Hey Guys, i had this topic posted 2 months ago and i had some advice which did not work. i have a high compression b16a in my EF and ever since i had the motor rebuilt and reinstalled its always overheated. So again here is the problem. Each time i drive up a hill or drive on the highway for a certain amount of time, the Temp gauge keeps rising and the car keeps overheating. I have the fan blasting all the time and the only way of getting the temp gauge to go down is to blast the heater. Funny when i'm driving during the city in stop and go traffic the gauge doesn't rise. So I replaced the Thermostat and had the Rad checked and the over heating continued. So I had advice from guys here to replace the water pump. And again the car is still overheating. I had everything checked by a local speed shop who specializes in Honda and he said after replacing the thermostat and water pump with my fan blowing all the time, my car shouldn't over heat. I have no idea on what to do. Please Help me!!!!

 

And another quick memo i'm not loosing coolant either.

 

Could something be stuck in one of the coolant passages? Something someone might have used to plug up holes while the engine was out possibly, like newspaper or a small rag or something?

If you got everything thats obvious checked out (water pump, no leaks in radiator/engine, etc.) its plausible.

 

Could be, but they checked that for me when they installed the water pump and they made sure there wasn't any pockets in my cooling system and they said it was okay.

 

i had the very same problem, and i replaced my thermoswitch with a spoon sports one, which kicks on sooner than a stock honda switch, and my problem went away.

 

bad gauge.

 

I have your answer.. and i'm surprised the shop didn't catch this...
Your fan is spinning backwards.. swap around the 2 wires at the fan, it will reverse direction and spin the correct direction.

EDIT: Ok well it was a good guess You want your fan blowing toward the engine.

If you're burning coolant, your headgaskets putting air into your coolant lines while its sucking coolant into the cylinders, so that's your problem. Replace your headgasket.



Modified by NikoZai at 3:30 PM 8/26/2005

 

the switch? i'll try replacing that, how much did the spoon sports one cost you??

 

Really?? that makes a difference?? if so how?

 

okay so i changed the direction of the fan and its blowing towards my bumper not my radiator and engine now. i have a feeling its the thermoswitch.

 

you said the motor was rebuilt and high compression? did you buy any chance have the head milled? maybe your block or head is warped.

 

yes it is high compression with ctr pistons, i didn't have the head milled though. i'll take that into consideration after i have the thermoswitch replaced. thanks

 

i checked my sparkplugs and the tip of the plugs are white. it looks like i'm burning water. I guess it could be my cooling system.

 

I had a similar problem in my 91 rex. I fixed it right away so not to ruin the headgasket and/or warp the head.
It was the rad.....it had really poor flow. It didn't leak or anything, but had maybe 30% efficiency.

 

I'm having a similar problem with my new High Compression B16a. i'm running 11.5:1. Mine over heated at idle and hard driving. I was slowly loosing coolant due to air being forced into the water passages from a slight head leak.

Check to see if you are loosing at little coolant through the over flow, or at least the over flow is topped. If so, you probably have a headgasket leak. Just a little bit of air in your cooling system can make it over heat.

Get the head milled a few thousandths. Make sure you are using a new head gasket. You can probably get away with just stoning the block(no, not getting the block high!) Make sure your surfaces are flat, no scratches.

 

really?? your's does the same. see mine only overheats when i drive it hard or up hill. It doesn't overheat at idle at all or through normal city driving. I checked myh spark plugs and the tip of them are white so i'm burning water. the guy who replaced my water pump checked my cooling system and he said it was fine. so I don't know what to check for now and why its still burning water.

 

hey Deetz what did u do to fix it??

 

Got a used 90-93 Integra rad. Its a higher flow part thats fits in the EF.

Cost $40 at the local pick your part

 

i already put an integra rad in my car the 91 DA rad.

 

I don't know if someone has mentioned it, but if your timming is retarded too much, it will cause you to over heat.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by NikoZai &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
If you're burning coolant, your headgaskets putting air into your coolant lines while its sucking coolant into the cylinders, so that's your problem. Replace your headgasket.
Modified by NikoZai at 3:30 PM 8/26/2005</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

So will this problem also get rid of my car leaning out at times? i find my car leans out and looses power every not and then.??

 

I think that's pretty much it too, i think i have a head leak, did you replace your b16a with a stock head gasket or after market??

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JOGADOGGZ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think that's pretty much it too, i think i have a head leak, did you replace your b16a with a stock head gasket or after market?? </TD></TR></TABLE>

I had my shop take .005" off the head with a mirror finish. I got my motor back together. I used a new OEM gasket and I removed the middle layer. I used Permatex Copper spray on the gasket.

I was still overheating, but it turns out it was my thermostat. I removed it yesterday. The engine now won't even register on the temp gauge LOL. I'm getting an Acura OEM 92' GSR thermostat. Always use Honda/Acura thermostats, they are very reliable!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JOGADOGGZ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> okay so i changed the direction of the fan and its blowing towards my bumper not my radiator and engine now. i have a feeling its the thermoswitch.</TD></TR></TABLE>

The fan is supposed to blow towards the engine! If you are moving, the air is already 'blowing' towards the engine, the fan will help move more air by the radiator. If you have it the opposide direction, it will work against you. It has to suck cold air from the front and blow it into the engine bay.