Uh Oh? Overheated.. now..?

[trybal]

ill try to make this short..

Had a sr about a year ago. Sold it. Guy drove it for a year.. I bought it back from him for alot alot less. He told me that he removed the thermostat cause it started overheating on the freeway and it still would overheat on the freeway after 25 - 30 minutes..

fine whatever, ill try and fix it.

It did it to me on the drive home, got 2 bars from H so i cranked the heat and let it coast for alittle and it dropped back down

drove it around a few weeks in town with no problems

Well since the temp gauges are shit i installed a water temp gauge to see if it was actually overheating

well after a 10 minute drive temps climbed to 200.. yet no boiling and cluster temp reading fine.. wtf..

drove again later that day at night.. temps went to 200.. climbed alittle more.. alittle more alittle more.. and when i looked down again they were at 230 degrees.. oh crap.. no where to pull over on the freeway.. drive another minute mostly coasting.. cranked the heat.. and it was cold?

temps got to 240 by the time i could pull over.. COOLANT everywhere, i blew a hose..


Question is.. Driving it for a year, with temps of 200+ can't be good on the engine and since the gauge doesn't react unless the temps are above 220 im sure it was driven like that alot. is 240 hot enough to warp a head? car also has a cometic hg and arp head studs.


:( im guessing the radiator is clogged and thats why it gets so hot driving.. It will idle for ever and the temps are fine

sorry about the long post, just want to see if that heat is capable of warping and messing things up

[all stock]

200F is like 80C. my car normally runs at 80C. around 104C the oem temp needle starts to rise. my evo runs at 110C normally. but it's designed differently. i'd say that it's fine. the oem needle is adequate for measuring damage to the head.

[blackej7]

200F is 93C, which is not overheating. It only overheats while driving? Maybe the water pump is bad? looks like its time to spend some money on cooling mods.

[420sx]

STOCK gauge is trash. worst tool you can use ever. and you werent overheating. you have cooling system efficiency problems. new water pump, and use a thermo for fucks sake. big radiator will help alot also

[ripnbst]

Get a new rad and waterpump.

[trybal]

what makes you guys think its the waterpump? its not bleeding out the dummy hole and it is circulating the coolant through the radiator.. my guess is my radiator is clogged but im not sure

[s13monkey]

quick way to check you coolling system turn your car on with the heater on a full blast and let it idle without the radiator cap off get a 2L coke bottle and cut the bottom end and put the spout on the radiator and fill it with water. make sure that the water dosen't spill look at the water and you might see some air bubbles coming out of your radiator keep doing this till that air bubbles stop coming out. keep adding water if you need too. after you do this pull off the 2L bottle and put the radiator cap back on and test drive it and see if the temp keeps going up. if it stops overheating then you had air in you system is it continues then change you water pump and do this all over again. also about the temp 200F to 220F is normal for a 2.0L or bigger. have electric fans and they turn on at 226F in low speed. so your okay hope this helps. try this before you install a new water pump it many save you money and time and thats good for every one.

[trybal]

im pretty sure all the water was out of the system. i had pulled the bleeder screw out and pressurized the system till no more bubbles came out. But i will try it again. Im still betting on my radiator

[s13monkey]

don't bleed the system by loosing the bolt on the intake manifold just refill the radiator and bleed the air out the way i siggested with the cap on the radiator and the heater a full blast and the bottom on the radiator fill hole i did this to my car and it work fine and till this day still works

[trybal]

UPDATE with more issues?

Okay, so i just installed a oem thermostat that works.. i know for sure "boiled it"

and a new dual core aluminum radiator..


Started to bleed the system, or tried?? Ran the car for 10 minutes and it seemed like the thermo wasn't opening or the pump isnt working? My upper rad hose temp was at 180ish and my bottom hose was cold, same with my heater. So i drove it, after a few minutes the heat finaly turned hot, but the bottom hose still stayed cold. "before putting a thermo in the heat was hot when warm" I drove it for awhile and the temp didn't go above 195 but it seemed the bottom hose stayed cold.

What i don't get, if the pump wasn't working wouldn't it overheat really fast? and not let me drive for 15-20 minutes?

So i just don't know? even when the car got to 210-220 it wasn't boiling into the overflow. Im just lost. Also when the rad was out i ran a hose through the block to flush it out.

[nassin31spr]

You still have air bubbles in the system. Jack the car high up in the front as high as you can get it and repeat your bleeding process. SR's never want to give up their air bubbles.

[trybal]

guess ill give in another shot today. I'm thinking of just ordering a waterpump for anyways but ill rebleed

[trybal]

anyone else have an opinion?

[codyace]

Typically water pumps don't just 'fail'. When they do, you'll notice coolant dripping out of the weep hole on the bottom side of the pump.


Follow proper FSM bleeding procedure (using the drv side coolant neck bolt) and you should be set.

Also: Are you using a mechanical fan? Have a shroud on it? Or if using electric fan is it working th eproper direction?

[trybal]

I know pumps don't just fail, ive changed many pumps before so i know about the weep hole when the seal goes bad. I also know that the blades can wear away or the turbine can wobble loose from the shaft and not always spin causing intermittent problems.

I bled on a hill, with the bleeder open, while massaging the upper and lower hoses, and a radiator funnel topped off in the radiator neck.

car also has a stock sr clutch fan in working condition, and sr fan shroud