Here's the problem: i have '99 supercharged dx hatch: I have 68,000 miles on the stock motor(over 40,000 of those miles are supercharged.) I keep overheating. Here is what happens.
For some reason.....my radiator keeps emptying antifreeze into my resivour. I will fill the radiator to the top and then fill the resivour to the Low level. After about 50-70 minutes of driving ....my car will begin to overheat, because the radiator will keep dumping antifreeze even over the High Level in the resivour(cannister). I have replaced my single core stock radiator with an OEM style Dual Core Del Sol Radiator. I have replaced all of my coolant and I have also replaced the thermostat. When I did the thermostat....i noticed the electrical connector to the thermostat housing was loose.....so I tightened it. I disconnected my battery and the problem still persists.
My old boss who owns a shop says that the problem is a head gasket. However, my oil is clean, my plugs are dry, and I am not seeing any clouds of smoke from my exhaust. WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY CAR!!!! I just keep putting the overflow back into my radiatir when it is low. PLEASE HELP!!!!!

 

you wasted a supercharger on a sohc non-vtec motor

 

what about the water pump? did you get that checked? my gf's acura had diasappearing coolant, so we did timing belt and found that the water pump was REALLY bad..(eh..not too bad for a 92 vigor w/ 175k on it..im surprised the timing belt lasted that long..hehe)..oh well...maybe you should check that..but it's kinda hard...

 

btw how much did you spend on that supercharger?

 

i spent 1500 on it.....when my car had 20,000 miles on the car.....I wanted to swap it, but it was brand new....i coundn't do it. Fanboy up top probably sent his car to a shop to get his swap done. But that is besides the point.....I am gonna get a pressure test done soon......to see if the waterpump is doing this.....i guess it is still possible....but it doesnt seem to be acting like a water pump.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by darkcvc &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you wasted a supercharger on a sohc non-vtec motor </TD></TR></TABLE>

Do you think it would have been better to supercharge a SOHC VTEC motor?

 

Check to see if your headgasket is blown. When they do they tend to cause that problem

 

yes, do a leakdown test to make sure its not the HG and go from there. BTW what is your water to antifreeze ratio? 50/50?

 

Sounds like a head gasket to me... if it's not that I have no idea

 

HG or water pump. Get a compression/leakdown test and a cooling system pressure test to see for sure

 

Just wondering how hot does an engine have to get for coolant to vaporate???is it possible??

Sorry I don't have a clue what is wrong with your car. But when
you do find out, I recommend you get as much stuff on that SOHC
engine to keep that engine cool as mush as possible(instead of
any idea going show or other performance,not saying you where),
because that supercharger is putting tons of stress on that engine
(especially since it is SOHC). Keeping an engine cool will keep you
running with out headaches.

P.S. Don't make a mistake, do it right the first time.

James,

 

yes, man.....my ratio is 50/50. If i need to do a head gasket on this motor....im gonna do a swap i think. I the d16 is almost bulletproof when you work it properly. The Stock boost kit on this set up should have been fine. I really can't beleive that this motor's HGH blew.....i am suprised!

 

Most likely the head gasket. Dont waste money thinking its something minor when you know deep down you know what you did

 

another vote for the head gasket! the symptoms are classic

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kidkanedtx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yes, man.....my ratio is 50/50. If i need to do a head gasket on this motor....im gonna do a swap i think. I the d16 is almost bulletproof when you work it properly. The Stock boost kit on this set up should have been fine. I really can't beleive that this motor's HGH blew.....i am suprised!</TD></TR></TABLE>

i cant believe i just read that. r u saying your going to ditch your supercharged d16 for a swap all cus of a head gasket. how much can that possibly cost to fix.

last head gasket i changed i spent 50 on the gasket, 5 on copperspray, 100 on arp head bolts, 10 on anitfreeze, 10 on oil, 4 on 2qts of amberbock and about 3hrs of my time.

 

You know it could be as simple as a bad or stuck Radiator CAP , too many people and techs don't change them when they do a radiator!

 

the guy above me beat me to it, but here's another vote for a bad radiator cap. a bad radiator cap will keep venting coolent into the reservoir and will allow the engine to overheat since it's not keeping the system at proper pressure.

 

really guys....i appreciate all the help you are giving me. I want to keep this motor. I just did a flywheel and clutch on it and it revs like a little bastard. I wish someone who says that it sounds like a "classic" HG problem would back it up a little more. Mabey the cap is bad. But this motor has only 67,000 miles. How does a cap go bad?!? My friend across the street will simply not beleive that this is a HG problem. He says that I would know it, if it were. The car runs excellent right now........the only problem is the overheating. Thanks again for all the info guys!! KEEP IT COMMING!!!!!

 

a radiator cap is really just a pressure valve. there's a spring of some kind in there with a certian weight (13 lbs and 16 lbs are most common) and once the pressure in the system exceeds the spring weight the cap releases some coolant into the reservoir. is the springs wears down or get's damaged somehow, it's will release coolant and a much lower pressure, or will even stay open, allow the coolant to flow freely into the reservoir. when that happens the system doesn't maintain pressure and can't cool the engine, and the reservoir overflows as well.

 

HG failure always exhibits overheating and coolant overflowing. exhaust gasses (cylinder pressure) are pressurizing the coolant jackets, pushing the coolant out into the overflow reservoir. Now... sometimes the overflow tank would bubble as if it were boiling. There are dyes you can buy that you put in the coolant tank to see if there are exhaust gasses in there... the dye will turn color when gasses are present. That's one cheap test you can do.

But... why not service the engine totally. I mean, 'only' 67K miles under pressure is like double that for a stock motor. So, do the head gasket, get ARP studs, change the water pump and timing belt... it's about due for it anyways.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bbarbulo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">HG failure always exhibits overheating and coolant overflowing. exhaust gasses (cylinder pressure) are pressurizing the coolant jackets, pushing the coolant out into the overflow reservoir. Now... sometimes the overflow tank would bubble as if it were boiling. There are dyes you can buy that you put in the coolant tank to see if there are exhaust gasses in there... the dye will turn color when gasses are present. That's one cheap test you can do.

But... why not service the engine totally. I mean, 'only' 67K miles under pressure is like double that for a stock motor. So, do the head gasket, get ARP studs, change the water pump and timing belt... it's about due for it anyways.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I would say that its a HG too.. I went through many of them on my various Dseries builds, they are the weak link. also, you are running a supercharger. So to answer your question, what is likely happening, is during boost, the head is either lifting, or the leak in the HG is opening up, allowing the high cylinder pressures into the cooling system.
Now, the cylinder pressures are higher than the standard coolant system pressures, so air is forced in that direction. This is why you dont have any coolant in your oil...

I would get some headstuds, and a new HG and start there before you spend any more money fixing things that arent the problem.

 

from what you described i would say HG or water pump

 

i use to have a dsm that would do the same thing. everytime i would get on it, the coolant would just shoot out. one trick we used was a higher pressure radiator cap, although this is a temporary fix i still believe it's your HG. just go buy a new HG and some arp studs and you should be ready to go. hope this helps

 

thanks dude.....yes...the info is helpful, but ithink i will just bear with the job at hand. If I use a higher pressure cap....a hose might blow off or something. I am just concerned. I think I might have to get better bolts to prevent a head from going on me again.

 

Same thing happened to my D15B7. The Head Gasket went and it would bleed pressure into the cooling system. It will create airpockets in the coolant and eventually you will get a small air pocket at the thermostat. The hot coolant can't touch the T-stat so it never actually opens. All of this causes no coolant flow which means the car will over heat. When it over heats, I bet if you go out and crack the cap for a second and then tighten it, you will find that the car cools fine for a while. This is a text book head gasket problem and I have seen it on 2 of my vehicals. If you crack the cap be careful because lots of hot coolant will spit out. I do it slow and careful.

Pull the head off and get it checked. It should be fine so all you have to do is slap in a new gasket and you are off to the races. NO BIG DEAL!