Ok here's the deal, I have recently done a turbo build with my Acura Integra LS. The only problem with the entire swap that I am having is coolant issues. My car is dyno tuned, I have been recently been running no thermostat. The car gets up to around 190 and stays there. Today I installed a new thermostat and thankfully it got up to 220 and stayed there. I felt both coolant hoses both had pressure and were operating with coolant. I was driving for a little while when my check engine light came on. It was for over heating. I then felt my coolant hoses again. The top coolant hose felt hot and was making pressure. The bottom hose had no pressure and had very little heat. I've come to the conclusion that it is either a blown head gasket or a bad water pump. Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

What's the specific problem? You don't actually say there's any sort of problem, other than the expected overcooling with the absent thermostat.

Where--and how--are you measuring this 220? With an IR thermometer, you should see about 205 at the upper rad-hose outlet neck at the head when full-hot.

What's the temperature rating of your thermostat? Is it <gag> aftermarket?

 

I didn't know there was a CEL code for overheating! Interesting.

If it was a bad water pump it would leak. How does your oil look like? Did you bleed the coolant system?

 

220 isn't ideal for coolant temps. You would like them to be around 190 - 200 if possible.

You could have also gotten a bad thermostat, this happens quite frequently.
Does the fan come on when the car reaches these temperatures?

Do a leakdown, compression and coolant system pressure test to help further diagnose. You could always take off the radiator cap and run the car, if coolant shoots out the radiator neck it's safe to say you have a leaking head gasket.

 

there isn't one on an oem ecu. hondata has an option that will trigger a CEL for a preset temperature.

 

running without a thermostat is horrible due to the water not being able to fully cool in the radiator as its supposed to its just constantly circulating. Trust me, i had a faulty stat, took it off, and blew my headgasket.

as Mattb16teg said, it does happen alot. i would buy a new thermostat, make sure you top off you coolant, bleed the system, and go from there.

Think about this also, 212F is boiling point of water..