OVERHEATING problem?!? 95 ka24de

[drift_junkE]

I have a 95 with a 96 engine, I swapped the motor this summer and had the usual few bubbles that spiked the temp gauge, but afterwards nothing.
It had an after market 2 core aluminum radiator.

Well about 6 months ago it started to run a bit hot, it ended up being a couple loose clamps and the intake manifold gasket blowin out.
I also replaced the water pump and thermostat as a safe precaution as well as a new 13psi cap
Later it ran hot again, so I ran some radiator flush through it and it fixed it for the second time.
It then ran hot again, this time it was the 2 12" fans wearing into the radiator tubes/row whatever you wanna call them.
So I got a new Godspeed radiator in and made a fan shroud so I wouldn't have the fans wear through another radiator.
I have also bought a flush kit at Advance Auto that I hooked to the water hose and tried to back flush the system.
I have searched the internet for hours on end, but nothing. all I have found is people saying that it is prob the radiator cap, thermostat, or water pump.

It has plenty of oil, and the top of the radiator is scorching hot, its pushing coolant out the reservoir, and the level of coolant is(was) proper. Also the heat isn't even warm, let alone hot

Possibilities/My thoughts:
Loose Belt? no, because I still have power steering
Bad water pump? shouldn't be, only 4 months old
Bad thermostat? same thing, only 4 months old
Bad cap? not likely 4 months old as well
Bad temp sensor or gauge? not likely given that the coolant is boiling over
Bad radiator hose(s)? No, both have good flow.
Clogged cooling system? My thought, but don't know best way to truly clean it out.

Please help me out, its my daily and I have a good drive to work so its not like I can just keep driving it without it overheating

[JKL1031]

my car is int he shop for the same reason now.

[JKL1031]

is your bottom hose heatings up?

[drift_junkE]

No, it is cool/cold. but the thing is, with the radiator and dual 12" fans I am running it ran cool in the 100 degree summer weather with it like that. Thats why I'm thinkin it is a clogged coolant system

[Taylor008]

Sounds like a thermostat stuck closed to me. It doesn't matter how new it is, I've seen thermostats go bad, especially if they're not OEM.

[drift_junkE]

Ok, so I still have no results, just replaced the water pump and thermostat again. Also just did a pressure test and its showing good across the board

[OutToWinPAHC]

Easy...

1- Tightening everything.
2- "loan a tool" cooling system tester. Test system at 1.5 bar. You want to see the cooling system hold that pressure at 1.5 bar for at-least 30 minutes. If pressure does not hold pump back to 1.5 bar and listen and look for the leak. Fix that leak and move to the next step If your sure there is no external leaks, and your dropping pressure, then you need to check your oil for intermix and check compression.
3- Properly bleed the system. Use a 60/40 mix 60%water, unless you live in the arctic.

How to bleed
Jack front on the car up
Use a coolant bleeder funnel and fill it
Squeeze the hoses and burp the air out
put the heat on hot, fan off
Start car and let it run
As the engine heat up, the air will bubble out of the funnel.
Once the engine is at normal temp the bubble should stop
Then open, the bleeder screw to make sure, once coolant comes out close it. wait about 30 seconds and do it again, Keep doing this until there is no air.
At no time let the funnel go empty
Plug the funnel and put the car on with the engine running.

Take a ride make sure temps are good, run the heat, then turn the heat off and just drive. Repeat if needed.

[JKL1031]

how long can u drive before you overheat? is the bottom hose stillnot geting hot?

and when r over heating, stopping or moving? how is the radiator flowing?

[OutToWinPAHC]

The correct answer is stop driving, who cares who long. Find the cause, don't warp the head

[drift_junkE]

I can drive it about 1.5 miles and it reaches regular running temp(a little bit early) then it starts over heating after about 4 or 5 miles.
Its overheating all the time, stopped coasting, freeway speed...and the radiator isn't flowing like it used to, I can see movement, but I think its just the warmer coolant reaching the radiator.

[OutToWinPAHC]

If the radiator is moving it's air..... And chances are because you have been driving it, your head is warped, and you have intermix.

[OutToWinPAHC]

Renting a cooling system tester is free, you just have to pay the deposit. And you will know what the issue is very quickly

[drift_junkE]

The thing is, there isn't any oil in the coolant, nor coolant in the oil. My dad keeps sayin that its air, but I have rebuilt one KA, and completely drained my last motor twice, and it didn't take but like a couple times of lettin it idle to work all the air bubbles out, plus the heat always worked. but I am afraid that the head is gonna be warped as a result of this

[OutToWinPAHC]

A warped head doesn't always mean intermix. The gasket can break between coolant and atmosphere. And when that happens its hard to find because the hot head is burning it off and you cant see a physical leak. Now you can play guessing game, flush this, replace that, or for the cost of zero dollars you can diagnose your issue as A-external leak, B-internal leak, C - No leak just clogged to high hell, which is very unlikely unless it was water only that say for a long period of time OR a bad Tstat (or backward)

[JKL1031]

i have a smiliar problem. Sometimes I could drive two hours, and then other times, several minutes. And it would warm up real early as well. Basiclly all of my coolant was sitting on top, and none is flowing to the bottom.

[OutToWinPAHC]

It's a closed, pressurized system, if coolant isn't moving its a bad pump, clog, or bad Tstat.. Coolant don't sit on the top of anything.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/cooling-system.htm

[drift_junkE]

Did you get yours fixed, or are you still having the problem.

[coolbone28]

Are you still using a higher pressure rad cap? If so try switching back to a normal one. I bought an ARC 1.3bar cap and everytime i swapped it in there my temp got too hot. Regular ones work fine =) should be .9 ...i think.

[drift_junkE]

Yea, thats what I'm running, 13psi(.9 bar) which is the normal cap. Everything is OEM specs except for the Radiator and fans.

[JKL1031]

I just stopped and let a professional do it. Mines is still in the shop. Hes replacing the pump and fan clutch.

[JKL1031]

My problem:

-it is not air, the water pump, the radiator, fan clutch

I can drive the car hours before if overheats. sometimes only minutes.

Without the thermostat in, it runs fine, engine will not heat up depending on ambient temp.

The engine pulls strong and is sound.

The car is warming up very fast from cold start.

No beading or intermix on the oil stick.

Could the headgasket be on its way out, allowing air in whenever it feels, or the head be bad? Again the engine runs strong and sound. thermostat has been put in and bled before by a pro.

[OutToWinPAHC]

I could repeat my self and say check the cooling system with a pressure tester, can compression..... Then if passes. test radiator cap, flush system, new OEM pump and t stat, and bleed the system.

[JKL1031]

All thats been done mann by my mechanic. He's looking at pressure checking the head next.

[drift_junkE]

First off, Thank you OutToWinPAHC for the help, I was a little lazy in the aspect of testing it, plus half of my local parts stores don't have a pressure tester to loan, have to order and so on. but anyways, it was the head gasket, I had the engine pressure tested and full disgnostics, and after it was pressure tested it ended up blowing the hole I had bigger and it bubbled the coolant like crazy as well as blowing quite a bit of white smoke.

JKL1031:
I would say that you have a head gasket going bad if you have replaced all those things, just my thoughts. possibly a cracked head, but its a little too inconsistent for that to be the case. given the situation I had, thats what I would look at. I had mine pressure tested and a full diagnostics done on my engine for $60, and then I found out the head gasket was the cause, I took the head to a machine shop and had it pressure tested to make sure it wasn't cracked and then had it resurfaced and it only cost me $107($50-pressure test, $50-resurfacing, $7-chemical disposal). I would check into a couple local machine shops to see what they have for prices.

I am actually in the middle of putting my engine together now, it was gonna cost me 1200 to have the work done at a shop, and since I have fully tore down and rebuilt a KA before, it is definitely easier for me to do. but I also have all the tools, torque wrenches, allen wrench sockets, and a large ratchet and socket kit for doing this. Either way, best of luck and I hope you can get it fixed at a low cost and soon.

[JKL1031]

Yea the engine was rebuilt by the previous owner, and if they didnt go back and get the head retightened, it could be a case, but thats what im looking into.

Could one of you give an idea of how hot the lower hose shouldbe compared to the top one?

[drift_junkE]

I have an aftermarket radiator, and I'd say mine is around 80 to the touch, and I think my stock radiator was about 90 to the touch, you should be able to hold it without it being too hot, but at the same time you should feel it slightly warm since the engine is still running warm coolant through it.

[JKL1031]

Hell so the way they diagnose rads these days are kinda strange since the bottom is suppose to be cooler. The last guy i took it too scanned it with a heat gun, and it was 180 top 75 bottom, which can mean its either not flowing, or really doing a good job of cooling

this sh suxx..I didnt even drive it with the new rad in once i saw how things were heating up, but the gauge never spiked, it actually wanted to go back down, and after talking to my mechanic who said he had partially checked the old rad, along with me checking the flow through the old rad looked ok running water through it. i ripped the tstat back out, but then was like s*** i didnt even drive it So i put it back in and will actually drive it tomorrow just in case, who knows.

[drift_junkE]

Thats about right for the lower and upper temp, I'm used to checking mine after a 20 min drive or so, but I also don't have an infrared temp gauge. As far as the flow rate, just by looks its hard to judge it, you will actually need a flow rate test done to accurately tell how its flowing. Though it is a good estimate, it could look like its flowing ok, but it may not be adequate of a flow for a running car to keep low enough temp.

[drift_junkE]

Thats about right for the lower and upper temp, I'm used to checking mine after a 20 min drive or so, but I also don't have an infrared temp gauge. As far as the flow rate, just by looks its hard to judge it, you will actually need a flow rate test done to accurately tell how its flowing. Though it is a good estimate, it could look like its flowing ok, but it may not be adequate of a flow for a running car to keep low enough temp.

[JKL1031]

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