OK, major frustration here!!!

On my d16a6 that I just got through rebuilding (still has less than 100 miles on it) I can't keep the temp from overheating without having the heater on full blast!! the engine is basically stock with the exception of a Y8 headgasket and a cam gear (currently set a 0deg). I have a brand new water pump, hoses, thermostat, and now even the radiator is brand new (took it to get rodded out and they cracked the top tank) I let the car sit idle with the heater off and the temp stays fine, but when i get out on the road the temp starts climbing until I kick the heater on. I have tried to purge the system of air bubbles multiple times. the coolant is circulating because the coolant in the radiator is getting hot.

any help at all would be greatly apreciated!!

 

I'd start it up cold, take off the rad cap, and watch to make sure it starts cirulating. If it's flowing that'll elimate a stuck thermostat (could you of possibly installed it backwards?). The other thing I can only think of would be to swap clusters with a buddy, and see if his does the same. Long shot but that might be it. Good luck bro.

 

hook a vacuum gauge up to it...see what she throws out and post it here....

also check your ect....

in all honesty just check for over advanced timing....

 

thermostat is very hard to install backwards so i dont think thats your problem.now a faulty thermo is very probable.i would change it and refill the coolant.

 

already did watch with the cap off, when it got to the proper temp, thermostat opened up and coolant flowed. as far as the gauge is concerned, it read corectly with the old engine, and as I said above, it is showing proper operating temp when sitting at idle

hook a vaccum gauge to where? Intake mani? sorry for my ignorance.

could you elaborate on the ect? again sorry for my lack of knowledge of teminology.

and as far as timing, cam timing or ignition? if you mean ignition, that makes sense because i kind of questioned whether I got it set right or not.

Kind of sad to think I rebuilt this engine on my own considering all of those "i don't knows" I just typed!!!

 

Could always be a bad sender...for the temp gauge I mean. Are you watching the stock one, or an aftermarket gauge?

Other than that, what shape is the water pump in? Does the fan come on?

Alex

 

He has a brand new water pump.

 

stock gauge, runs 1/2 way up with the heater on, gets into red w/ heater off.

fan works

problem is happening when I'm driving at speeds... not when sitting idle, bad fan would do the opposite.

and yes, brand new pump.

 

the only thing i can think of is that you might have a blockage. try draining the coolant (into a clean bucket) to see if there is any crap in it. if there is, try to flush the system.

 

how does yoru radiator look?

 

he said its a new radiator read the post....new everything.....the gauge maybe bad mine will jump up al the time for no reason then i tap on the cluster and it goes back to normal i duno if this is ur problem but worth a shot

 

rad is brand new as stated above, and he stated that he has flushed the air out too.

 

im thinking u have an air bubble somewhere..

bring it to a shop and have them put that little machine on to suck it out..

u have covered everything else its gotta be a big bubble

 

When rebuilding, you didnt happen to use like, newspaper or a rag or something to plug some holes so itll keep dust out would you? If you did you mighta left one in and forgot to take it out. I remember that happening to someone somewhere before...

 

I'm wondering if you might have a sealing problem between the head and block that only shows up under load. I trust that you torqued down your head bolts acording to specs with a reliable torque wrench. You mentioned a new head gasket. I am familar with a bored out engines that got beyond .020" and having difficulty sealing.

 

ok, re-timed the ignition and re-adjusted the lifters today... no difference.
You can accually watch the temp gauge go up and down in relation to the engine rpm when the heater's on, with the heater off it just keeps going up!!

the engine is stock bore (just honed) still using original pistons, rods, crank, cam, etc. everything's just hot tanked, checked, and surfaced. and new rings, bearings and seals.. rebuilt oil pump, everything outside of the block is brand new with the exception of the intake mani. and everything is designed for the A6 except the Y8 headgasket (for a slight bump in compression) when I got the engine, the previous owner had blown a head gasket and it was only running on cylinders #1 & 4

if i had a sealing problem like that, wouldn't I be loosing either coolant or oil? neither level is dropping.

I'm seriously starting to think I didn't put something together right and it's creating an unusual amount of friction, causing the extra heat.

 

u sure the fan is turning on? and i dont see how it would overheat with the thermostat and water pump running right cause ive run with no fan at all for long periods of time and no overheating here.....

 

What amazes me is tonight when i was test driving it, i ran it with the heater off until it almost got to the red (took about 10 min.) then I cranked the heater up and the gauge dropped into normal fast!!!. I also took it up to 6k for just a second for the first time and the gauge almost instanly climbed up to almost red, stayed there for a minute, then slowly came back down.

 

yep, the fan is comming on. and water is circulating into the radiator, I've drained it about 3 times now and it's comming out nice and clean.

maybee I should put the A6 head gasket on there until I get this worked out. I've torked the head on with it once, but i've never run with it.


[Modified by thumpu77, 8:46 PM 3/6/2003]

 

well maybe one of ur hoses are collapsed inside u cant see them but it can happen it doesnt seem right if ur stuff is all preforming correctly...its not the headgasket unless u reused the old headbolts wich can stretch they arent reuseable

 

yes, as a matter of fact, I did re-use the old head bolts... where can I get some new ones?

 

honda only part and when u go buy them ur gonna cry order them online if u can

 

my dealer usually matches majestic's price.. I'll check into that.

 

Well with this "INSTANT" jumping thing thats going on, it sounds like a bad sender to the cluster man...

 

i reuse headbolts with no problems. this doesn't mean that they can't streach.




[Modified by Phat_Optimo, 11:27 PM 3/6/2003]