heres the deal guys. car is a 89 si hatch with a boosted b20b , when the car was all motor it never had any overheating issues, ever since I boosted it , it wont stop overheating, I have tried 3 different thermostats, Bled the car numerous times THE RIGHT WAY. I took it to a very reputable shop around my area and they did a leak down test and said it was fine, car has a pwr radiator with slim fan which I keep the fan on all the time. I also tried a new radiator cap , If I run the car with no thermostat at all it will be fine for about 45min of driving then it will start overheating , I can rev it up and get the temp to drop . . it actually doesnt overheat at idle only when moving. it has also developed a pretty loud ticking in the head. Im at the point of just putting a LS Swap in it since b20s arnt the best choice for boost. . but do you guys have any idea??? No one can figure this out.

Thanks!

 

Are you losing coolant? Or does the level remain constant?
Have you pressure tested the system?
Oil in the coolant? Coolant in the oil?
Was the leakdown test performed on a warm engine?
Look down the spark plug holes, anything unusual?

Just trying to throw some ideas out there..

 

It sounds like the impeller on your water pump is either broken or rusted. That might explain the noise also.

 

That is what I was thinking from the beginning , but the ticking sounds like its coming from the head?

 

does it overheat if you drive it and dont boost it at all? sounds to me like it could be the waterpump, its kind of a pain in the *** to pull it and check/replace to rule out as a potential problem.

is the coolant overflowing after driving? any coolant in the oil? oil in coolant? car smoke out of exhaust? how hot do you let it get before shutting it off? and what do you mean that you can rev the car and allow it to cool down? you said you keep the fan on all the time.. sounds stupid but are you sure its blowing the correct way? (toward the engine/back of the car)

i'm thinkin too that it could possibly be the head lifting slightly, or a ever so slightly cracked headgsket.

just a few thoughts, let me know thanks!

 

If your car has pressure lines connect to radiator other than the massive water hose, they may be reversed. When it overheats check to see if the radiator is cool to the touch.

 

[QUOTE=B16Civic93;41927380]does it overheat if you drive it and dont boost it at all? sounds to me like it could be the waterpump, its kind of a pain in the *** to pull it and check/replace to rule out as a potential problem.

is the coolant overflowing after driving? any coolant in the oil? oil in coolant? car smoke out of exhaust? how hot do you let it get before shutting it off? and what do you mean that you can rev the car and allow it to cool down? you said you keep the fan on all the time.. sounds stupid but are you sure its blowing the correct way? (toward the engine/back of the car)

i'm thinkin too that it could possibly be the head lifting slightly, or a ever so slightly cracked headgsket.

just a few thoughts, let me know thanks![/QU

I think you are right about the head lifting , As far as I can tell the overflow bottle does seem like it's getting a little fuller, BUT It's deff. not over flowing . No milky looking oil. .no oil in the coolant. There is no smoke at all, hard to tell anyways because of the open downpipe. . I can make a 45min trip on the interstate and as soon as I get off the interstate it heats up. I know that does make it sound like the fan, The fan is a 12" slim fan and it doesnt sit flush against the radiator BUT I cant see it being the problem , but im sure it doesnt help. heres a pic of the radiator. . . and the slim fan, I know its hard to see but the slim fan cant sit flush on the radiator due to the downpipe being in the way. I had to custom mount the radiator which did sit it a little lower. let me know what you think man, Thanks .

 

So at higher speeds engine temp. is OK.

At slower speeds engine overheats.

Then it is an airflow issue.

How much of the rad is covered by the inter-cooler, [%]?
How close to rad is inter-cooler mounted, is it touching?

How much of the rad is covered by rad fan, [%]?


What is the temp. of the rad at the point where turbo/down pipe is closest to rad?

I assume you do not have AC, so no condenser, is that correct?

It looks like that is not a "full size" rad, is that correct?

Assuming, as mentioned, it is not the water pump, [bent vanes or something], symptoms would be somewhat the same, I would be willing to bet it is an airflow issue, not enough airflow for heat produced.

I would find, [have made] a full size triple core that could be remounted farther forwards, [away from turbo] so two fans, with cowling could be installed, [cover all of rad and have all airflow pulled through the rad and not around the edges of the fan.

At highway speeds the fans are not needed, airflow is not an issue, although in your case rad area may not be large enough. 94

 

The car also overheats when at freeway speeds, usually starts overheating if I build boost and get on it a little hard. Also The car will randomly have a jumping Idle and it makes a weird sound almost like a miss, makes the car sound like a wrx, really weird

 

take the hood off and see if it still does it.. or raise the back of it up.

that fan you have on it aint doin a damn thing! looks like the wg dump is touching the upper hose too

 

When you "get on it" "build boost" the engine produces more heat, more then even the airflow at highway speeds can dissipate.

In short, you are making more heat then you can get rid of, you must increase airflow and/or area.

Engine coolant temp. is controlled by the thermostat and the rad, the thermostat keeps the temp. up at "normal" the rad keeps the temp. from going over "normal", the fans provide airflow when car is not moving, or moving too slow for enough airflow.

None of the above makes any diff., [in cooling] if the rad is not big enough, rad is blocked, fan can not produce enough airflow and external heat sources, turbo down pipe, and as mentioned WG dump are too close to rad.

You also did not answer my other questions. 94

 

everyone says that about the dump , it just looks like that, its really not that close. I am gunna wrap the downpipe and dump tube just to keep the heat down anyways.

 

Im not sure what you meen about the intercooler being close to the rad. I never measured it. and as far as the radiator being close the downpipe I have no idea where else it could be put, I was thinking about getting a 8inch or 10inch slim fan instead of the 12" I have now. Either way theres something going on in the head , The car shouldnt heat up this fast when Im not even running a Thermostat right now

 

well if you aren't running a stat then it will overheat because the stat closes and give the coolant time to cool down while its in the radiator then when it reaches optimum temp it opens and exchanges fluid, if your radiator is working right it should be cooler on one half then the other because of hot fluid coming in and cool fluid going out. Also like what they were saying if your radiator isnt getting enough air then it cant do it's job properly. your definitely going to want to wrap that down pipe or get it ceramic coated, thats not helping the efficiency of the radiator at all.

 

and running it at the drag strip while having heating issues doesn't help anything either

 

well i'll tell you i really dont like that manifold because of how it positions the turbo at an angle and makes the downpipe stick out into the area where the radiator should be, however it looks as though you had the downpipe and dumptube fabricated to match your application so getting a new manifold wont just fix it because you'll need to have the downpipe and dumptube fixed so they will work... if it were up to me i'd dump the setup and get something a little better... that being said, your intercooler to radiator clearance definately matters. if there is little/no space between the two then there isnt adaquate airflow getting to the radiator to allow it to do its job correctly. the intercooler is also releasing hotter air on the back side of it pushing hot air onto the radiator.

you should at the very least heat wrap your downpipe because it is close, really close to your radiator and that is alot of heat transfer right there. your fan doesnt seem to be helping too much either the way it is. the problem is that you have to fix some of these other "problems" in order to determine if you are having any other issues...

now you said that you've noticed your overflow bottle filling up after driving,, that is a tell tale sign that your having head lifting problems, which is kinda where i'm leaning with this.. you could pull the head and replace the headgasket and get arp's for the headstuds and this might solve that problem.

like i said you've gotta start somewhere with this and try things till it seems to help or fix the problem. i dont know what your plans or goals are for the car, if you plan on keeping it for a while, i'd look into another manifold/downpipe setup that will bring the turbo in closer to the block so that you can mount the radiator where it needs to be and so it has enough clearance for proper airflow and so the downpipe isnt so close.. just my .02 hope it helps!

 

[QUOTE=OldSkoolDa91;41933005]and running it at the drag strip while having heating issues doesn't help anything either

LOL , The motor is on its last leg anyways, I dont car if I break it or blow it up because I have the money to put something else in it, What im trying to figure out is if my motor is causing the over heating issue or its my radiator set-up .

 

Yeah man I agree with you about the way its set-up, I bought all the stuff from Go-autoworks. . the stuff is top notch stuff but the way its set up just isnt cutting it. I have no intentions on getting rid of the car BUT I am starting to think about selling the Turbo kit and putting in a full radiator and building a all motor set-up for this thing, What do you guys think? I really just dont feel like dealing with the head ach of it .

 

BTW Hows Your Hatch Running? You got rid of the acura hub caps I put on it HaHa

 

its alright. had to change the head and transmission. changed suspension a few other things. car def isn't the same as it was when pete had it before everyone else. it'll be running a lot better in a few weeks though

 

That's cool Im thinking of going all motor in my hatch , let me know if you decide to boost your hatch or you know anyone interested in my whole turbo set-up

 

shitty slim fan, please get a stock fan

i had a very similar problem

turned out the fan was dieing, or ****ed up or not cooling well

put a stock fan on and problem fixed

 

Removing your thermostat will not cause your engine to overheat. Although I absolutely never recommend removing your thermostat.