Thread: still over heating

im about to blow this stupid ass car up. at this point im freaking lost and don't know what else to do. some of you may know i was having an over heating problem. ok i bled the system a million times, i checked the coolant for hydrocarbons (came up clean), i checked for leaks and found that the rad i just put in was leaking very little. it wouldn't drip on the floor. i thought it was a timing issue so i synced my timing on the ems. right now im running about 22 degrees of timing at 15psi. is this too much or what? i just changed the radiator today (again) and the damn thing is still overheating. i keep thinking its a head gasket cuz it only get hot when im full throttle. like it's pushing air into the system and than out the cap. i drove it for 3 miles right after i bled the system again and it got up to 200 deg. by the time i got home it got up to 215 if i drive it normal it stays at about 190 and takes muuuuuch longer to get hot. i've done a compression check twice...150 across the board. please help mt out with ideas cuz im about to stick a grenade in it and watch it blow up.

yea i put in a 180 deg

well i think i found the problem. im 100% sure it's a head gasket now. this was not the original problem but it is now. must have blown one of the times it got hot. i was adding fluid today to do some more tests and started the car to cycle out the air pockets. well now im getting bubbles while it's idling and i never was before. i also put a bottle hooked up to the overflow nipple on the t-stat housing and it was pushing fluid out it idle with the cap on. im having the system pressure tested right now at a shop down the street. looks like ill be tearing into my engine again this weekend. yay :evil:

well looks like i was right. it's a head gasket. i took my car to a local shop here and had them check it out. they pretty much checked everything possible of why it was over heating. they did a leak down on the cooling system and found no leaks. they did a leak down on the cylinders (at my request) and said there was about 5% leak down on all 4 cylinders. after doing all their tests they came up with nothing and said they cant find the problem. so i bring the car home unsatisfied and decide to do my own tests. i was still getting bubbles at the rad cap while idling. i took decided to re-torque the head since i put it together not too long ago. torque specs checked out. so i decide to do my own leak down test on the cylinders. i took apart my comp tester to where i had just the hose and hooked it up to my compressor which puts out 120psi. i pressurized each cylinder bringing them up to tdc. # 1 and 4 cylinders are both leaking onto the cooling system. i remeber now why i never want to take my car to shops. what a bunch of idiots. the mechanic comes and talks to me while i was at the shop and tells me he did everything he knows and that he's been doing this for 25 years. he starts telling me how it might be because of my timing or afr. i tell him the timing is at 10 deg and the afr is right around 11.5/1. then he tells me he doesn't know if that's good or bad. then he goes on to tell me that he doesn't know what half the parts on my car do. i wish he would have told me that before i let him touch it. anyways im just glad i finally found the damn problem. the head should be off the car tomorrow, then it's off to comptech to get checked and resurfaced if needed. i might be able to actually come out to a meet finally. lol

they charged me half price which came out to $90. the shop is good, just that mechanic didn't know what he was doing. the only reason i took it there was because i didn't have a cooling system leak-down tester. i figured if im going to have them do that , they might as well just check everything. and yes i already have some arp's.