MikeSarr_GSR

I will make this quick. My engine is overheating!! I just
put my head back on last night and its not happy with me.

my car:
GSR 99 41500 miles
stock engine 10:1

+ overhaul due to bent valves... ugh added

CTR cams
Itr In Valves +.15cr est
Endyn Flat SS .5mm over exhaust valves +.3cr est
3 angle valve job, 2 on seat
.44mm effective head gasket thickness with mugen and resurfacing +.35cr est
est: 10.8+:1 (I also mildly scuffed the deck w/a soft nailfile and avoided the sleeves)
stock NGK plugs with NGK wires
16BTDC (0)
skunk cam keyways at 0,0 (prob. +1.5,+1.5 actual)
Mugen 1.3 Radiator Cap

symptoms:

engine idles at 1K
no engine codes unless I unplug something, no leaks
engine never clicks on the cooling fan
the engine used to run, cycle fan, run cycle fan
now it wont
it will turn on both fans with the AC switch
it will help when I turn on the heater and expell heat
engine gets hot at idle about halfway + on
gauge w/o heater running for about 10 min it begins to get higher,
then I kick on the heater.
If I drive it, it gets very hot with the AC and the heater on...
so I wont drive anymore, I took it on a 10 mile run and I had to
baby it.

what I have done:

done my best to resolve any air pockets
lost my original honda coolant that overheated initially which
was 50/50 water coolant and had a treatment of royal purple ice.
uncapped the radiator and re-filled as it purges air, while squeezing
the top radiator hose. This is Prestone fluid 50/50 mixture with some
purple ice.
read up on things,
came up with ?s

is my radiator not up to snuff on that higher compression?
is my thermostat foonked?
is my thermoswitch foonked?
start from scratch on the fluid and try again>?

what should I check first and what does this sound like
if the radiator was bad, would the fan still cycle?
if the thermostat is bad, will the fan not run?
if the switch is bad... damn that would screw them both up...

HELP peas.


[Modified by MikeSarr_GSR, 6:18 AM 4/20/2002]


[Modified by MikeSarr_GSR, 6:20 AM 4/20/2002]

civicrr

Your stock radiator should be able to handle the cooling. It looks like your fans are coming on & the sensors are working properly. I would check your all hose connections on the back of the head. If the hoses to the heater are routed incorrectly, the water will never make it out of the head unless the heater is turned on. I have seen this on a Civic (not mine). The head was sent out. When it came back, the hoses were just quickly put back on. The overheating problem was chased around for a couple of races.

MikeSarr_GSR

Thanks for the response here is the skinny:

The IAC valve was removed from the intake maifold intact, the coolant lines to throttle body were detached. The PCV hose was taken out with the line from the TB to the pickup on the head. The line that goes back to the heater was detached, the line that goes to the upper radiator was detached. The sensors on the head were removed, thats it. No attention was paid to the thermostat housing at all. Everything that was removed was rendered completely obvious where it plugs back in. I have no leaks, only the inability to cool even with 2 hard wired fans on all the time. The upper radiator hose gets hot when the coolant temp increases, the fans never kick on unless I hardwire them and even with 50/50 premixed honda fluid I still get hot like mad. I installed that Mugen head gasket the way the Honda one goes in, one of the Acura techs I know asked me if I installed the gasket backwards. Everything on the gasket lined up with the block, and I sprayed the thing with copper and set er down nice-like. The identification code near the flywheel is also visible like the honda gasket. This tells me that the gasket is not backwards. Is my thermostat stuck shut???

"Your stock radiator should be able to handle the cooling. It looks like your fans are coming on & the sensors are working properly. "

I made mention several times that the fan was not coming on no matter what.
The sensors are not working correctly and something is definately wrong.

HELP!

b19coupe

Try jumping the thermoswitch connector.If the fans kick on, the thermoswitch is bad.If not it could be a number of things. There are four inputs/outputs for the cooling fan relay.Check to see if you have two hot wires going to the cooling fan relay (battery voltage).If they are hot, then check for continuity to ground on the wire that goes to the thermoswitch with the thermoswitch connector jumped.The last wire goes to the cooling fan motor.You say that the fans kick on with the a/c on, so the fan motors appear to be o.k. You might want to replace the thermostat with an oem thermostat just to be safe, even if the thermostat is o.k. at this point. Another thing you can check is the radiator-feel for cold spots when the engine is at normal operating temperature.Good luck.

MikeSarr_GSR

very good of you to give such good advice!

guess what? it was the thermostat!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I removed it and the car is running
great without it. I plan on replacing it, but for now the cool runnings are working great with my current mods!!! hehe... I am soooo happy to be DONE!!!!

Thanks Bro,

Mike in Orlando

The teggy is now a fasteggy... I tuned on some cams today... oh, JOY!
I had them at -1.5/-1.5 and that was dead 0,0 with the slimmer gasket.
My valves on the ex side are .5 larger, so I can imagine that 2 deg advance
is about dead 0 on the ex side I found that a 3 deg advance on the intake
cam made great overall torque, I first set it to +4 and then determined that
whatver event was happening it was to far past the maximum in reference to the
ex cam at -1.5. Once I found +3 to work well, I set base ignition timing again as I did each time and recet the ecm. I then decided to go a deg adv at a time on the exhaust side to bring the mindrange more into focus. I arrived at +2 after a pass to +3 that didnt work much to my benefit. The car ran boggy as crap when it first was rebuilt, now with it trimmed out and not overheating... it was like found HP!
The car really seems to be breathing well better. I found that unplugging the hose from the fpr helped me sink the idle to 500-700 so I could set the timing better.
I settled for 18BTDC, maybe a hair more. (I travel with a 12mm and timing light in the engine bay) I decided to flood the rail with more power bringing stuff and it pulls like an OX now. 52psi doesnt make for very good HP or catalyst breathing, but it sure feels good with the current A/F. I will have to estimate that the feel of the car now is like going from stock to 160/122. I would say I am at 180-185 to the wheels and about 135-140tq at best. There is still some perfecting yet to do on the timing, however this is what felt best on the street so far. Besides, I am not going to benefit from any gain structure based on a ignition retard, I have stock intake and exhaust manifolds with an 8K rev limit. Also for the sake of Piston to Valve Clearance issues, advancing the intake cam is helpful I am told. Cant wait for a few more miles...


Mike


[Modified by MikeSarr_GSR, 10:49 AM 4/23/2002]