My car overheated due to a bad hose. I replaced the head gasket, but the old one didn´t show any signs of damage. I sent the head to a machine shop because i knew it was warped, and they removed some of it. To the point that the head was below specs. I knew i could not use a stock height gasket, so i ordered a custom cometic one .076¨ to compensate for the loss in the head. Long story short, i installed everything and the car still overheats. I don´t see any coolant dripping nor i have any smoke coming out from my tailpipe. But the water boils pretty bad even after 10-15 minutes idling. What else can i try? im not running coolant due to the testing, just water to see how it goes. Only other thing left i think would be a warped block? i know they are hard to get warped, but the water pump seems to be working fine. If its not a warped block, could it be a cracked head? or clogged cooling system? I need help on this since, i can´t pinpoint the problem. BTW, im not running a thermostat, since i live in a tropical country, and i´ve never used one before. Also, there´s no oil in coolant nor coolant in oil, and im not throwing water to the overflow bottle. Thanks.

I would definetely try putting a thermostat in and putting in some coolant, and go from there for trouble shooting.

Well, there are two things you can do,
Take off both radiator hoses, stick a garden hose on the top hose connections on both sides, after you take your tstat out.
If there's good flow, you can pressurize the system to see if the headgasket is leaking.
Other than that, can you see coolant flowing with the radiator cap off?
First things first, I would take out the Tstat.

As i said, i run no Thermostat and ive never used one. Adding coolant wont do any good either. Not sure Rob10_99 about your explanation. Can you rephrase? thanks. I can see water flowing, but when the car is at normal operating temp, and i remove the cap, water comes out with a lot of force, i´ve actually burned myself couple of times. I know that it should not be doing this at operating temp, i should be able to remove the cap normally. If i let it sit for a little more, or drive it just 1 or 2 miles, it goes past the middle in my dash.

Check out your fans, do they come on once it reaches the operating temp.?

Try putting in a thermostat, see if it will help a little.

do your fans work? check the radiator for leaks? could be a bad radiator

My both fans are wired together and spinning in the right direction. What benefit would i get by adding a thermostat? none, actually when a car overheats thats the first troubleshooting step, to remove it and replace the cap. I´ve done that. The problem is elsewhere.

You radiator cap itself can be shot, if he cannot let the pressure rise to 14 psi or so, the water start to boil and then rise the temp, but... do your radiator fan is working?? if not: that the thermo fan switch located on the lower radiator tank or might be the relay in the fuse box or the fuse itself located on the positive battery terminal

sorry too slow to read

ya its odd that its overheating without a thermostat. could have a serious problem. possibly be a bad heater core?

have you lokked for your rad fin to not be clogged??

heater core might be the trouble, something is definitly not letting the coolant flow as it should be

No heater core, i live in a tropical country, no need for it. I don´t even have A/C. Ill check if the radiator is clogged, i tried also another cap though. Any other suggestions before i pull the engine apart and send the block to the machine shop? as i said, the head was resurfaced. Thanks.

ok its good, but dont pull the engine apart. for sure its just a simple thing that cause you that trouble and it 100% sure its not the block. check for rad cap first, and for rad clogged, and make sure your fan are sucking the air into the engine bay and not pushing it out

Check your hoses to the radiator overflow and all your hoses. I once blew a head gasket and the plastic nipple the hose went over melted to the inside of the hose causing a restriction. Same issue you are having it sounds like. I cut the hose down and put it back on with a little ingenuity as I was out in bfe as usual when things go bad.

Also the water pump can be going out. As in getting stripped out. It would look like its flowing but it wont be flowing at full spec.

Ok, im going to try following your advice, its just sounds weird to me that the radiator got clogged or a hose got clogged out of nowhere. The water pump, was working fine, and it was new, not much of use since i bought the car, but maybe heat damaged it, i dont know. Thanks. Ill try those things and if it doesn´t help, i guess i might need to pull the engine apart. Even if the cometic gasket is not sealing properly, i should not be able to push that much water out of the rad cap at idle, with so much force at operating temp. Thanks.

Done the search already.

Wife was driving hom from work when car overheated. When pouring water in it would come out near the water pump area. Took it to the shop, replaced water pump, timing belt, and radiator because they said it was leaking. Picked it up yesterday drove it about 8 miles fine. Parked it. After work started it and saw antifreeze coming out from under the car. Made it home. Realized at high rpms engine would cool. In gear or not. Upon getting home changed the radiator cap and thermostat. Filled it up. No leaks seen. Took it around the block fine. Parked it and temp starts rising. Turn off the car and hear girgiling from the plastic resovoir.

Extra notes.... Car is now a little hard to start after sitting. Not sure if its related. Heater has not worked since I got the car. Live in Houston, Tx so didnt bother me. Have had the car for about 3 months. After getting the car back from the shop CEL Cylinder 1 misfire code. When cap is off and car is cool if you try to start the car with the radiator cap off it wants to shoot water out. Seems to never cyle to add more coolant. Checked the oil and no milky substance. No water or smoke from the tailpipe. Both fans do come on.

Could the heater core be the culprit to all of this or is it more serious???

Any help would be greatly appeciated.

bigdog225 said:

Done the search already.

Wife was driving hom from work when car overheated. When pouring water in it would come out near the water pump area. Took it to the shop, replaced water pump, timing belt, and radiator beacause they said it was leaking. Picked it up yesterday drove it about 8 miles fine. Parked it. Started it and saw antifreeze coming out from under the car.

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First mistake: Not bringing it back to the shop that fixed it. Any repair should be tested and gone over throughly to make sure whatever they did fixed the overheating condition. Second where exactly is the coolant leaking from?

bigdog225 said:

Made it home. Realized at high rpms engine would cool. In gear or not. Changed the radiator cap and thermostat. Filled it up. No leaks scene. took it around the block fine.

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The tension on the water pump belt could be too little, check that. After changing the cap +thermostat did you squeeze the lower radiator hose to burp the system of excessive air? DSM's cooling systems do help remove air from the system but it will take some time to do this. Start the car up with the cap off and engine cold. Warm up the car to operating temp while squeezing the lower hose to help remove air from the system.

bigdog225 said:

Parked it and temp starts rising.

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This is normal, the coolant isn't being circulated so it heats up, it'll take some time for the temperature to actually drop.

bigdog225 said:

Turn off the car and hear girgiling from the plastic resovoir.

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This is also normal, the temperature of the coolant is rising after shutdown so whatever excess coolant is not necessary in the system expands and goes to the coolant catch can.

bigdog225 said:

After getting the car back from the shop CEL Cylinder 1 misfire code. When cap is off and car is cool if you try to start the car with the radiator cap off it wants to shoot water out. Seems to never cyle to add more coolant. Checked the oil and no milky substance. No water or smoke from the tailpipe. Both fans do come on.

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Again bring it back to the shop. Did it happen on the drive home from the shop? Or immediately once you got in the car from the shop's parking lot?

bigdog225 said:

Could the heater core be the culprit to all of this or is it more serious???

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Is the heater core leaking?

Try to be specific when asking questions and with replys, do your best with spelling and grammar to help us understand better as well. You may have searched but all of these I'm sure have been covered before in other topics. You can look at how others are helping to keep engine coolant temperatures as low as possible. Such as creating extra ducting to the radiator, running a switch to the fans, aftermarket radiators, and sealing the edges of the radiator. We just ask you to please search instead of flooding the forum with the same topic over and over again, but we are always willing to help.

You can download firefox which has a built in spelling program in the web browser.

Remember: Vague Description = Vague Answer

Thanks for answering but was it really needed to be such a jackass about it. I read for an hour before I posted. Saw several overheating issues. None that looked like mine regarding all the parts I have replaced and still having the issue. So I thought if I posted and someone more intelligent about cars then myself could help then great. The car will be dropped back off at the shop today for them to have a look after I get out of work. No leak from the heater core but I was thinking it may be clogged from what I read and that maybe it is causing the issue. But me being curious and frustrated with the issue I looked to the board for some help. Thanks pal. Much..... a peace e a ted

How hot did the car get? Just the reading out of curiosity.

So after the overheat your getting a misfire on cylinder 1? Water coming out of thermostat housing with the cap off? You should see if flowing but it shouldn't be coming over the top too much. <--this makes me think HG or warped head.

The shop should do a compression test. Then if thats ok a leak down test. Also see if they can pressurize the coolant system and see if the pressure drops off. Your cap also might still be bad even if new sometimes you get ones made on Monday.

Your heater core being blocked however will not affect the rest of the cooling system. Are your hoses top and bottom two different temps?

How hot did the car get? Just the reading out of curiosity.
When the wife was driving it home she realized it when it was smoking under the hood.
So after the overheat your getting a misfire on cylinder 1?
No actually not til I got it out of the shop.

Water coming out of thermostat housing with the cap off? You should see if flowing but it shouldn't be coming over the top too much. <--this makes me think HG or warped head.
It surges out. Like pulling it in then spitting it out . High enough to hit the hood while placed up. I never actually see the thermostat open and take it in. I think it spits it out before it gets time to open.

The shop should do a compression test. Then if thats ok a leak down test. Also see if they can pressurize the coolant system and see if the pressure drops off. Your cap also might still be bad even if new sometimes you get ones made on Monday.
Im thinking not the cap since the old and new seem to make no difference.
Your heater core being blocked however will not affect the rest of the cooling system. Are your hoses top and bottom two different temps?
Not sure. Ill check that.

I would do a compression check on cylinder number one. You've got a misfire and bubbling fluid coming from your cap sounds like compression is making it into your cooling system.

Ask your wife how high on the gauge it read, but if she is anything like mine who runs out of gas on a weekly basis I bet she never noticed.

If cylinder one is leaking compression then whats the fix? I'm sure the needle got maxed out.

Head decked and new Head Gasket. Sounds like the head got warped. While the head is off you should plan for a new timing belt tensioners oil pump and water pump. Then you should be good to go for another 60k.