Overheating! Checked everything I can think of

[EagleTalonTim]

As the title says, I have been having a strange overheating problem for the past 2 months or so. After a 45 min to 1 hour calm drive, the center of my manifold is glowing red hot and my coolant temp reaches 220 to 230 degrees. The strange thing is that I am not losing coolant or oil, there is no coolant in the oil, and no oil in the coolant. I just went for a test drive around the block (4 miles) and within 2 minutes of hard driving, the coolant temp already hit 230. When I got back, the coolant lines were hot and pressurized.

So far, I have checked :
Water Pump : Replaced 1 month ago thinking this was the problem
Radiator : Replaced 4 months ago (stock).
Thermostat : Tried 3 different ones (160, 180, 192) Fail Safe
Radiator Cap : Replaced with water pump, 16psi
Cooling Fans : 2 slim fans constantly running when key is on. Both work.
Radiator Hoses : All brand new and clean.
Coolant Mixture : 40:60
Turbo Shaft Play (Evo 3 16g) : very little side to side play, about 1/16" to 1/8" in/out play.
Intake Pipes : All spotless. No oil or coolant.
Exhaust : Not Clogged.
Compression (Warm Engine) : #1 - 140psi, #2 - 135psi, #3 - 140psi, #4 - 145psi
FMIC : Clean all the way through. I have had this installed for over a year.

I do not have a wideband O2, but I use my datalogger for checking fuel. During normal driving, my O2 reading goes from .05v to .75v constantly. When I go WOT, it hits .84v.

This problem started happening after the car sat for 3 to 4 months while I waited for parts to rebuild the bottom end. I replaced the timing belt and pulleys, did the BS removal, replaced the oil pump, and replaced all rod and main bearings with ACL bearings. The car does smoke a little at WOT, but it is black smoke. I had been working on the fuel system awhile back, but got tied up in other things that needed to be fixed.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! I really need it on this problem!

 

[johnmarines]

have you triple checked the timing???

 

[dsmspickdad]

Recheck the timing!

 

[EagleTalonTim]

Forgot to add that to my list. I have checked the timing about 5 times just to ensure. I even pulled the timing belt off and spent 2 hours getting it perfectly aligned. Base timing is set at 5 degrees BTDC. This is checked with a timing light and chalk on the timing mark....not my datalogger. With the timing belt covers off, everything lines up perfect. I even used a straight edge to ensure the cams were aligned properly as well.

 

[MichaelSuch]

Compression seems a little low. 137 psi is the service limit I believe. I would do a leakdown test and see where exactly you're losing compression, it could be a blown headgasket and that will cause you to overheat. Are you having to add any coolant?

Leakdown test

Is the waterpump oem or autoparts store? I know some of the autoparts store pumps don't flow quite as much as the OEM and they tend to run a little hotter.

Try this

 

[LiquidX]

I would like to know what boost level you are running and on what turbo. If it's too high you will cause timing to be pulled which would cause combustion to happen later heating up the turbo much more than normal.

Or your AFR mixture could be very lean.

 

[EagleTalonTim]

I am currently running 16psi on my Evo 3 16g. I have my ECU chip programmed from DSMChips.com for the 590 injectors and 2g MAF. I also have my SAFC set on 0 all the way across. Any higher and the black smoke is thicker. For low throttle, it smokes black a very small amount when the engine is cool. Timing at WOT hits 15 degrees and no lower. I have also done several boost leak tests with very soapy water to ensure I did not miss anything.

The water pump is an OEM replacement from Oreilly's. I have used the same brand / type water pump on all of my DSM's with no problems at all.

So far, after about 1,000 miles of driving, I have not had to add any coolant.

 

[LunarEclips]

Obviously you're running extremely lean. Are all your injectors firing corectly? Maybe a stuck closed injector?? Hows fuel pressure? Maybe the Fuel filter is clogged??

 

[EagleTalonTim]

All the injectors are firing correctly. Fuel pressure is set at 45psi with my AFPR. Fuel filter is about 6 months old. I only buy 93 oct at Exxon as well. The strange thing is how can I be running lean if I am getting black smoke out of the exhaust and getting 16mph? My fuel trims are also mid 90's or upper 80's. To me, this would mean that the ECU is trying to remove fuel because of rich conditions. No knock either when doing 1, 2, or 3 gear pulls. I hardly go WOT in OD.

Also..... I have not messed with any fuel settings or tuning during the time that the overheating started. Before, the hottest my engine would get was 196 degrees.

 

[LiquidX]

Did you recently put a FMIC on? I'm usually around 220* when I drive.

 

[EagleTalonTim]

"FMIC : Clean all the way through. I have had this installed for over a year."

ok, I am kind of thinking it may be my head gasket. If I do get a head gasket, I want to get a good one. I also want to install ARP head studs as well. My HP goal is 500hp. Are there any recommendations on what head gasket to get? I have heard about copper head gaskets but are they worth it? If so, how do I know how many layers I should use or is it a set number?