New HG's and STILL overheating

BobGPz

Registered User
I have new: head gaskets, radiator, radiator hoses, hose clamps, ACT Sensor, Gauge sending unit, coolant, burped the filler plug 3 times. And this POS is STILL overheating! WTF? :mad:
Is my water pump bad? There is no leak out the weep hole and it turns easily when the belt is off. Can the seal be good but the propeller be bad? If so, it can’t push enough water to keep up with the heat from getting into the boost? I got on it SHORTLY two times and the gauge went redline AGAIN. If I keep my foot out of it and drive like a blue hair then it stays in the normal. The top hose is cold as outside, and the lower rad hose is hot. The radiator is NOT plugged. Any ideas? I mean what the F$%@ can there be left to replace besides the pump OR the car?? :confused: :mad:
 
If the top hose is cold it means that the thermostat is not opening. Try running without a thermostat and see if it overheats.
 
Could it be backwards? The spring-side of the thermostat goes on the intake side right? And the other end of the thermostat goes towards the radiator. It is brand new..7 days old.. :( :confused:
 
The thermostat is not on backwards. Have you checked for a collapsed radiator hose? My car would overheat when the water pump was on its last legs.
 
Your radiator fan may not be running at high speed. To rule it out, you could temporarily wire the fan to run continuously at high speed.
 
J.D. said:
Your radiator fan may not be running at high speed. To rule it out, you could temporarily wire the fan to run continuously at high speed.
Turn the A/C on MAX or Normal, this forces the radiator fan to run LOW speed all the time. If it overheats with the fan on, the radiator or the water pump aren't working correctly. I would look at the radiator first.

Jerry
 
The top hose is cold as outside, and the lower rad hose is hot.
Here lies your problem. This should never happen. The lower hose is the return into the motor. Therefore the bottom of the rad should remain at least slightly cooler than the top. Your coolant is not circulating for some reason. Most common is an air pocket, but you could also have a problem with the thermostat.

Air pockets can be hard to get out. I always burp the radiator as well as the bleed hole but they don't seem to work completely. What I often do is get the motor fully warm, then with a rag over the rad cap, loosen it just enough to spray some coolant out. I know this sounds dumb, but what it does is "shock" the coolant into moving into the radiator past the thermostat because of the pressure. Usually you will also hear a bunch of internal gurgling at this point as the bubbles move away from the thermostat. I usually only spill a few ounces of coolant. Then leave the cap on and let the motor fully cool off. It will suck fluid from the reservoir back into the motor. Make sure your overflow hose is clamped on both ends so that it doesn't suck air. Also make sure that the overflow hose is not blocked. I've had that before and your system will never work right if it is.

I think you still have air pockets (not a bad idea to make sure your fan works too :) ).
 
Top hose does not collapse, and bottom hose has a spring inside to keep it from collapsing. So I am ruling that out.

I have got in the habit of turning the A/C on to MAKE the fan turn on as I don't trust the ECT Sensor to tell the computer to do it over the years of it getting hot. I watch my temp gauge more than my speedo. :rolleyes: The hi-speed fan DOES work, so I can rule that out.

I will pull off over flow hose and overflow tank tomorrow and clean them out, but I think it is fine. You never know though. Also I'll try to burp the system some more. If that don't work, I'm selling this POS and getting my ZX9.....and a helmet for the kid :p
 
BobGPz said:
I will pull off over flow hose and overflow tank tomorrow and clean them out, but I think it is fine.
Take the thermostat out. Drop it in boiling water and watch that it opens up. Leave it out and start the car with the radiator cap off and watch the coolant move through the radiator.. there is a possibility it will overflow, so be sure to drain some out first and make sure the car is cold. How many miles on the water pump?
 
TbirdSCFan said:
How many miles on the water pump?

124,609 miles. As far as I know it has never been replaced. That is why I asked if it could be bad even though it doesn't leak out the weep hole. Is there a way to test the pump besides removing it?
 
The only way that the pump could *not* be working is if the impeller fell off the back of it which is NOT something caused by high mileage. It would simply be a fluke of nature so it's highly unlikely, but when you've ruled out everything else...
 
Could a 125K miles impeller get corroded to such an extent that it won't push enough coolant?
 
BobGPz said:
124,609 miles. As far as I know it has never been replaced. That is why I asked if it could be bad even though it doesn't leak out the weep hole. Is there a way to test the pump besides removing it?
I don't see how it could be bad and you not know about it... unless the shaft is broken.. you should be able to take the thermostat out, reassemble and fill, take the belt off, look inside the radiator and spin it by hand to see if its pushing coolant around. Other than removing it, I can't think of a simple way to tell how its working... Oh wait, I just thought of a way..

Drain the whole thing (if you're like me, you use a few milk jugs and reuse the coolant since its new) pull the belt off and the lower hose. Then shine a flash light up and spin it by hand to see if the impeller is tuning OK. This may require some assistance you'll have to get creative.

Now, if you planned well, you should have a set of old panty hose from the old wife that you can use to filter out the dirt and reuse the coolant.
 
The "Old Wife" took her rotten "Old Pantyhose" with her. Her crotch in my coolant is the LAST thing I'd do to my poor "Bird. I know I'm mad at the "Bird and all, but come on..:D

Got Thermostat off, and am going to do a little boiling with it as per TBirdSCFan suggested. Of course I'll do that after I get back from getting a new gasket.
While I had the small hose off (Goes from the thermostat housing to top of water pump) I spun the water pump pulley a certain direction. Nothing really happened. I spun the opposite direction and all it did was push VERY LITTLE coolant up the top of the pump housing. MAYBE a 1/4 of an ounce. It spins fairly freely without much drag at all. If there is coolant above the level of the pump, should it at least push gobs of coolant out or have more drag to it??
 

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I would think so yes. Unless you drained out more than you thought and the pump is just pushing air. . Maybe fill it up slowy through the radiator and try the same thing again? You should be able to get enough coolant in there and when you turn the pump, it should move obvious amounts of coolant.
Those gaskets are a pain, aren't they? I have one that the guy at Oriellys matched up from stock as the listed one wasn't anywhere close. I still had to hollow out the bolt holes on the new one a bit to get it to fit proper.

As for hose, you have a point. Just not right to subject a fine auto to such an undignified act. ;) ;)
 
TbirdSCFan said:
I would think so yes. Unless you drained out more than you thought and the pump is just pushing air. . Maybe fill it up slowy through the radiator and try the same thing again? You should be able to get enough coolant in there and when you turn the pump, it should move obvious amounts of coolant.
Those gaskets are a pain, aren't they? I have one that the guy at Oriellys matched up from stock as the listed one wasn't anywhere close. I still had to hollow out the bolt holes on the new one a bit to get it to fit proper.

As for hose, you have a point. Just not right to subject a fine auto to such an undignified act. ;) ;)


I use automotive quality paint strainers to reuse antifreeze. You'd be amazed at the junk you get out of it sometimes. ;) The old pantyhose tirck never worked for me anyhow (don't tell my wife). :D
 
Put new Thermostat gasket on after I boiled the thermostat itself. It opened so I know it works. Screw this Anti-condaminent free water anymore, I just took the garden hose and shoved that thing on full blast till bubble free water came out the burp hole next to the SC. Then did same thing from the burp tube side. Put radiator cap on and was going to heat it up the old fashioned way :eek: Whaa Ahhh Ahh (rubs hands together) :D Never had my car up to 5,000 rpm's before. It kind of goes flat after 3,500. No high end power on these things. Yet when I hit 3rd gear I swore my front wheels felt like they came off the ground and I liked it! :D After about a 25 minute juant around the freeway on-ramps it never once got over the "M" and as soon as I pulled in my driveway it started to go redline on me, turned A/C on to kick on fan and it helped a little. Looked around an no more fluid in overfill :rolleyes: :(
Fixed that and burped it all over as you guys suggested and I will be going to Taco Bell soon as the roads are wet from our first rain in a long time. Fresh rain that is. Whaa Ahhhh Ahhhh /Rubs hands together again.. :D
 
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