head replacement driving me crazy

[janda240sx]

O.K. lon stoory short. all the water blew out of my radiator due too it cracking. car ran hot. put in new rad. car still ran hot.

disassembled egine checked head for cracks and warps myself. nothing wrong. reassembled w/ new gasket. car will drive for about 30 min. and start to overheat. new waterpump new thermostat installed. still overheats after 30 min of driving. it will sit and idle all day at normal temp.

disassembled egnine again. took head too machine shop to be tested. they said the head was perfect.

I'm out oof options. don't know what else to do. PLEASE DO NOT TELL me to bleed the system that is NOT the problem.

Oh. yeah the last time it ran hot I got pissed and kept driving. just let it peg out and it never boils over. just keeps right on going.

[janda240sx]

C'mon......nobody has an opinion of any sort. I'm putting it back together this weekend for the final time. If it doesn't work this time I'm through with it.

[liquid_cool]

ok..2 things...#1. use "Indian head brand Gasket sealer" for you head gasket..this will make shure there is a perfect seal..for sure!..and last but not least...are you shure your temp gauge and sending unit are working corectly..if you dont boil over..then its not hot...trust me...i stay at 170 and i boil over slightly..and im in the desert!...sumpin is up with your gauge..may i suegest some aftermarket reliability in guages allso for you car...good luck.

[janda240sx]

Thanx for the input, but there is nothing wrong with the gauge. I have checked the temps with an infrared theremometer. The water coming out of the top rad. hose is 220-230 degrees but it never boils. Could it be b/c I didn't use new headbolts maybe. The radiator I have is a CXracing aluminum one. If I put it together sunday and it still does it I'm going to put a stock rad. in it and see if that may be the problem.

[mechpro]

its hard to say if nothing boils over but try replacing your rad cap this was a problem with mine and made it run hot.

[janda240sx]

Yeah... done that too. about 3 times. I have exhausted all the simple fixes like that. I tried all of the simple ones ( rad. cap, bleeding, thermostat, and all that bulls*** before I pulled the head TWICE.

[zerepdivad]

You didn't replace your head bolts? That probably has something to do with it. Are you gettin any oil in your coolant or coolant in your oil? You're supposed to get new headbolts EVERYTIME you do a head gasket unless they're arps. Head bolts stretch

[janda240sx]

no coolant or oil is mixing..... I have done other head jobs on these engines and reused the headbolts w/ n o problems. hell i reused the head gasket on my 79 ford w/ no problems. I was just thinking that maybe that was the prob. but the headbolts are not the prob. I'll figure it out sunday when i get it tohether though.

[janda240sx]

OK got the engine back together yesterday and it runs like a champ. no problems whatsoever. I didn't do anything diff. AND I used the OLD headbolts. Just like I said you could. I still dxon't know what was causing the other problems though. I don't care now though cause it runs jam up