after i drive my car for like 15 min..it starts to run like ****. It stutters, and when I stop, it starts to overheat. Im thinking that its the water pump..Im gonna rebuild in a month, and replace everything then, but I dont want to ruin my head..its a b16a3 with 100K..

 

check your radiator fan.
make sure its comming on.

 

Also make sure the thermostat is opening...

 

same **** happened to me...i have a 95 hatch with a gsr motor...one day it was overheating so i pulled over and opened the hood...coolant EVERYWHERE. someone told me it was from the PCV or some bullshit. Anyways here is my logic...please correct me if i am wrong.

before ANYTHING, check ALL coolant lines and see if they are not cracked...

if your car overheats at idle:
1.)see if the fan turns on

if it doesnt, then it could be the fan relay (located in the underhood fusebox) or the fuse for it. Check to make sure they function...

It could also be the fan motor....connect a 12v source to the terminals on the fan to see if it actually runs.....

if both the relays and fuses are in tact, and the fan actually works....you might need a new thermo fan switch. That turns the radiator fan on depending on the temp of the coolant.

THEN...if you dont need a new fan switch, or a new fan motor, or a new relay or fuse...ifs the thermostat. Follow the bottom radiator hose from the radiator to the motor, thats the THERMOSTAT HOUSUING. right before the housing (on my car at least) is the ECT (engine coolant temp) which sends the signal to the dashboard.

The thermo fan switch (what turns the radiator fan on) is located on the tranny side of the motor...(seeing as how i dont know what motor u have...i could tell u more) but its a brass piece, kind of small, with ONE wire coming off of it. right next to it should be a bigger looking one with TWO wires coming off of it. Jeese...i forgot, but one is for the ECU and one is for the RADIATOR FAN.

Hmm I guess thats about it...squeeze the radiator hoses and see if they have any coolant in them...if they are empty it means the thermostat is not opening.

I hope this helps, a thermostat is not hard to put in dotn worry its real easy. If i made any mistakes in my logic please excuse me, Im in a hurry at work trying to elave soon. Email me if you have any more questions

dohchatch@hotmail.com

 

one more thing.....

if you drive the car around, and it DOESNT overheat...its the thermo fan switch....because air is getting to the radiator, coolant is being cooled, blah blah blah....also, if it doesnt overheat while driving, it means the thermostat is working, and opening when it needs to

but if the car overheats while sitting still, i think its the fan switch...because, even tho the coolant is going thru the motor, its not getting any cooler by the radiator fan. so.....yeh

in my case, i had a crack in the coolant line which ran from the intake manifold to the thermostat housing...so all the cooland would just spew everywhere

hey also, another question to add to this....i cant think right now im dumb...


but, how does the coolant flow...does it come from the motor thru the upper hose, thru the radiator, to the thermostat, then the water pump, then the motor then again? or ther other way around? i cant think clearly

 

Your post is mis-leading, do you actually overheat at idle?, or is it when you put load on the motor when you drive it around for 15 minutes?..

if you drive the car for 10-20 minutes and the temp guage needle is at fully hot, then chances are you have combustible gases entering your cooling system,i.e. cracked head or block.. a stuck t-stat or inoperative cooling fan is not going to create this condition in that time frame unless you live in some overly hot geographical location..

do an easy test , start the car cold and remove the radiator cap and look for "bubbles" that rise to the opening of the radiator.. your motor will be running and small bubbles are normal, big bubbles are bad..

 

Actually, the fan switch is on the thermostat housing, if its old school ****, it may be on the back of the block. The 2 on the head are for the gauge and for the ecu. Get a jumper wire and jumper the plug to the switch. The fan should turn on if all the elctrical is good.

Check the coolant level. Keep in mind that if the level is low, the switch which measures the temp of liquid will not close from the hot air.

 

After I drive the car for like 15 minutes--it begins to overheat at idle only..ill be driving, itl start running like ****..like bogging down, and then the temp will get near hot, when i stop..but when I start driving, the temp goes back down, but the car still runs like ****..its a drag III b16a3..

 

Everything posted above is essentially correct but you all missed one other important thing. I had this same problem on a 98 GSR/92 hatch swap. Everything checked out normal, hoses were fine, flow and pressure was fine, fluid was fine, fan was coming on, had the system flushed, put in a colder thermostat, EVERYTHING was perfect and it still overheated while standing still. Anyone know what it was?

An old radiator.

The inside of the radiator had built up so much scale that it was acting like an insulator. The radiator would flow just fine but the heat wasnt transfering out of it. On any car older than 6 years or 100K this should be one of the first things you check and replace as a mater of course.

If everything else checks out, replace your radiator and I gaurantee it will fix the problem

P.S. http://www.Radiators.com has good prices on OEM replacement radiators. Don't waste your $$$ on the expensive ones unless your are REALLY racing.

Mike


[Modified by 92sleepR, 6:37 PM 7/24/2002]

 

Do you have a dump tube coming off of the wastegate? Maybe the hot *** gas is burnign your radiator??? I dont know


PS- Kinesistech, are you sure that the sensor on the thermo housing is the fan switch? Because when I went to the acura dealer and asked for a thermo fan switch they gave me the smaller looking brass piece without an electrical connector on the back of it...just a lil metal ***** thing that looks just like the stock oil pressure sender...

please reply, im quite curious

 

i dunno about the radiator..i am running an accord radiator..out of like a 95, not too many miles on the car either. Ill try flushing it..thanks guys