SoCal General Chat

[mcr_driver]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lD9cv2uAjRE

This is cray...

[E30_Pare]

dat bunny got air.

[Herr Faust Schinken]

Does anybody have a power bleeder I could borrow real quick? Finally got my master and slave cylinders for the Audi

I has one but I'm 90 miles away lol

[MR 325]

this car...frustrated with it to the point of wanting it gone...

Why dis?

mechanical all the way.

You forgot to give me the info.

[einstein57]

Just bought one of these

[MR 325]

That's badass.

[IronmanE30]

Nice pipe.

Good Morning,

TGIF!

Cheers,

Jim

[E30_Pare]

"This is what your grandchildren are gonna be smoking. Future. That – future…"

[QUKBMER]

Good morning socal people.

[Tanner]

any of you guys do the old "drill a hole in the thermostat" trick? I've been chasing an over heating-at-idle problem for the last month.

-new head gasket
-new 80c thermostat
-new cx racing radiator
-removed original fan & clutch
-installed Ireland Engineering 14'' fan (manual on/off switch for now)
-bled numerous times

heres the run down: I can start this car up, and drive all day at 80+ on the freeway and the temp needle will sit just below the halfway mark with no problem. as soon as I exit or let it idle...the temp needle creeps up to the 3/4 mark within 60 seconds! I turn the electric fan on manually but no help in bringing that needle down.
However, if I blip the throttle a few times in neutral, it will come back down to just below 1/2 within 10 seconds. super weird.


I've been using the search function for a few weeks now but nothing really seems to be resolved. the threads just slowly fade away.


So I guess my question is: whats my next step?

-drill hole in thermostat?
-replace line going from reservoir to radiator? (read a thread about these being blocked with crud)
-water pump? (based on previous searched, my symptoms appear to not be a water pump issue)
-get someone to actually knows how to bleed the system????

[MR 325]

Drilling a hold in the thermostat should not be necessary and is just another band-aid.

I would definitely check to make sure your reservoir nipple isn't clogged. This will absolutely make the car overheat if the coolant isn't flowing correctly. You should be able to open the reservoir cap with the engine running and see the water trickling in.

[E30_Pare]

i have a feeling your coolant mixture maybe off. what are you running? 50/50 mix ?

I say do a coolant flush, & dont forget the coolant plug on the block.

[IRON-E]

Did someboy say nipple?

[IRON-E]

i have a feeling your coolant mixture maybe off. what are you running? 50/50 mix ?

I say do a coolant flush, & dont forget the coolant plug on the block.

In all seriousness though, it does sound like Tanner isn't confident on the bleeding steps.

I feel the same way about my technique, so I usually take it to my "Black guy KEV"

[Tanner]

Drilling a hold in the thermostat should not be necessary and is just another band-aid.
I would definitely check to make sure your reservoir nipple isn't clogged. This will absolutely make the car overheat if the coolant isn't flowing correctly. You should be able to open the reservoir cap with the engine running and see the water trickling in.

I agree, which is why I haven't drilled the hole. kind of a last resort.

The clogged line makes sense at this point. when the car was purchased, it had a leaking head gasket, original radiator and just a ton of shit in the coolant. I even think I saw some of that radiator stop-leak stuff in the coolant when I first drained it.

When I have the radiator cap off, the coolant will rise up and pour out all over my damn floor. so this leads me to believe that coolant is being fed through the large hose at the bottom of the reservoir, but cant make its way back to the radiator via tiny hose.

I think i'll make a trip to autozone to get a new line, drain and cross my fingers.


regarding my mixture,

I'm using Autozone non-mixed. then I do half bottled water/half coolant in there. I've been tracking Hondas for about ten years and I've always used this formula. never let me down. Maybe the bmw's are a bit more temperamental? I've flushed it a handful of times, including the block plug.

Iron,

Its true, at this point, I don't feel as though I've bled it correctly. Hondas are a piece of cake when it comes to bleeding the coolant compared to this car.


Thanks again guys for all your advice. I just didn't want to start ANOTHER overheating thread.