okay here's yet another prob i have. sorry to sound so much like a rookie:

at random my car overheats; about 3/4 or a bit more on my temp gauge. today is the second time it's done it, it also did it a couple days ago. i think it was warmer today than other days... but it's been hot all week..
anyway, at first i thought maybe i didn't put enough water/coolant after reinstalling the radiator. so i topped it off. it seemed to work better.
today, it was hot again. real hot. i checked and the catch can was reeeeeeeeally full, so i know there was enough water. i poured out enough so that it was between "min" and "max".

any ideas on why i'm running hot at random?
i wasn't running my air (my a/c line goes right by the turbo.. i don't want to run it 'till i wrap the a/c lines. it blows warm air at stop lights)

my wastegate is dumping right onto my turbo (and near the radiator and a/c lines, though nothing is damaged.. yet) as i have yet to get my dump tube made. i'm sure this is bad.

but even when i drive normal it runs hot. well, a couple quick pulls in second, but that's it. it was only about 90 today. i'm scared to think what's it's gonna do when it's 108.

is it a good idea to wrap the turbo? i'm worried that will keep in the heat and promote coking.

anyone???
this REALLY worries me

 

well I am assuming you put in fresh coolant when you installed your turbo or have done it fairly recently, if not try that.

make sure your fan is actually coming on. Let your car sit and idle and see if the fan comes on.

might consider hooking your fan up to a toggle switch in the car so you can run it all the time for extra cooling.

 

maybe ur thermostat is bad, is the fan coming on. try wiring it to constant power.
what does the catch can have to do with water. it catches oil
check your overflow tank to see what the status is there

 

Air pocket in your coolant (?)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hybridvteceg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">maybe ur thermostat is bad, is the fan coming on. try wiring it to constant power.
what does the catch can have to do with water. it catches oil
check your overflow tank to see what the status is there</TD></TR></TABLE>

overflow, catchcan.. that's what i meant. thanks.

the fans both work. installed a 10" cooling fan that pulls 1000cfm.
running the fans all the time sounds good.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sharkcohen &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Air pocket in your coolant (?)</TD></TR></TABLE>

that's what i was thinking. how do i fix that? i let the fan come on so the everything opened up.. then added more water. what else do i do?

 

air pocket...thats an idea...i had problems like that on my car quite a few times...what a nightmare. i thought i had a blown headgasket or something....than 1 night i was ****** with it all night(trying to get everyt last bit of air out) and there was alot of air in y cooling system.. rad cap off..let it run..turn it off,,watch bubbles of air fly out....re fill...start....let run a few secs...turn off..watch bubbles fly out.. and so forth....ohhh man..what a nightmare.

 

hmmmm. we did that once.. maybe not the second time. lemme go try right now.

 

Does your coolant system have a bleeder valve on it like on the H22?

 

i have no idea.. but i was out there for half an hour!
warm it up, fan comes on.. dump in water.. fan goes off... fan goes on.. sucks in water.. dump more water.. fan goes off. etc, etc.
i give up.
i'll try more in the morning. it never quit sucking water!
what would the bleeder valve look like? how does it operate? i'd kill for one!

 

Bleeder valve should be on the upper radiator hose housing on the head. Atleast for my LS thats where it is.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 93LSivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Bleeder valve should be on the upper radiator hose housing on the head. Atleast for my LS thats where it is.</TD></TR></TABLE>

i think i remember seeing it? not sure. so how does it work? leave car running? when fan is off/on??

 

run car up to operating temp then just open and close the valve...do this a couple of times after giving the motor some rpms and basically just keep doing it until no more ait bubbles come out

 

Id check for air bubbles too, find your bleeder valve and then also check ur thermostat? My buddies car was doing the same thing it ended up being his fan sensor switch.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 93LSivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">run car up to operating temp then just open and close the valve...do this a couple of times after giving the motor some rpms and basically just keep doing it until no more ait bubbles come out</TD></TR></TABLE>

sweet. thanks. that is so much easier than how i've been doing it.

 

i think the thermostat and fan switch are fine. the fan comes on as it's supposed to.
it's just that even with the fans on it was running very warm and hot when they were off.

 

i can't find a valve anywhere. i have a '94 GSR if that helps. maybe i my car doesnt' have one?

also, my overflow tanks is now almost EMPTY, as opposed to full, like the first time this happened....


Modified by kaj at 12:34 PM 5/28/2003

 

bump 'cause i need help. have to have done before the meet on saturday!

 

*still overheating after changing thermostat. getting so hot it's filling the over-flow container.
*could it be the heat from the wastegate + turbo? cause it now seems to only warm up after i drive hard... then it stays warm for quite a while.
put a heat blanket in between turbo/radiator.. seemed to help a bit.. but still warmed up a bit when driving hard. waste gate is blowing down on manifold, which is only about 2" from radiator. im getting a dump tube made tomorrow.
*thinking of installing smaller, single core civic radiator so i can put it as far away as possible, towards passenger side.
will this help? any opinions??
*so, smaller but out of the way radiator + dump tube + finding a way to keep heat blanket in there = cooler temps???
it's about 100-108 here in the summer.. that doesnt help

 

everyone out of ideas? i think i have it solved, just need an opinion?

 

bump for some still-needed help

 

1.completely flush radiator
2. replace hoses (if old or has soft or hard spots)
3. 50-50 water and coolant..and maybe water wetter

 

water wetter... that's what i was forgetting. i wanted to try that.

 

still runs about 75% of temp gauge when i drive hard with the a/c on. just don't drive hard with a/c, i guess.

 

If youre not bleeding the system when you have it open (changing thermostat/hoses) you will trap air and it will overheat.

Heres the bleeder on mine.