I have a B16 in my civic running 15 psi. I have a del sol dual core radiator and slim fan. Not all the time, but every now and then the temp on my car goes up. It never gets quite to the H but itll start to go up and then when i stop the car it will go back down. The fan is working all the time. I'm wondering if this would be either a radiator issue or something else. Is the del sol dual core efficient enough for the 15 psi? Thanks in advance.

 

your head is probably lifting up


whats your complete setup?

 

An odd question for you:

When driving it heats up, when at a stop and idling it cools down, the fan runs all the time. You did set up the fan to run backwards by any chance did you. i.e. it sucks are in right? I don't even know if it is possible to do such a thing.

 

i second checking fan direction, however, i also think that you may have a problem with excessive boost( if there is such a thing)... REDUCE YOUR BOOST AND RUN THE CAR then check to see if you still have overheating. it is also possible you have a air pocket in the cooling system or a faulty water pump.

 

yea kinda sounds like the head is lifting up

 

head lifting up? anyone care to explain this a bit more?

 

the fan is definately in the right direction. my complete setup is b16 block, 81.5mm, block guard, cp 9:1 pistons, eagle rods, stock head, arp head studs. Also, the coolant hasnt done anything like bubble, or even go down. It's still right at the full mark where it has always been. If the head was lifting, wouldnt i be losing a little bit of coolant? To try and explain the symptoms a little more....

I just come off the highway and im at a stop light. The temp gauge is between 1/2 and 3/4. It wont rise anymore than that. If i sit there for a few minutes the temp pretty much stays in teh same spot. If i throw on the heater, itll drop right back down to normal. Then i can turn off the heater and it wont go back up for a long time. It's pretty much intermittent. How could i determine if the head is lifting?

 

Also, i've bled the system many times, and the waterpump only has about 2,000 miles on it. Im wondering if the blockgaurd is blocking coolant flow which is why i thought id maybe have to just go ahead and upgrade the radiator.

 

T-Stat maybe?

Dirty or faulty temp sensor? Dirty connection?

 

replaced the t-stat twice already and the temp sensor about a week ago.

 

run a mechanical coolant gauge to verify you have a high coolant temperature. you can also use a higher pressure radiator cap before you replace the radiator. the head lift theory is possible, but not likely since there is no coolant loss. your block guard does restrict coolant flow, you may need a bigger radiator if the cap doesn't help you enough. you can also try chemical additives such as water wetter...

 

what pressure rad cap should i go for? And ill give the water wetter a shot this weekend.

 

check out the JDM manufacturers. if i am not mistaken, the USDM cars use 1.3 bar and the aftermarket performance caps are 1.6 bar. beyond that, your stock radiator may break from excessive pressure. you can also pick up a koyo for under 300 if you look hard enough. i paid 260 for mine from SP engineering, i know they still have some...dunno if they will sell at that price again.