This forum really helped alot

I started removing the AC components this weekend, but didn't get far. I discharged the refrigerant and cracked open a couple lines, but didn't have time to do any more.

I also did a compression test today:
Cylinder 4: 180
Cylinder 3: 165
Cylinder 2: 180
Cylinder 1: 180

I'm hoping that I just need to re-torque my head studs. Hopefully I'll get some more stuff done next weekend.

I finally got the A/C stuff out (except for the compressor), and it was kind of a bi***, but it's all out. I'll tackle the compressor another time.

I'm re-locating the external oil cooler to in front of the radiator where the condenser used to be, so I drained all the oil. The oil looked kind of like milk chocolate. Then I figured I would drain the catch can while I'm at it, and it looked like coolant coming out!!! Then at the end the oily stuff looked pretty milky. It appears I have a leaky head gasket

Do you guys think this could just be from some of the head bolts needing to be re-torqued?? I really don't want to do a 3rd headgasket on this stupid motor.

I guess my plan is to re-torque the head studs, fill it with oil and do another compression test to see if cylinder #3 gets back up to 180.

Good luck bro. i hope your right . but if your not, you might wanna check the head and block deck surfaces to see if either is warped . before putting on another headgasket.

Thanks. They should be straight. The block is brand new and was decked. The head was rebuilt when the motor went in and was also decked. This is less than 5,000 miles ago

Jeff, sorry for the late response (text me that you sent me a PM next time!). In my experience it has been the stock radiator that is the culprit. I've had similar problems running anywhere from 200-225*F with slimlines on all of the time via dsmlink, ducts, you name it, etc. Only when I switched to an aftermarket radiator with a single 13"FAL fan did temps finally drop down to the 190 range.

Ironically I'm working on a member's car right now and I had to log onto tuners to find out the 2g fan wiring diagram.

TuRBoTaLooN said:

I did not check the temp of the hoses, but I could see coolant moving with the rad cap off.

I have an aluminum radiator from Punishment racing, as I mentioned in the original post.
I double checked the fans and they are pulling air through, not pushing. I accidentally wired them the wrong way at first, then switched it.

I have a big front mount intercooler. That may be part of the problem, but I'm not even pushing the car, just cruising around town.

I had thought about the headgasket possibly leaking. I plan on doing a compression check tomorrow, but I didn't see any signs of the HG pushing coolant.

My other thoughts are getting more powerful fans. Mishimoto sells a kit where the fans pull 1300cfm EACH! Also, I plan on changing out my crappy ebay front mount with a good core from ETS as well as removing all the A/C components to free up some air flow.

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If you were talking to the OP

AlaskanDsm said:

If you were talking to the OP

Click to expand...

hah, I guess you can tell I was thread-skimming.

Jeff, are you judging your coolant temps via DSMLink or an actual separate gauge? Also do a leak-down test while you're doing your compression test.

blcknspo0ln said:

hah, I guess you can tell I was thread-skimming.

Jeff, are you judging your coolant temps via DSMLink or an actual separate gauge? Also do a leak-down test while you're doing your compression test.

Click to expand...

Thanks Tom...no worries about the late response...I don't have much time to work on the car these days. I just re-torqued the head studs and will do a compression test first to see if cylinder #3 gets back up to 180. If not, I'll do a leakdown test to see where it is leaking.

I'm also wondering if maybe the coolant sensor for the ecu is off? My aftermarket Prosport gauge reads like 10-20 degrees lower than what DSMLink spits out. I just assumed my prosport gauge is poop.

I really don't think the 15 psi loss from cyl 3 is going to cause your cooling issue. Do a leakdown, though. It may potentially identify any coolant passing between the gasket somewhere.

I was going to mention the coolant temp sensor as well, I know autozone and the like always stock them. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the prosport may be more accurate; at least in my case my autometer was.

Copy from my post on another forum:

I have some results!

First and foremost, great news! After re-torquing the head studs, compression is back to normal in all cylinders! Each cylinder read 180 or greater!

Second, I used an IR thermometer to attempt to measure temps in/around each cylinder and they varied as the car warmed up but were roughly the same. All spark plugs looked normal, so it appears that combustion in each chamber is as it should be. I also noticed that the car seemed to idle smoother now with the head studs re-torqued. At first the car was idling at around 20:1 AFR, but after I revved it a bit, it went back closer to 14.7:1. I'm thinking this was because the throttle plate may have been stuck partially open from the boost leak test I did yesterday.

I also used the IR thermometer to measure the coolant temp and compared them to both my Prosport gauge and what DSMLink was spitting out. I read the temp on the water neck where the sensor for the aftermarket gauge is, and on the thermostat housing where the ecu sensor is. In general, the aftermarket gauge read slightly lower than what the thermometer read, and the ecu sensor read slightly higher. Now since I was reading temps from the outside of the housing, I would have to imagine the coolant was slightly hotter on the inside. For example, at one point the prosport gauge read 160, but the thermometer read about 173. At roughly the same time, the ecu sensor read 190 and the thermometer read 181. So I have to imagine the ecu sensor is more accurate.

Also, when the car was at about operating temp, I noticed that there was some very light smoke and/or steam coming out of the breather filter of the catch can. I'm not sure if this was because it was very cold in the garage and the stuff going through it was hot, but when I removed the oil fill cap, I saw the same stuff. It didn't smell like anything and was a clear/whit-ish color. I opened the catch can valve at the bottom and a little watery stuff came out along with some sludgy oil/coolant looking stuff. I am not sure if this is good, bad, or normal, so if anyone has any thoughts, I'd very much like to hear them.

Lastly, I feel like a complete 'tard and you can all feel free to bust on me. After having my fans re-wired to pull instead of push, I somehow managed to screw it up! I only had the passenger side fan on the car and connected, but when it went on, I noticed it was pushing hot air through the radiator towards the front of the car instead of pulling it away! I'll have to re-wire and check again.

So my plan is to re-build the throttle body with new seals and clean it up, re-locate the external oil cooler, run new SS lines to it, re-wire the fans (again) and put it all back together and see if can keep normal temps. Between being cold out now and removing the A/C stuff, I think it should run cooler than before.

blcknspo0ln said:

I really don't think the 15 psi loss from cyl 3 is going to cause your cooling issue. Do a leakdown, though. It may potentially identify any coolant passing between the gasket somewhere.

I was going to mention the coolant temp sensor as well, I know autozone and the like always stock them. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the prosport may be more accurate; at least in my case my autometer was.

Click to expand...

Thanks Tom, but since compression is back up, I don't think I'm going to do a leakdown test right now. If I still have issues after putting it all back together, I will do a leakdown to look for more answers.

Also, it looks like the prosport gauge is LESS accurate which is not a surprise to me. Prosport gauges are cheap, so I have to imagine their sensors are not of the same quality / caliber as the Autometer ones. I plan on replacing my prosport gauges with autometer ones, but it is a low priority right now.

This is a very heplful sight, but sometimes questions come up that a mitsu themselves would need to answer. I like many people have gone through extended lengths to get lower coolant temps, which now in witer the car runs too cool. Fact of the matter; the 1g service manuels say the t stat dos'nt fully open till like 203 (can't remember the exact #). Which tells me that mitsue intended our cars to reach these temps. Also the ac cut off switch dosn't come on till upper 230s to lower 240s according to serv manuel. This make me think that mitsu dosn't have a problem with engine temps under upper 230s, because that is when they start trying to prevent higher temps. Our cars are road going cars not race cars (meaning 200 plus may be high for all out racing but okay for daily driving and some occasional spirited driving). Frome my experience it takes a lot to get a dsm to run under 200 with ambient temps of above 70 deg. You shouldn't have to redesign the entire car and cooling system to get it to where we think it should be, but what do I know I am not a 4g63t engineer. Sorry about the long post.

I guess that makes sense. Part of the problem may just be me being neurotic about the car since the engine rebuild since this is my first rebuild ever. I used to judge temps based on the stock gauge on the cluster which no longer works, so I've been relying on DSMLink and my aftermarket gauge. Either way, I'm hoping to see lower temps now when it's all buttoned up.

I slapped this baby back together this morning in the freezing cold! I managed to fix the wiring for the stock coolant temp gauge in the dash, re-wired the fans to pull instead of push, hooked up the oil cooler again (since I didn't get new SS hose to re locate it), and put the bumper back on. I let it warm up and took it for a drive. I got some gas and even went through the carwash since it was filthy! The temps danced between 193 and 196 the entire time, even with a few pulls to redline! Currently it's just running off the ewg, so it was only like 11-12psi, but it felt strong! The only thing I noticed was a small oil drip from one of the SS lines at the OFH, but I have to admit I somewhat half-assed the oil cooler because I know I'm going to re locate it anyway. So I guess between re torquing the head studs and removing the A/C stuff, it seems to run much cooler. Granted it's like 20 degrees out, but it seems much better.

Hopefully soon I can get some new SS lines to relocate the oil cooler, and get the necessary parts to rebuild the TB, then she'll be ready to go!