mrgarciainc

sorry to hear it was your HG. What kind of overheat problems were you having? I have been having some overheating problems myself and was hoping its not a HG. I just bleed out my coolant system hoping that will solve my problem. Mine is not all the time. Only happens periodically. Im hoping the air in the system was not allowing the tstat to open. I just bled it today and did a test run and everything looks good. It was only one test drive though so we will see how the next one goes. Good luck

AusS2000

Mine was very intermittent. Would be fine for a 45 minute drive to my GF's and back then would overheat within minutes on a short drive.

I'm guessing this was because it was slowly accumulating air and then blocking the thermostat.

Sarek

Was your coolant level decreasing noticeably? What temps were you hitting?


EDIT: i hope you don't mind me piggybacking on your thread....
Yesterday while driving to meet up with some friends, I was cruising the freeway at about 195-205*F 85mph for 45 min.

and then while after in street traffic for about 25 min and uphill it shot up from 205*F to 235*F in a matter of 4-5 minutes. I immediately pulled over turned the car off and let it cool down. It happened again on the way home in the canyons-again, I pulled over for 10 mintues. I'm using the modifry ECT and going with the bars on my dash.

This is the first time since finishing my setup and tune April 20. This is also my daily driver. And this has only happened these 2 times on the same day.

Are there any tests that I can do to confirm a gasket leak without taking off the head?
Could it just be a weak fan (Visteon/C&R radiator with the one fan that it comes with, OEM coolant, OEM thermostat)

AusS2000

There are tests. You can test the coolant system for combustion gases and you can pressure test the cooling system. If it fails either your head gasket is blown.

But here's the rub: mine passed both tests.

AusS2000

BTW, Honda want over $AUD400 for a gasket kit (head gasket plus others). They can supply just the head gasket for $181 but it will take 4 weeks from Japan.

What I did was called the local Cometic importer and made an off of $AUD240 (they quoted me $280) for a 0.7mm head gasket. I'll disassemble and use the center section of my blown 3mm with the outer sections of the Cometic. Cross your fingers for me.

mrgarciainc

well it kind of scares me to see that you did well on your tests for a bad headgasket but it still was bad anyways.

I will try to pressure test my coolant system to see how mine goes.

mrgarciainc

Do you think it was because of the 22psi you were running that ruined your HG? Stock head bolts not strong enough? I am currently at 10.5 lbs on my supercharger that is why I ask.

I have been searching alot on here and it seems that there are other people having similar problems with periodic overheating. I guess our coolant systems are pretty sensitive. I also just picked up a new radiator cap that I will put on today.

AusS2000

I expect it was because of the high pressure and also not retorquing the bolts. Mind you, we did retorque the bolts as a possible solution to the problem. They were at 90-odd ftlbs already.

Slows2k

If you followed the OEM torque sequence they should have been much higher than 90ft lbs. It's 22 ft/lbs, +90, +90 degrees on used bolts, +90 on new. It's up around 200ft lbs

AusS2000

I did follow the procedure with 3 x 90 degree turns. When I checked then I was using a torque wrench set to 75, then 80, then 85, then 90 ftlbs and it clicked immediately on all settings. I tightened another 1/4 turn.

This brings up another question. What should the AEM head studs be set to? I thought the instructions said 86ftlbs?