Cooling Problem? or bad HG?

[Burntz]

So I figured I'd post this up cuz this car is pissing me off lol.

Had it an hour away, blew a coolant hose, started to overheat, replaced the hose, no major damage I believe

But ever since I've bought it, its ran like crap. I did a full tune up on it (plugs, wires, cap, rotor) which wasnt a walk in the park. It fixed up a bit of the shitty running, but it still sounds like it has a miss.

Well today I'm drivin home from work and I noticed the coolant needle just start shooting up! I'm like WOAH WHAT THE F$#K. I turn it off, and just limp it home. While driving down the street, I figure "i'll put it in nuetral and let it coast to keep it cool", bad idea? It starts shooting up, so i put it back in 3rd and its about 3500 rpms, and it stops shooting up and actually drops a bit?

So I'm pissed and confused, and I get it home. Both radiator pipes are hot, the radiator is hot, the t-stat housing is hot, so I think the thermostat is ok? All the hoses are OK, no leaks. If the water pump was bad I woulda smelled burning belt wouldnt have I?

I'm just thinking that the overheating / running like shit problem is all the headgasket. I'll be changing the oil saturday or sunday to see if it's milky, and I'm going to try to do a compression test, but i'm only doin 4/6 cuz i dont feel like takin all the throttle body shit off lol. The car is just now almost exactly at 150k miles.

Am I diagnosing this right? Or could it just be something in my cooling system?

I'm going to check my fans right now on 2nd thought, brb! lol

 

[johnathan1]

Water pump moves less coolant at idle, and the fan moves much less air...that's why the temp started going up...I would say you have a BHG.

You don't need to wait until you change the oil to see if it's milky...just check the dipstick.

 

[Burntz]

Water pump moves less coolant at idle, and the fan moves much less air...that's why the temp started going up...I would say you have a BHG.

You don't need to wait until you change the oil to see if it's milky...just check the dipstick.

Yea thats exactly what I figured when that happened lol

I checked it and it looked perfect. No bubbles, no milky look. I popped off the oil cap and thier was a little bit of whitish residue on the top of the cap, but I've seen that on just about every car Ive looked at.

So .. ? lol

 

[IJ.]

Fan shroud?

Engine Undertray?

 

[Burntz]

Fan shroud is broken a bit, but secured and fine lol, fan turns fine, clutch isnt bad because I spun it and it stopped quick.

What do you mean about undertray?

 

[IJ.]

There's meant to be a plastic undertray from the front air dam to the front crossmember if it's missing you can end up with "issues" depending on the condition of the cooling system..

 

[Burntz]

Well I'll go check but I doubt its that.

Is thier any chance my temp sensor is just on the fritz? lol

 

[cuel]

Don't think its a sensor. You need to get a block test kit. Here's a link to what you need to do:
http://www.arrowheadradiator.com/head_gasket_or_combustion_leak_test.htm

 

[iwannadie]

When i had my BHG my oil was perfectly fine, no milkyness or coolant in it at all. My coolant on the other hand was a mess. Drain the coolant into a bucket let it sit over night and check it. Mine had a thick layer of oil on the bottom.

Also look into your coolant catch can, mine had oil sludge in there. Check your oil dipstick if its in place. Mine would kinda pop out about an inch, from the exhaust gas pressure.

 

[DaSuprawolf]

There's meant to be a plastic undertray from the front air dam to the front crossmember if it's missing you can end up with "issues" depending on the condition of the cooling system..

please tell me more, mines been off for a while now. but really havent noticed a difference.
what kind of "issues"?

 

[IJ.]

Mine runs a good deal hotter over 60 mph with it off and my cooling system is about as good as you can get for a Mk3..

 

[DaSuprawolf]

ive an electric fan, and really never see a difference in temp.
maybe N/A 7M different?

 

[johnathan1]

Mine runs a good deal hotter over 60 mph with it off and my cooling system is about as good as you can get for a Mk3..

How much hotter exactly?

ive an electric fan, and really never see a difference in temp.
maybe N/A 7M different?

If you are using the stock temp. gauge, you won't see a difference...the stock gauge is dampened so much, that it doesn't really start to move unless the engine is overheating pretty badly...

 

[IJ.]

5>6c hotter at 60 mph steady cruising going on the data logs Johnathan.

 

[bozosoku]

Sounds like a BHG. When my HG blew it overheated like hell, there was no oil in coolant, and oil color was normal. Remove the plugs to see if they are all the same color, and look into the plug hole if any of piston is wet.

 

[Burntz]

Well I went out and put some more antifreeze in it, and it wasnt overheating, but it was also later on and was cooler.

What struck me as odd was that it was real low on antifreeze, and Im pretty sure I completely filled it when I replaced that coolant hose :-\. But then again I just filled the radiator and it was pretty much bone dry so a bit could have went into the engine and made the radiator low again.


BUT, I DO get the gurgling noise on startup (air in coolant in the heater core), My exhaust smoke IS white, and I DO have a rough idle? Cygnus says all those things are possible BHG's

 

[johnathan1]

White smoke?? Funny how you forgot to mention that in the first post...

BHG​

 

[Burntz]

White smoke?? Funny how you forgot to mention that in the first post...

BHG​

Yea I didn't really realize it until I went to look at that page, then saw his little things about "what could be a BHG"

It's all good though, the motor is getting rebuilt soon. My question is, my mechanic said thier is an engine kit that will bump my N/A power up to 412 hp..? He said its $683 , including all the machine work n shit. And no labor cuz hes cool and shit with me and we'll just do it at his house.

Is that even possible with a 7mge? lol

 

[JustAnotherVictim]

What is in this "kit"?

 

[IJ.]

What is in this "kit"?

A Turbo