The Infamous Headgasket

[Jrock11]

Ok everyone I have a simple "what do you think question." Also by simple I mean I am not sure . So my car seems to always get really hot, the coolant temperature never rises above normal and yes the sensor works fine. However, whenever I turn my car off and immediately pop the hood it's like a stove I can probably cook an egg on the heat shield no lie. It gets so hot that the condenser fan closest to the turbo has melted like an ice cream cone on summer day in Vegas! Headgasket There isn't any smoke coming out of my exhaust, compression is all good on all cylinders, like I stated before coolant temperature is normal, pressure tested and no leaks however I am losing coolant I only notice because I have to add water every so often. As far as I can see there is no coolant in my oil and no oil and my coolant. So, what do you think

 

[-red97rum-]

Does your car still have the lower heat shield around the turbo? Does your car still have a catalytic converter? I was thinking maybe your converter is plugged up, restricting exhaust flow and causing all kinds of heat at the turbine and downpipe. You would usually be able to tell from the loss in power and change in exhaust note if that were the case.

I wouldn't think it's because of the heat shield as I ran without mine for a long time and never had a problem.

 

[jmartinez1228]

How big is that intercooler? It may be restricting air flow to the radiator causing a build up of heat.
You can try switching to slim fans. I did that on my 1g and underhood temps dropped down alot since the fans spin alot faster then the stock fan does.
It doesnt sound like your headgasket is blown. Much more like your turbo is putting out alot of heat.
I swapped out the stock thermostat with one that ran a little cooler and that also helped but it took a longer time for my car to warm up.

 

[brian9397gsx]

I agree sounds like your missing something like a heat sheild or your cats plugged.

 

[Jrock11]

No heat shield for the turbo and I'm not sure about the cat. When I bought the car it was straight piped but thanks to good ol Cali I put a cat on it so the the cat is only a year but it is an unusually small one come to think of it.

My FMIC is about 2 and a quarter or maybe a half but no more than that

 

[brian9397gsx]

throw a heat sheild on it, I know I've seen egt's as high as 1450 on a pull and that was on a slow reacting egt guage.

 

[Jrock11]

Ya I'm sure the heat shield would help lower the temp and also help with my melting fan but what about the loss of coolant? I pressure tested and no leaks.

 

[phunny]

Cat. The heat has to go somewhere, and if it's too small...

 

[Jrock11]

It does make sense thanks a lot

 

[ssicb]

you dont need a cat. just move to a better state!

 

[jmartinez1228]

Take a old cat, pry off the outside shell, have someone weld it over your straight pipe and the cops wont know the difference. i did that on my car and only had to put my cat on for emissions.

 

[4G63Crossfire]

Is there any signs of coolant leaking from the water pump? I had a car that was leaking coolant only when hot and driving from the water pump seal. It didn't leak at idle until the water pump seal completely failed.

 

[Calan]

First of all, you can't trust the factory temperature gauge. It's basically a dummy light in the form of a needle.

Second, you may want to do a leak-down test to see if you are leaking coolant into a cylinder. Here's a couple of articles that may help:

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/articles-engine-fuel/338152-compression-leak-down-testing.html
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/articles-engine-fuel/336535-do-you-have-blown-head-gasket.html

EDIT:

I just saw that you pressure tested the coolant system. What kind of test did you do?

I've seen a radiator that leaked, but only when it got hot and expanded. The coolant was seeping out of it and would immediately evaporate, so there was no easily-visible sign of the leak. When it was cold it would hold pressure.

 

[MY1GDSM]

when was the last time you checked your base timing? maybe your timing is retarded a bunch?

Otherwise if you have a Cat like said above I'd check it out... Unless your pushing coolant I'm doubting it's the H/G...

 

[-red97rum-]

I don't know why I didn't notice that you mentioned you were losing coolant. You definitely need to figure out what's going on with that.

The reason I was thinking the cat may be plugged or the like is because I don't imagine coolant temps being able to melt the radiator fan..

 

[ztotheigg]

Have you checked your thermostat?

 

[derektcasey]

It sounds like an exhaust restriction or timing for sure. I ran all last summer, no heatshields what-so-ever, full stock exhaust (including CAT), over 90 for temps outside (even a 10 hour round trip to the Shootout) my fans never saw any melting at all.

 

[Calan]

It sounds like an exhaust restriction or timing for sure.

Except that doesn't explain why he's losing coolant, unless it's just a coincidence.

 

[DSM teen]

Does your exhaust smell sweet at all? Because coolant will do that... To increase air flow into your radiator I suggest removing your a/c condenser... DSM's don't need a/c, if it gets too hot inside just role down the window.

 

[derektcasey]

Well CRAP!! I didn't see that he was losing coolant either. I agree with smelling your exhaust and checking for the nice white smoke. Unfortunately, pressure tests don't always reveal issues as sometimes the HG and or leak itself may not be present until the motor and coolant are hot.

 

[MY1GDSM]

Like I stated before coolant temperature is normal, pressure tested and no leaks however I am losing coolant I only notice because I have to add water every so often.

I missed that as well must have been the way the OP said it...

 

[stayflalfy]

Sounds just like mine did when the cat was plugged