90coug
Registered User
Ok, so I've been battling this problem ever since I rebuilt the engine. Car starts and runs like a champ but before I tore the engine down the temp gauge would ALWAYS read before the 'N'. Now the car reads somewhere around the 'RM'. I think it's important that I say that after I rebuilt the engine not to too far into driving it around I had a lean mixture problem on the passenger side. So after diagnosing I found out that the intake manifold passenger bolts had come VERY loose. I took it back apart and gave it new gaskets and sealed it back up again and now the lean mixture code is gone. My theory is that when the intake manifold was loose that the coolant didn’t flow through the intake manifold from the heads and maybe the heads got too hot? Is this a possibility since the intake manifold was loose? I've tried a new thermostat; a diff used radiator and flushing the system many times. I've replaced the temp sensor and switch. Haven't replaced the water pump but I've been told unless it's coming out the weep hole not to worry about the water pump. The engine was slightly bored out to rid of the tapering, could the oversize result in a hotter engine? If memory serves me correctly I was running at the right temp before I noticed the lean mixture problem, but I could be wrong. So I’m exhausted on trying to figure this problem out, I'm almost at the point of buying a thermo gun and reading the diff parts of the engine for hot spots. Could the intake manifold being loose cause the coolant to stop flowing correctly? If so wouldn’t the car have overheated? Should I buy a new radiator, it worked before. Should I buy a new water pump? Oh and I tried running the car without a thermostat, it took longer to get hot but it eventually got there, thermostats back in now. Could the aluminum heads cracked, or are my new gaskets thrashed now? Thanks