Ok, so it all started about a week ago. Car was overheating pretty bad but it would eventually cool down. So, I changed the thermostat since its the cheapest thing on the list. Worked a little, but it still overheats after a about 15 minutes of driving. Then today when I was taking off from a stop light, the car started studdering and backfiring after about 3k rpm from second gear up. Any ideas what the problem could be? I was thinking headlift, but I have ARP's so I don't know. Any help would be greatly appreciated!


Modified by ericschimmel at 5:10 PM 5/28/2008

 

Have you verified all the usual cooling system components? Is the fan coming on? Is there any air in the cooling system? Are you mixing any oil/coolant? Are you only overheating after boosting?

 

Fan IS coming on. I just rewired it to a switch so i can control it. purged the system 3 times now. I'm not mixing oil and coolant and i just replaced the head gasket about 500 miles ago. And yeah, it seems like it overheats after boosting.

 

UPDATE

Car didn't studder this morning and has been running fine except for the overheating problem. Anyone have any ideas?

 

check ur ground wires with it backfiring and misfiring thats what it sound like

 

Does your coolant reservoir fill up after boosting?

 

yeah, it overflows pretty bad

 

Sounds like a headgasket bro. How tight did you tighten the headstuds? And what headgasket did you use. Any lube on the bolts and nuts? Did you go back and re-tq the studs?

 

ARP head bolts, OEM gasket, 60 ft. lbs is what i was told. and yes, i went back and retourqed after a week and they were still tight.

 

do a compression and leakdown test, and pressure test the cooling system.