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check your plugs, make sure that there is no coolant on them. i had the same problem. car overheated only when i pressured it. i could drive around normally without any problem. checked to make sure coolant was flowing to eliminate the water pump, changed thermostat, changed radiator caps, filled the system to make sure that there was no air and sure enough when i checked my plugs, # 3 and 5 had coolant on them. interestingly when i did a compression test those two cylinders had the higher compression (170's vs 150's for the rest) likely because of some water (coolant) in the cylinder. not saying that its a head gasket, but sometimes it can be subtle.

ok ill check them....but the fan comes on...and i only have one ? lol...but i will try and bleed it for longer then i have been...

thanks..ill let you no whats up

thanks

and whats the deal with the garden hose ? why would i put a t in one of the lines?

96mx-3 wrote:and whats the deal with the garden hose ? why would i put a t in one of the lines?

Just to burp the system better, if you sit there after its been up to operating temperature it should be fine, give it a few little revs and it should be good.

The deal with the garden hose is, some people cut one of their coolant lines going to the heater core, then install that plastic T. Then they plug the garden hose into the T, turn on the water, open the rad at the bottom, and run the engine. This forces clean water through every part of the cooling system to flush it.

well its ah ead gasket or crack in my block lol..i guess maybe i didnt torque them down in a proper sequence..and the book only said 19ft pounds but ive been told that seems low lol...any tips on tightening head bolts?

a head gasket would be a hell of a lot easier to deal with than a cracked block.
as far as the torque specs the initial torque down is 19 but then you torque in sequence another 270 degrees (i can't recall exactly) which takes the total torque a lot higher.

yea that was my problem i think...cause i did it to..17 ft..then 18..then 19..
but like 2 90deg. turns it says in book..canges the ft pounds huge..but w.e simple mistake i guess..jsut along fix process..

well i got it back..and its head gasket..what i did was tightin in 3 steps from 17-19 not then adding two sets of 90 turns..so my friend said i could jsut make sure there at 19ft..and then add the two sets of turns..so i have done one set..and it makes a terrible noise kinda makes me nervus to do a whole other set...is this common or ?

comish71 wrote:check your plugs, make sure that there is no coolant on them. i had the same problem. car overheated only when i pressured it. i could drive around normally without any problem. checked to make sure coolant was flowing to eliminate the water pump, changed thermostat, changed radiator caps, filled the system to make sure that there was no air and sure enough when i checked my plugs, # 3 and 5 had coolant on them. interestingly when i did a compression test those two cylinders had the higher compression (170's vs 150's for the rest) likely because of some water (coolant) in the cylinder. not saying that its a head gasket, but sometimes it can be subtle.

what was the problem and how did you fix it?

i removed the heads a week or so ago and didn't see an area in the gasket that was blown out. it wasn't like i expected to because the car only overheated when i really pressured it (moreso with the nitrous). one thing that i did find was that one of the head bolts b/w 3 and 5 cylinders was not as tight as the others. whether or not this is due to stretch from increased cylinder pressures or because of threads going in the block vs bolt i haven't found out yet. i need to take the heads to the machine shop so that they can be checked for warpage. i will then put everything back together and see how things work. as a reminder if one head needs to be shaved then both do to prevent increased compression on one side of the motor.