming on. I wired mine to stay on always when car is on.
Worst case scenario is headgasket is leaking exhaust gas into coolant system. You can sometimes see this if you look in your rad resevior and see bubbles coming up."

good luck!"

technically, thats a quote from me

it sounds like either your HG is blown or your head is lifting. do you have ARP studs or are they stock bolts?

 

I've got ARP head studs. I'll try bleeding the system again...(crosses fingers, but knows that it is more then that with my recent luck)

Thanks

 

i had bubbling coming from my res. tank, and i changed the cap, and the thermostat, and drilled holes in it and no more prob. !!! that i know of... and the reason you are losing coolant i believe is it is overflowing and it will spill out... and then when it goes back down you will be low on coolant....


do you have a stock thermostat ??
do you have a stock radiatot ?? ** only if it has a single core radiator **
do you have a stock fan ??

if you answered yes to all these and are making 300+ HP and boosted alot you def. should get these upgrades.. !!!! they will only put your worries to rest....

 

I have a stock thermostat and stock radiator, but I didn't have any of these problems before my car was on the dyno, i.e. overheating after freeway driving.

 

so you drove ure car to its full potential and and it never heated up before you went on the dyno with the exact setup.... if thats the case.. u need to see the tuner... but my personal recommendation because **** goes bad on its own... and the weirdest times ..... is to change the thermostat and radiator cap. if you dont want to guy an expensive thermostat get a stock one, and drill 3 holes in it and u will be fine ... if it continues to have bubbles coming up then it might be a headgasket.... but it can bubble because the coolant gets too hotttttt !!!!!! soemthing along the lines of boiling water.... stock radiator for which car ?? single core ?? yea... that def. needs to go.. and stock fan will def. not be enough .... a new fan is only 60 bucks from B18turbo .... when was the last time u changed the thermostat... if u have to think about this for a whie u might as well go and change it.... alot of times it goes bad and is the main reason for over heating.....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turbosi03 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">"here's a good quote from mike1114:

"Common over heat problems

T-Stat---usually it is because of this piece of **** that you overheat.
Bubbles in cooling system. 2nd biggest reason, you didn't bleed enough, you have to leave the car idling for like a half hour to get all the bubbles out with the heater on.
Rad Cap is bad--wont hold pressure.
Leaking coolant somewhere---this can happen only at WOT and not at idle so its hard to find sometimes.
Make sure you fan is coming on. I wired mine to stay on always when car is on.
Worst case scenario is headgasket is leaking exhaust gas into coolant system. You can sometimes see this if you look in your rad resevior and see bubbles coming up."

good luck!"

technically, thats a quote from me

it sounds like either your HG is blown or your head is lifting. do you have ARP studs or are they stock bolts? </TD></TR></TABLE>

 

Ok, let me try to answer your questions...
Stock Integra Radiator with $60 slim fan from B18BTurbo.
Thermostat has never been changed since I have owned the car, bought it with 28,000 miles, now has 63,000 miles.
Would doing a compression test tell me if the HG is blown? I will do that tonight after work. Is there anything else I can check to rule out a bad HG?

If the HG is bad, what should I do about my tuner?

Thanks a lot guys!

 

about the tuner thats a tricky subject and i have no clue...it might just be something happened to go bad and its not his fault... u dont know til u find out whats wrong..... i would try changing the thermostat... and yes b18bturbo sells 12" slim fans for 60 bucks.. but u have in integra so u have the full radiator... i think that shoudl suffice.... but change the cap and thermo first and see if it helps... cap is like 3 b ucks and thermo. is like 15 bucks.... give it a shot.

 

Blame your tuner.......probably was f-cking around with your timing while he was dyno tuning............headlifted.....headgasket gone.

DAN

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MilanoRedLST &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Would doing a compression test tell me if the HG is blown? I will do that tonight after work. Is there anything else I can check to rule out a bad HG?
</TD></TR></TABLE>

nah compression test wont tell you anything. find a local radiator shop with a hydro carbon tester, or buy one to see if there is carbon dioxide in your coolant. that will tell you for sure if its the HG

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turbosi03 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

nah compression test wont tell you anything. find a local radiator shop with a hydro carbon tester, or buy one to see if there is carbon dioxide in your coolant. that will tell you for sure if its the HG </TD></TR></TABLE>



Head is most likely lifting under boost!!

Hey turbosi03........I quoted you this time!!!!!!!

 

At normal temperatures and not boosting, my overflow tank is still steaming...

 

Compression test; 180-180-180-180
But my overflow tank looks a little oily...

 

Updated bump...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turbosi03 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

nah compression test wont tell you anything. find a local radiator shop with a hydro carbon tester, or buy one to see if there is carbon dioxide in your coolant. that will tell you for sure if its the HG </TD></TR></TABLE>

Wait, so if you have a blown headgasket your saying you won't notice a drop in compression among any cylinders?

 

There was definately something in the coolant. Either oil or carbon buildup or both...