Ka overheating like everyone elses

[nightsauce]

Did a bit of research but didn't find much.

Swapped in a new motor. So my first radiator was running strong blew up after 2 weeks. Changed it out with an aluminum one today. Idled fine and when I took it for a drive it heated up. Turned it off for a few, turned it back on and the temperature dropped but went back up after some more.

Another symptom is that the heater is hot when on and gets cool when its off. I'm guessing air lock. Anyone else?

[OutToWinPAHC]

Yep,

Best bet is to replace the t-stat and boil it and more sure it opens, drill it if you prefer (I like to), replace gasket too (dont be cheap). And then bleed it.

Jack the front of the car up front tires off the ground 4-8 inches.
Take off radiator cap
Take a 2 liter pepsi bottle cut it in half and use some black electrical tape and wrap the bottle neck a little, or get a cooling funnel
Flip it around and place the bottle neck were the radiator cap was at. Pinch off over flow line if not using the funnel.
Now start filling it with coolant about half way
Remove bleeder screw
Close bleed screw after you get a nice even stream of coolant
Squeeze the upper, and lower lined and burp out the air
Add antifreeze until you over fill the rad by a quart
Turn the heat on full blast
Start the engine and let the engine run after 3-10 minutes the thermostat will open and suck in the excess antifreeze (ambient temp affects time)
Fill it again but with about a half of quart.
Let it run until no more bubbles come out. Squeeze hosed time to time.
Replace cap, unclamp overflow hose and then shut off the engine, fill over flow 1/2 to 3/4

Coolant funnel (best to have)

[nightsauce]

Bleeder screw is broken in place but it's holding pressure. Drilling the tstat is new to me, where do you drill? -____-

[OutToWinPAHC]

Cut the Jiggle valve out and drill there. I usually do three holes One where the Jiggle was and two on the sides like a triangle. It's an older trick which helps cool fast and make it a lot faster to bleed.

[nightsauce]

My car was jacked up about 7inches when I put it on. I have to find a big hill huh?

[OutToWinPAHC]

Just gotta make the rad higher then the rest of the cooling system it helps get the air out. Just follow those steps and your good. I just bled my buddies KA the other day, took forever for his t-stat to open.

[nightsauce]

Thanks doods. I'll figure something out.

[nightsauce]

UPDATE: I filled the overflow tank with more fluid (it wasnt bubbling out), and let it cool down. Drove it home that night it didnt overheat at all. As a precaution I jacked it up about 4 clicks on a jackstand (idk how high, maybe 8 inches), and let it sit overnight. Woke up in the morning coolant tank was right at the minimum level. Has been driving fine since. I still keep my eye on the temperature gauge.

[slikklogic]

Yea my kat is overheating wen I keep ac on after about 15min.proly cuz I took out the clutch fan but I did a coolant flush and a 170 t stat with that's lil yellow bleeder bucket and car jacked up..took like 30min for t stat to open..

[Chaluska]

This has always been one of my biggest problems with the KA.. ive never been able to bleed this system properly, i just rip out the Tstat, to save time.

one day ill figure it out.. ive tried so many different ways of bleeding it, its just so stubborn. i think my problem is the t-stat never opens. the top hose will be scalding hot, and the lower hose will be icy cold.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Yeah I just ripped my thermostat right out. KA-T, never overheats, although it definitely gets to operating temperature. I wouldn't mind Trying Kevin's idea of drilling the crap out of a thermostat though.

[alms24sebring]

I think I would just remove the jiggle valve (oh thats what thats called), and open it up only slightly more. A few friends had said when the drilled holes, giant holes btw, it took forever for it to open.

I think its just a notorius thing with KAs. Sometimes at very random points my car will start to overheat, but happens like 2 or 3 times a year wtf?

[PapaSmurf2k3]

A few friends had said when the drilled holes, giant holes btw, it took forever for it to open.

Meaning it took forever to get up to temp, or it would overshoot and have to get really hot before it opened?

If it takes forever to get up to temp (or hell, if it runs cool all the time), I'm fine with that. The cooler my KA is the more power it makes (dramatically).

[costa_rican13]

mines weird, sometimes my e-fans don't come on, so when i'm sitting n traffic it starts overheating. but as soon as a start moving it cools down. i know probably everyone told ya this. but when i pulled my rad out and put it back in, i jacked the car up as high it would go in the front then ran it till i got a constant flow of coolant in the rad with the cap off.

[alms24sebring]

^^ That is true. Sometimes on cool mornings RIGHT when the temp gauge starts moving, there is a huge noticable hp gains from the cool engine. But, I dont think that running cold all the time is exactly good.

[costa_rican13]

yep gains are way noticable, and no actually its not good because the ka's dump so much gas when they're cold. almost like running with no thermostat.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Yeah the Air/Fuel ratios are a bit richer, and you also don't end up burning all your gas (because its so cold)... but hey, my 240 isn't built for fuel economy. Its built for smiles.