Thoughts on overheating!

F1atlander · Feb 25, 2012

picked up a DFG 94 GT H/C/I with all the other bolt ons for 1500. has some damage in the quarters but still a good deal for the parts on it.

problem is its running very warm. I've done a head gasket test with my kit and all comes back negative. (no change in fluid color at all)

noticed the the radiator wasnt even getting warm so swap the water pump, rad cap, and t-stat. now i can feel the upper hose compress when i rev the engine, so i would say its flowing now. but the radiator is still cold and temp gauage is still going high. I then thought of air trapped in the system and loosened the temp switch to bleed the air out. no change.

Looking at the coolant that came out the first time it seemed to have small specks of metal floating around in it. my guess is one of those "mechanic in a bottle" headgasket repair deals. so through a radiator at it so see if it was stopped up and still no change.

running out of idea's. if i have to pulled the heads to see if the previous owner install the headgasket upside down i will not be putting everthing back in the car because of the condition of the body.

thanks in advance

CC'S95GT · Feb 25, 2012

Have you ran any radiator flush through the system?
You would be surprised at the amount of gunk that can come out.
Other than replacing the radiator, you have covered everything else.

Teal94 · Feb 25, 2012

check the ground wire on the front cover. Just had the same problem on mine and changed all the same stuff with no change. The ground felt tight but the stud was loose,after cleaning and tightening all back up the temp gauge has been right ever since.

Addermk2 · Feb 25, 2012

My guess would be that your timing is completely jacked up, or that the head gaskets were indeed installed wrong. salvage the parts and junk the body. Tear down the engine and see what the previous owner tucked up. If its got a full h/c/i and overheating, its likely the reason the p/o sold it. They couldn't figure it out and passed their problem to you.

modo · Feb 25, 2012

if the radiator is cold (verify it with a IR thermometer) then coolant is not circulating properly regardless of everything else. you said you swapped the thermostat so I would remove it to make sure it was installed in the right direction and if it was you should then throw it into a boiling pot of water to make sure it is functioning properly. if the thermostat is fine then you need to decide if you want to to pulling the heads off since you replaced everything else.

rz5.0 · Feb 25, 2012

You could also pressure test the cooling system..

F1atlander · Feb 29, 2012

CC'S95GT said:
Have you ran any radiator flush through the system?
You would be surprised at the amount of gunk that can come out.
Other than replacing the radiator, you have covered everything else.

havent tryd any chemical flush yet got idea. Yeah i replaced the rad prior to my first post, somehow forgot to put that in the OP

Teal94 said:
check the ground wire on the front cover. Just had the same problem on mine and changed all the same stuff with no change. The ground felt tight but the stud was loose,after cleaning and tightening all back up the temp gauge has been right ever since.

going to check this... heard of this problem with other gauges.

Addermk2 said:
My guess would be that your timing is completely jacked up, or that the head gaskets were indeed installed wrong. salvage the parts and junk the body. Tear down the engine and see what the previous owner tucked up. If its got a full h/c/i and overheating, its likely the reason the p/o sold it. They couldn't figure it out and passed their problem to you.

you may have hit it adder. i pulled the dizzy to put #1 in the 11Oclock postion where i like it. (it was around 3 Oclock when i got it) and i havent actually set the timing yet, just adjusted by ear a little. going to look in to that. but with the HG is on backward ill have some parts for sale!!!! thanks for all the replys everyone