Finished putting the engine back together tonite, had to set the timing (which wasnt fun at all) put the valve cover on, hook up the exaust and put oil in it. Once we figured out the timing there was nothing to it...the car started up after about 50 million turns lol we still had to set the distributer timing. Once we got it to where it was "close" the car stayed running and didnt stall out or anything. It does have a slight tick to it (top end) we think its a bad roller rocker. My main concern is even with a new head the car still gets hot as hell, 15 mins of driving and the temp gauge maxxed out, also the oil light does NOT go off, and it has plenty of oil in it. If anyone has some ideas about why its doin this please help me out cuz im about ready to just say screw it and sell the car. The top radiator hose (going into the head) gets really hot, the bottom hose (going to the water pump) gets warm but nowhere near as hot as the top hose. I belive everything is hooked up correctly but did notice one thing during the installation of the new head. The hoses that go into the heater core (belive thats what it is one hose comes from the back of the intake manif.) are reversed when compared to mine, I am unsure of which one is sopposed to be on top or if it even makes a difference. Also the car feels like its going to stall out when you are slowing down, doesnt want to really "get up and go" until your over 15-20mph. Im just outa ideas and a little bit sick of workin on the car, not that I mind working on them just that its a headache..one problem after another. Hoping someone out there has some advice aside from selling it, or taking it to a mechanic. I will probaly put new plugs in it tomorrow to see if that helps a bit (it has the ones that were in the head that sat at the junkyard for a while).

 

did you bleed the air out of the head? you have to take out the plug on top of the thermastat housing while you fill up the coolant.

 

No we didnt, but we checked it after running the motor and taking the car around the block, it was full. I checked it this morning and it was nearly half empty again. I went and power washed the engine so that I can make sure nothing is leaking, and to get the oil all out that was all over when the motor messed up. The oil light didnt come on til the engine temp came up a bit, at which point the water temp gauge topped out again. Can anyone verify which way the hoses going into the heater core are sopposed to go? of if it even matters?

 

was it a reman head? what type of headgasket did you use? did you use new head bolts? did you use the right torque sequence?

 

the head was remanufactured, but on a car at the junkyard. Headgasket, and bolts are felpro, used the sequence that came with the bolts (which was the same one that autozone gave me). The car got this hot before with the old head on it aswell, its never overheated but the top hose seems to get hotter than ****. I was thinking maybe the thermostat is shot, but not sure if that would make it do this or not..I know how to change it just getting really short on $$ right now, spent 2 hundred last week putting struts and stuff on my 93 (alignment and everything too). Then spent another 200 on the 91 repairing it, and im currently unemployed so ya know lol...

 

it sounds like the thermostst is not opening all way. get a new one and drill a air bleed hole in the flat part of the thermostat. use a 1/8 drill bit or smaller, and make sure the hole is straight up when you install it. By doing this you will not have to bleed the head when you add coolant . you never have to worry about the head being air bound and or vapor locked, witch would keep the thermostat from opening.

 

I just went out and checked it again (had to wait for it to cool down) it was around 3/4 full this time. My main concern is where is it going? if its not leaking but keeps taking/needing more where could it be? It doesnt make a whole lota sense to me, but I havent really done much in the "cooling" department on cars. I let it run for a while (mostly idling) and it didnt seem to get as warm as it did idling before. One thing I did notice is that when you rev on the engine a little (maybe 1500 RPM) the oil light goes out then blinks faintly and comes back on, I also noticed a bit of white smoke coming out when reving it on it lightly. It is a bit cold out so I soppose that could be it, but i know it wasnt a oil burning type of smoke...just makes me wonder because it is only when I hit the gas that it does it. Any other ideas about this? I will get a new T-Stat and drill it out tonite or tomorrow. I am also thinking that the oil pressure switch/sensor is bad making the oil light coming on OR the wiring is screwed up, the bottom half of the block is from a 93 Sundance with uknown miles on it (it has new rings, one piston, and new rod bearings in it tho) and the head is from a 92 Shadow ES (same head that is on my 93 Shadow..the numbers on it are the same). Just wondering if maybe the wiring is diff between these years or if the sensor is just shot. I am still wondering if it matters what way the hoses going/coming from the heat core go. I am thinking they are reversed (almost postive) but need to know if it matters at all.

 

if your talking about just the two hoses to the heater core all that would do is change direction of flow.

 

Yea those are the ones I was talkin about, I found another site that had alot of people with this similar problem...most of them said it was actually a bad gauge in the cluster. I will try changing the gauge tomorrow (i have an extra set ) and see if that makes any difference.

 

The coolant is going into the cooling system like it should. You failed to purge the cooling system of air pockets, that is why your running so hot and why it keeps taking more. Removing the recessed hex bolt in the top of the thermostat housing is the best way to fill the cooling system, this greatly helps to eliminate any air pockets. If you do not remove the bolt you will need to let the engine idle until it starts to get hot and shut it off. Then let it sit and cool down some, after that you restart it and then top it off again. You will need to do this a few times before it remove the air completely and you will know that it has when it only gets about half way on the gauge and then falls shortly after the fan kicks on. However, since you have driven it while it has been that hot there is a good chance that the head is warped or cracked now and would explain the white exhaust smoke and coolant loss. The white smoke and water dripping from the tail pipe are normal when the engine is cold, but not after it has warmed up to operating temperature. On a nice dry day after the engine is at operating temperature there should be no smoke of any kind even if you rev it up and there shouldn't be any water coming out of the tail pipe.

Check your oil dipstick for signs of water/coolant, it will look light tan and creamy if there is water in it. Check the spark plugs as well. If you replace the thermostat don't forget to purge the system of air pockets before driving it.

The heater hoses do not matter as far as the engine is concerned, you can hook them up however you want, they won't have any effect on the engines cooling.

It sounds as though your oil pressure is too low, this is why the light comes on at an idle and goes off when you raise the engines RPM's. Raising the RPM's will raise the oil pressure causing the oil light to go out. This is a very big problem, because the oil light doesn't come on until the pressure is below 5psi. There are many things that can cause low oil pressure, everything from a weak oil pump to worn out or spun bearings to a blown head gasket or head or a blockage. You need to find out what the cause is right away.

These two problems have a common cause which makes it seem more likely that it's the problem, but it doesn't mean that it is.