over heating every 20 miles....why??

[91chitowntalon]

ok my car over heats every 20 miles or so. Here is what I am working with i have a brand new stock 6 bolt i just put in, arp studs and a 4 layer cometic headgasket. The motor had a new waterpump on it. I have a massive front mount on the car so I installed one more puller fan, I have both my stock fan and my slim line hooked up for ignition on status.
When the car over heats I have to pull over and let a ass load of steam out of the system, mind you it is not leaking externally, no coolant in the oil, no oil in the coolant and my over flow stays at the same level. I know it isnt the intercooler blocking too much air cause the motor didnt over heat before the motor swap. I even tried running without the thermo in and it still over heats. I have done alot of searching and tryed retorquing my headstuds to 104. Still overheats!!!! Any advise will help guys, just want to get away from 230 temps every 20 mins.

 

[ScottH]

Could be a few things...

Could be that the headgasket isn't sealing properly. Have you torqued the headstuds down in the correct torque pattern?

Also it could be the thermostat.

 

[turboglenn]

Are your fans coming on? That's the first thing to check

 

[1gDSM4g63]

Could be your thermostat or your water pump and update your profile so we know you have.

 

[oVaBoost]

You either have a bad radiator or thermostat thats what could be wrong.

 

[91chitowntalon]

thanks for the replies guys. Yes both of my fans are working, and i dont have a thermostat in right now at all. I retorqued the head studs down to 104 in the correct pattern. Wouldnt you think that refilling my system with a half gallon of water ever 20 miles of driving that there would be no air bubbles??? Oh and sorry about the profile (updated)

Thanks
DeMoss

 

[AlaskanDsm]

wait... you are putting in a half gallon of water every 20 minutes??
So you are letting all the steam out of the radiator and refilling it everytime it overheats?
I just want to make sure that I am getting the story straight. Also just double check that the water pump is turning while the car is running.

 

[meliketoball]

thanks for the replies guys. Yes both of my fans are working, and i dont have a thermostat in right now at all. I retorqued the head studs down to 104 in the correct pattern. Wouldnt you think that refilling my system with a half gallon of water ever 20 miles of driving that there would be no air bubbles??? Oh and sorry about the profile (updated)

Thanks
DeMoss

Go buy a thermostat and done, fixed.

 

[rock1t]

Make sure the belt isn't slipping on the water pump. Plus run some form of antifreeze in your car, if all you use is water, put a bottle of water wetter in it (its at any parts store its bright pink).. problem being with water, is when it gets hot it tends to boil out and do this weird thing called evaporate..

also did you get your head milled/checked when you installed your new motor? or was it a new head?

 

[iaarmyduck]

yes i let the steam out and refill about a half gallon every 20 miles. I bought the motor from a friend and him and his instructor at the college he went put it together and he said that everything was to spec. I am blowing no smoke. Would just throwing in a thermostat fix my problem or would it just over heat faster???

 

[AlaskanDsm]

Potentially, the thermostat could fix your problem. But I agree with rock1t becasue water will tend to just evaporate and turn to steam as you said which actually gets much hotter than the point of boiling as it has already become a gas. I would try running a mix of coolant and water... or use what he was talking about. Water wetter I believe?

 

[JusMX141]

....i dont have a thermostat in right now at all.

My buddy's father builds 1000+hp drag race engines. I recently witnessed him installing a 160* thermostat in a customer's street car engine and I asked "Why even install a thermostat?"

His response was that without a thermostat in place the water is able to flow too freely. With a stock or somewhat-stock cooling system, the water flows too unrestricted through the system at higher RPM, and the radiator cannot properly cool the water.....causing overheating issues.

Now this isn't the case on cars with race radiators and high performance pumps that are DESIGNED to be used with no stat, but on daily drivers the thermostat is in place for a reason.


If you install a new thermostat and the car continues to overheat, your radiator is probably clogged with scale from mixing tap water with coolant.

 

[1gDSM4g63]

Hmmm... good to know. I found it quite peculiar as why everybody had a switch to control the fan when they have a big FMIC restricting air flow than to have the fan run all the time.

 

[Defiant]

1. Does the motor have a new water pump?
2. Above fifteen miles an hour, a fan does nothing. It cannot pull in the amount of air you're already driving through.
3. DSM cooling systems will not hold air. Three heat/cool cycles and they're purged on their own. You can do this when filling the system by squeezing the lower radiator hose.
4. Do not run without a thermostat, on any vehicle build since 1980.
5. Do you have an expansion tank on your cooling system ("overflow" tank)?