krazik

if you have the hondata gasket and you didn't drill out the coolant hole, jack up the front of the car a bunch so the radiator cap is the high point in the system and run the car till the thermostat opens (3 bars)

2QYK4U

Great tip!

Doug himself installed my Hondata gasket last year. I wonder if he drilled a whole for the coolant hole?

SPECIAL-OPS-S2K

I didn't because it is just for the line that runs through your throttle body... and since I have a BDL and it doesn't have ports for the coolant I was told the hole need not be drilled... I will try raising the front even higher... hope it works!

otherwise it looks like something of this nature would be the thing to have...

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P6...ore&dir=catalog

You have to drain the coolant system first, then this is placed on the rad where the cap goes... it uses air flowing across the opening to pull a vaccum in the cooling system which checks for leaks and then once the system is a vaccum there is a secondary tube that is placed in your fresh coolant supply and when you press the valve it allows the vaccum in the cooling system to pull the coolant in making air bubbles impossible because all air has been evacuated first by the vaccum... not a bad item but $200 is pricey since I don't bleed cooling systems on a daily basis!

I wonder if an autoparts store has an item like this for rent/loan?

I'll try raising the front end first... I am really into having the best tool for the job so if that doesn't work and there are not other ideas I'll pry buy that thing and just have it along with my other vast array of tool that I "needed" LOL

krazik

raising the front is how I have to bleed my race car.

2QYK4U

Here are some pics of the radiator "cup" deal I was talking about, along with the bubbles I mentioned that appear when the system is being bleed:





I tried the suction deal with the tube running along the firewall and am still having an issue with the heater.

SPECIAL-OPS-S2K

thanks for the pics... too bad the suction ball didn't fix your heater problem... I jacked the front end of my car as high as my jackstands go and lowered the back as low as they go... i then ran it up to three bars on the temp gauge... the temp differential was still about 60 degrees but i let it run another 5min or so at three bars to let the air work its way out... all of the sudden the bottom hose became warm and proceded to get within 5-10 degrees of the one up top! krazik I think your solution may have just done the trick. I am however not completely finished with my cooling system. The Flex-A-Lite fans NEVER came on even when the bottom hose was 120-130 degrees so that has me wondering if there is still air making a blockage OR if I simply have my fans running off of the wrong plug? I wired my fans together so that when they kick on they both run as opposed to one running when the AC is on and the other cycling off and on when the temp switch tells it to. I have them wired to the OEM Honda connector and it is clipped onto the fan lead on the Driver side... isn't this the side switched by the temp switch in the bottom of the rad?

Another issue is I pressed the AC button inside the car to start the fans myself and make sure they at least start when you run the AC and they fire right up... now my car idles at 700-800rpm with the AC off but when you press the button it bogs the engine down to 300rpm on the tach for about 2 seconds and then it idles at 500-600rpm... I am positive this is not right and am curious about your experiences with this if any... thanks for the help guys and keep posting I want to get this all squared away!

2QYK4U

You should have two OEM fan plugs (one connected to each fan). Both are supposed to come on when the temp sensor tells it to so. Did you actually modify the factory wiring? If so, why? The FAL fans connect right up to the factory wiring harnesses and there is no need to modify any of the wiring. Both of my FAL fans come on without issue.

SPECIAL-OPS-S2K

no I never modify factory wiring... I have the fan plugs that came off of my factory fans and when I wired them to the FAL fans I wired both to one plug and currently have it plugged into the driver side fan plug... I have the other connector and plenty of clips and wire to make anothe lead and wire each fan independently I just thought the PASS Side fan (smaller when OEM) came on constantly when AC is on and that the DRIVER Side fan (the larger one when OEM) ran off the temp switch... I had read in forums about other cars that if you wire both to come on off the temp switch it helps keep a modified motor cooler because 2 fans are doing the work that one used too... but regardless there is no reason if BOTH are actually switched off the temp switch that my setup wired to one lead shouldn't engage then, right?

Anyone else have experience with this?

2QYK4U

We have the same radiator, same radiator fans, same fan switch and same thermostat. I have both of my factory radiator fan plugs plugged into the FAL radiator fan plugs. Both come on at the same time when the temperature sensor dictates as such. If your fans are not coming on at all, it is because you somehow wired them improperly.

SPECIAL-OPS-S2K

yeah must be... they come on whenever I turn on the AC but they dont kick on at temp... so I wonder if the ECU needs to detect a fan hooked to both leads? I will make another lead wire for the other side and wire the fans independently... we do have the EXACT same setup and the only variance is my wiring VS yours... I hope thats all it is as that is a very simple 20min fix... I'll go make the lead and run it again see if we figured it out.

Thanks for the replies today... been VERY helpful!