Ok so this is pretty riduculous. I have a larger capacity Mishimoto aluminum radiator,Mishimoto fan shroud, samco hoses, perfectly good genuine honda thermostat (I replaced it not to long ago), I recently bleed my coolant system and added redline "wet wetter," my exhaust headers are heat wrapped, I have a 19lb mishimoto radiator cap, and a vented fiberglass hood.
I live in sacramento where it has been hitting three digits lately (100-103) and when I drive in the middle of the day (3:00-5:00 pm) with my a/c on my temperature will start to rise. This **** can not be normal its not like I live in vegas and it pisses me off cause my cooling system was not cheap.
I think it could be cause my after market fans don't kick on the way the stock ones normally would. I've checked on dccontrol.com they sell modules that electronicly control after market fans based on the car temperature. Is anyone familiar with these devices or could I have a different problem.

Any insight would help thanks in advance

 

First: It's ridiculous.

Second: How many miles are on the car, and when was the last time the water pump was replaced?

 

theres 160,000 miles and I had my water pump replaced when my timing belt was changed around 135,000 miles. But seriously tho my car should be running like a champ in the summer. Have you heard of that fan module thing, I read about it in importtuner.

 

Most likely your thermostat, when was the last time you replaced it?
Also make sure your fans are wired up correctly and coming on, whenever you run the A/C regardless of temp readings both fans should come on.

 

yeah I just replaced my thermostat and it solved my overheating problem I would recommend doing it. also I believe you can just splice your aftermarket fan wires with the stock harness and they should work fine. also another thing you might need to replace is your fan switch I suggest getting one that comes on 10-15 degrees cooler for extra protection. Good luck Hope you fix it 103 degrees is Ridiculous!

 

Do the fans come on? Do they blow the right way?

 

they come on but i don't think they blow the entire time my a/c is on thats why I think thats where my problem is, and I changed my thermostat.
I no it works cause my car runs very cool through the year except wit my a/c on in this hot *** weather.

 

I sliced my fans in with my stock fan connector so it connects right but that could be the problem, Where is the fan switch located?

 

correction spliced* lol

 

o **** if I connected the wires the wrong way the fans could be blowing the wrong direction. I'm definitely going to check that.

 

If the AC switch in on, both fans have to be on, period. You have more troubleshooting to do via the fan relays or the main AC control head or the fan control module, if your ride even has one.

 

ok thanks Ill read up in the helms manual.

 

ok so i checked if my fans run when my a/c is on and they do, so I going to try and flush the system and get a lower temp fan switch and thermo and hope that with some fresh fluid it might do better. Is there anything else that could cause this issue?

 

You need to monitor the two radiator hoses with your hands from a cold start, have a friend keep the engine up at 2000 during warm up so it will warm up quicker, you will feel the heat as the thermostat opens and you will feel on the other hose how much the radiator and fans has cooled the coolant down. Depending on the two temps will help tell a story of what could be wrong. Dont forget, you could still have lots of air in the engine or head cavities. Can you get one of those jugs that hooks up to the radiator cap flange and holds about a gallon of water on top of the radiator, these work pretty well to bleed air out, raising the speed will usually show bubbles into this jug, then you still have air in the system. Does the heater work also. Do you normally have a high idle when starting cold, then the idle slows down as it warms up.

 

Have you verified the fan direction yet? FYI, I've been running one of the dccontrol units for over a year now. The units are good and the idea behind them is solid. However, it won't help your car run any cooler, it's just meant to help keep things more consistent and less load on the fan and electrical system. I have found the system to be a little late reacting due to the placement and type of sensor.

 

The heater does work and on a cold start up my idle is usually around 1300 or 1500 rpm depending how cold it is, and once its warmed up it drops to you normal 700-800 rpm.
The jug your talking about is that a better method of bleeding the system rather than using the bleeder screw or is it just ment to test to see if I have air? where do I find such a jug?

 

yes I did verify the direction and its correct. So the that fan device doesn't speed up the fans it just helps with consistency? well if my fans weren't running properly I definitely would have looked more into those, damn, this **** sucks i might try an fabricate a division panel so the air flows directly to the radiator, or have you seen any available for the 5th lude?

 

If everything is running properly, there is no reason it should be overheating. Have you also verified that the fan activates when the car gets up to temp?

 

The bleeder screw works better IMO, the thing duane is talking about is like a funnel and is used on cars that don't have a bleeder.

 

Ill check more things this weekend and see if I can find a problem thanks for your help.

 

For folks who just use the bleeder or try to get air to the radiator, they jack the front of the car up as high as possible or park on a nice incline with the front of the car higher than the back, this has been known to help also.

I still believe in revving the engine up, the faster moving water helps to carry the air bubbles through the system, of course the tstat needs to be open so you need a way to monitor the temp of the upper hose to know when the tstat opens. You can also lower the level in the radiator so you can see when the water flows too.

I would imagine that any parts house would have one of these jugs you attach to the radiator cap mount, its meant to assist in filling/bleeding your cooling system.

 

with the engine off (and cold), jack the front of the car up, remove the radiator cap, turn the heater on high, start the car and hold it at ~2000 RPM until the cooling fans cycle. add coolant as needed. put the cap on, add coolant to the overflow.
This *should* ensure that all the air is bled out of the system.

Those bleeder valves are dumb. I never use them...they just don't work properly if you ask me.
I have one of the quick fill funnels. They kick ***. They have a fitting and a cap that you put in place of the stock cap, stick the funnel in the fitting and fill it with coolant, then run the engine til it gets up to temp. no more air :D