car is a 1998 honda civic ex with a swapped b18. Stock single radiator only on passenger side. Other side won't fit because of aftermarket headers.

I recently replaced the head gasket and my coolant gets extremely hot whenever I drive.

But my temperature gauge on the dash says its at normal operating temp.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

Well it should be hot lol, does the car over heat?

 

Sounds normal to me. You venting steam?

 

The radiator hoses get extremely hot, to the point where you can't touch them.
When I had the head off it looked like there was some crap caked along the walls of where the coolant runs around the pistons. A friend told me that it was because I used non distilled water and some minerals got into my coolant system.

It also smells kinda like somethings burning when i drive it. Think I may have messed the timing up a little bit when I put on the new headgasket :/

 

I haven't read anything in this thread that indicates an overheating problem.

 

I would say that if you have an engine at operating temp and you grab the hoses and they AREN'T hot you would then need to be concerned.

 

Alright thanks. Guess I never noticed they got that hot before. As for the buildup, should I be worried about it?

 

Drain the coolant and refill the system with premixed 50:50 coolant. Never add any tap water to your cooling system as it is very corrosive.

 

Just did that today. No more steam or insanely hot engine bay

 

Make sure you also bleed the cooling system.