J-SMITH69

get a alum core radiator. mine was 130 dollars. NO OVERHEATING AT ALL.

stargazer

I'm with you dude.

89dxhunchback

Like I said, if your honda is over heating and you've check all the simple stuff, IT THE HEAD GASKET.

You guys can talk about air bubbles all day and all night, but I've had 2 different heads on my car, and changed the head gasket about 5 times ( I've had lots of different combos ). And NEVER oNCE HAS MY CAR EVER HAD TO "bleed air bubbles" to stop for "almost" over heating.

I've never bleed the system for air and unless the HG was blown the car has never overheated... ( minus the first day I drove it home and the owner failed to meantion the radiator had a crack in it ).

But search your heart out, grab at straws, but in the end you better start reseaching changing the HG ( not like its a big deal ).

pa2play

ok, I drove around town to four different places asking for more opinions, and the best, most logical one was my radiator. The reason I say that is because, why, and what are the chances, that a thermostat, head gasket, waterpump, any of that go bad with only having the turbo on for two weeks. The resaon I think it might be the radiator is because in town, i have the fan to help me out, and it's not getting that hot anyways, on the highway, my huge cca intercooler is blocking the air flow that my radiator used to have. My radiator might have been going bad before I put my turbo on, but it was just good enough to barely get by, but with the extra air flow ressitance, it's not quit cooling it good enough. My oil has no milky white in it, I've blead my hoses out like 6 times, and no big bubble come out, but some very small foamy ones do, (no one really came up with an idea for that). well, i'm gonna go to a radiator place this afternoon, and see if he thinks my radiator is bad. The only bad thing about putting an aftermarket aluminum one on is, unless its the same size, it won't fit b/c I have my charge pipes coming off the left side of the turbo so i could keep my a/c, and I had to modify the fan shrowding and blades to make it fit, and it's a TIGHT fit, 1/8 clearance on the fan blade from hitting my charge pipes

robs99si

if it's your head gasket, small pieces of the hg or not the temps would've gone through the roof. it isn't your head gasket. i think it could be the radiator. maybe it's clogged and needs to be flushed. you need to remove the top hose of the radiator. remove the thermostat so water can circulate when the motor is cold. istall the thermostat
/hose mount without the thermostat inside. turn your heater controls to hot and insert a garden hose where the top radiator hose goes inside the radiator. turn the water on the garden hose full blast so water runs through your entire cooling system and comes outta the top radiator hose coming from the engine.
let it flush for 10min. might aswell flush it that long water is cheap. then put everything back together and test it out.

pa2play

ok, I went to the radiator shop, and he said it is DEFFINATELY my radiator, he showed me with a flashlight that my radiator was falling apart, the front of it like 1/2 of 3 rows the fins had already fallen out, and the back of it the pipes were bent in some places, it was a little green too. Now I have to decide if I should by his new one for $117, which is an awesome price...almost too awesome, or by a nicer one for like $225 or $175. He also said that the intercooler was the last thread that cut off too much air supply for my crappy radiator. I'll let you know if it fixes the problem when I get it fixed.

89dxhunchback

If the radiator isn't leaking/clogged, its not the radiator. Getting a new "better" one might help mask the problem for another few minutes while drivng.

Also, on the highway, the air being forced into the radiator via the car moving, is FAR GREATER than your fan pulling air at a stop light.

The head gasket is leaking between the cylinder and the water passage only. And its only doing it under load.

If your radiator is a "half sized" one you can sell it to help make up some of the money your going to waste by replacing it.

If you think the first two weeks of driving a newly turbo'd car is the least likely time to blow a head gasket, then your just wrong.

The IC blocking the radiator isn't the problem either, unless you have a 3.5'' wide one. My starion one has a lot of bent fins, and every single bit of ait that goes into my raditor has to pass through it first, I'm sure the CCA intercooler flows a lot better than my bent-up starion one ( crossflow and internal ).

Wait a minute... I have a intake manifold for sale... I BET ITS YOUR INTAKE MANIFOLD !!!! I must think just like your radiator guy, hehe....

I've never talked to a shop "tech" that knew half as much about turbocharged cars I do, but boy ole boy can they change a timing belt or water pump, hehe...

Hey man, only time will tell I guess, and the raditor may help you out for a while, but its only a matter of time before you compelty destroy the head gasket and finish warping the head.

Do a search on honda tech for raditors. There is one place that has nice ones that are duel core for like $110 AND they are much ( I think also by twice ) as thick as the stock one.

I have a stock full sized crx raditor laying around, I'd ship it for $40, but it has some bent fins so your car would prob. still over heat, hehhe ( sorry couldn't help it ). I really do have the radiator if you want it.

pa2play

ok, if you think it's the head gasket, how do I check to see? I've never done it, but I've hear it's a HUGE process, and expensive.