cooling issues on a stock kade

[dethbox]

Ok so having problems with my buddys car. It is a complete stock kade.
Ok so the other day he was driving and his radiator cracked and spewed coolant everyhere and overheated. So I had a spare radiator laying around so we threw it in, bled the system, took it for a drive and it started overheating. So he decided he wanted to replace the thermostat so we put one in and filled and bled the system again. The process we used was as fallowed:
Jack front up high
Undo bleeder bolt
Fill system very slow
Shake the heck out of the front while squeezing the bottom hose to try to loosen up bubbles
Top off and repeat

We did this till solid coolant came out the bleeder and finished filling the system. We then ran the car with the bleeder halfway out to try to get rid of any remaining bubbles.
So we took it for another testdrive (let the car warm up then drive around the block) and it over heated again half way around the block. You could hear it boiling in the radiator and it flowed into the overflow. And after a min it would suck the coolant back from the resevoir

So the really weird thing is that the upper hose is hot, the motor is hot to the touch but you can still keep ur hand on it, even the radiator isn't too hot to touch.

Also the lower hose is actually a little cold to the touch.

So really confused and need the help of the gurus on here.

Fast responces would be greatly appretiated since its my buddys only car.
Thanks guys

[s13_coupekilla]

I guess time to check the water pump or sit there and bleed the car for like 30 minutes. Bleeding a KA24de takes forever remember bleeding mine three different ways as recommended by other users and haven't had cooling problems since.

[Mishkin_707]

Well I'm thinking a bad thermostat, even though you buy them new there's always a chance it's bad, water pump is my next thought, when one hose is hot and other cold it means there is no circulation in the cooling system.

Has there been any noises under the hood like dry bearings? (water pump)
That or still air pockets in there

[Wake]

Im thinking you dont have the right coolant water ratio.

I use about a half gallon of prestone, maybe a little more. And the rest water.
Never had a problem.

Also make sure your heater core isnt plugged.

[xxxlegoheadxxx]

when bleeding out the system make sure ur car is on and set to HOT if it time to warm up means u got air in the system so meaning get a funnel put it on the rad. fill it up with water let the car run with heater on n set to hot u should see the color of the coolant in the funnel which means everything is good n air is out

[jesse_s13]

Just replace the water pump and bleed the bitch. I just jack it up with a funnel on the radiator and have the heater on full blast and rev the engine couple of times.

[namawon]

Try replacing the clutch fan core, they go bad alot. +1 on the thermostat, it may be faulty. When i first got my ka24e it was overheating and it was just the thermostat.

[OkiDori17]

if one hose is hot and the other is cold its because of no circulation. check your thermostat again and make sure when you install it the little nipple thing is on the top, id check your water pump as well, it might not be working right, same thing happened to my KA before it blew...gl with fixing it

[Wake]

or.... once again.......

Make sure its not your heater core.

[arabtitalator]

Sorry to jump on this, but i'm having a similar problem. I replaced my thermostat, radiator(isis upgrade), water pump(3 months ago), and the weird thing is that I can drive on fairly temperate days just fine, but if it gets in the 90's i'll over heat in 15 minutes. - same sort of symptoms though, top hose is hott, lower is cool. - I boiled my thermostat and it opened up.. I'm kind of stumped!
Again sorry for jumping on, I just thought it'd be easier to hit 2 problems at once.

[DoobieS13]

Head gasket??? too much to retype http://zilvia.net/f/tech-talk/395124-overheating-problem.html

[Wake]

honestly sounds like a lot of you guys dont have a proper coolant/water ratio.

[arabtitalator]

170-comp across the board and no coolant in the oil. I'm really not led to believe it's the coolant water ratio because i'm running probably 70(distilled) 30(coolant). I thought it was a bleeding issue and bled it for a few intervals. Finally got the bubbles to stop, drove it for a few hours and it worked like a charm. But all of a sudden it came back.. It's driving me nuts. I'm thinking it's honestly just a shitty thermostat.

[Wake]

make sure the weephole on the thermo is at the top.

And isnt water/coolant supposed to be 50/50? I would think having more water than coolant would lower the boiling point, thus overheating.

[DoobieS13]

Head gasket. $100 on it.

[OkiDori17]

i said to check your thermo before, make sure its installed correctly with the little nipple thing on the top...also check your coolant temp sensor and make sure its working correctly, if i were you id just buy a new one they're only like $20 and take no time to install..there are two coolant temperature sensors; one for the ECU (bigger of two sensors in the intake manifold where the coolant exits the engine to the upper radiator hose), and one for the dash (smaller of the two sensors). check the bigger one.

[Wake]

Have you actually gotten out and checked your engine temp when the gauge said it was overheating?
Like Okidori just said replace the ECT's, I personally would replace both at the same time just to be safe. The 2 wire goes to the ECU and the one wire goes to the gauge but either one could give you the impression that you are overheating.

One time i bought a s13 in LA and on the way to driving it back to norcal theguage kep going from dead to ALL the way hot in a matter of minutes. After pulling over about 5 times and finding that my engine wasnt actually hot at all. I figured it was the temp sensor. Got home and replaced the 1 wire (to gauge) and I never had the problem again.

So basically the 2 wire can make the computer think its overheating, and the 1 wire makes the gauge think its over heating. since they are independent of each other i would replace both at the same time instead of trying to guess which it might and en up having to go by the second one anyway after the fact.

Work smart not hard guys.
Its more worth to spend the $15 now than it is to drive your car again and find out 1 sensor didnt fix the problem. now you have to waste more time going back to the store and buy and install another sensor.

[OkiDori17]

"work smart not hard"

^^great advice =]

[Banana_Cute]

http://zilvia.net/f/s-chassis/349362-no-bleeder-hole-technic-bleeding-coolant-system.html

Read all of that.