Overheating problem.

[H-Man]

Heater core may be after condenser. If radiator has almost no flow, the AC cooling down the heater core will barely hurt the cooling capacity of the radiator but help the heater core dissipate heat from the coolant.

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by H-Man

Heater core may be after condenser. If radiator has almost no flow, the AC cooling down the heater core will barely hurt the cooling capacity of the radiator but help the heater core dissipate heat from the coolant.

I just replaced the radiator today and it has good flow I tested it.

[Baltothewolf]

Just got to work and burped the system again. 3 medium sized bubbles were released. I let it idle and cycled between A/C, heat and engine pulses for an additional 25-30 mins after that . No other bubbles surfaced.

[j12piprius]

Originally Posted by Baltothewolf

I just replaced the radiator today and it has good flow I tested it.

I think he meant good flow from the engine.

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by johnlvs2run

I think he meant good flow from the engine.

Ohhh... How do I run a block test with the engine warm...? I can't take the radiator cap off when the engine is hot obviously, but if I turn on the engine with the cap off, it slowly starts to overflow. I suppose a funnel over the filler neck would be the most appropriate action to take? I'm completely out of money to do anything right now... So it's gonna be 2 weeks before I can start doing any more tests that require me to buy things. My little bro gave me 40$ so I could rent the block tester again tomorrow, and I already have the testing fluid. I must return the money by the end of the day though.

[user removed]

Originally Posted by Baltothewolf

Oh the radiator was definitely part of the problem, I had my little bro cover up the upper radiator hose thingy and I put a hose in the top so water had to go out the bottom hose (this was with the radiator out) and water flow was really low when comparing it to the new one.

The fans come on at 206 I already tested it multiple times.

I have a ton of coolant laying around so I'm gonna bleed again here in a little bit. If that doesn't work I'm gonna pull the water pump off and inspect it.

I don't think the water pump is your problem. Before the impeller, which moves the coolant, would be damaged, the shaft bearings would have to be basically falling apart and the pump would be dumping coolant out past the seal which would be destroyed by the shaft wobbling and the bearings would be making an ungodly racket.

If your peak coolant temps are 224 then I would not let that really bother me unless the temp gauge was moving outside the operating range, especially in ambient temps close to 100 degrees.

I would consider running the car without the thermostat just long enough to see what difference that made in the operating temperature. My factory thermostat was 76.5 Centigrade marked which is 170 Farenheit, and that is exactly the middle of the temperature gauge.

My prime suspect would be the thermostat. I know you tested it but it might not be opening enough at maximum.

regards
Mech

[user removed]

Originally Posted by Baltothewolf

So I just took the car out for some A-B-A testing.

Run#1: heater on full but not blowing: 224F.
Run#2: Heater on full blast vent pulling in outside air: 213F.
Run#3: AC on full blast, but set to maximum heat: 208F.

Why... I don't understand these results help.

1. coolant flowing through the heater core but no air flow to remove the heat.
2. air flowover the heater core which basically is adding another small radiator to your cooling system.
3. All cooling fans running which provides more air flow over the radiator, what xyz jerry rigged when he could not properly diagnose and repair his system.

I'm guessing the 224 temp was when it was pretty hot outside driving to work.

What was the temp under the same circumstances when ambient temps were much lower coming home at night?

regards
Mech

[user removed]

RE block test.
Starting the engine cold with the cap removed. You should see the coolant slowly expand and over flow, that's normal. That over flow normally goes into the recovery bottle and the level rises. When the engine cools off the level drops.

Totally normal.

Abnormal is not being able to bleed the system until there are no bubbles and-or bubbles in the recovery bottle after the system has been completely bled. Those bubbles indicate a failure in the head gasket and those bubbles are from the combustion chamber.

regards
mech

[Baltothewolf]

Mechanic, the A-B-A testing was done at night. Earlier yesterday when I ran an errand when it was hot outside, I got stuck in the middle Lane and the guy wouldn't let me over to pull over. By the time I managed to get pulled over, I was at 242F.

I'll run it without the thermostat when I get home on Thursday. I'm heading to L.A today after work (I work 10-6).

Oh I forgot to mention, when it's dark outside, thus ~90F instead of ~100 and no sun beating on the car, it's hard to get it to overheat. It's possible and it will if I run it to hard for to long (as I did in my tests) but under normal conditions it takes a while.

[user removed]

Run it without the thermostat and post the results here. It should run colder that it was designed to run especially with a brand new radiator. It might not run hot enough for the heat to work properly in cooler evening temps.

THAT YOU HAD TO REPLACE (RADIATOR) IF YOUR GOAL IS TO PROPERLY REPAIR THE CAR.

Prime suspect is the thermostat. It can't hurt to take it out temporarily. If it runs too cold don't put THAT thermostat back in the car. Get an OE Honda t-stat not some crap after market that might destroy the engine.

regards
mech