uberstang1

Do you keep re-using the radiator cap? Once they blow out and coolant boils over the resovoir that radiator cap is no longer good and u have to throw it away. The only reason I ask is because in a later post you said you weren't sure to replace the radiator or cap first. If thats the original cap or a cap that blew through its garbage.

Bman2000

interesting assessment with a blown head gasket....not saying that your wrong, but i would think he may run into a few other problems if the head gasket was the problem. like white smoke out the tail pipe, rough idle, coolant loss, ect. Altho maybe he hasnt been looking out for these things. My only reason for recommending what i did was because ive seen and had enough of that problem that my free test is the radiator lol, and it tends to be just that or at least gives you a clue pretty quick.
And not saying you cant use water, but when your talking about over heating being the issue, i personally wouldnt start with water. Not to mention as you posted the system may have a pressure leak, among other problems meaning the boiling point is not nessicarily going to be as high. (altho i have used just water on leaky systems, less polution and such, no over heating though.) just my thoughts.

laserredgt

didnt get a chance to look it over but im going to bring it home tomorrow and change all my **** tomorrow myself...its been at the shop for two weeks and my buddy has lost interest it seems lol

laserredgt

no smoking, no rough idle, no coolant loss(except through the cap)
i drove it home and around town today in 100* weather and no heating up...stayed normal throughout the entire drive...i didnt turn on the a/c though which is more than likely what is the turning point...grr you guys still think its the radiator?

smashten

Did I miss your response, or have you not changed the cap?

Bman2000

im going to say that if you have no problems until you turn on the ac, that your system is sealing fine meaning the cap is fine, and that also means that your head gasket is not likely a problem due to normal operation without ac on. So im still thinking radiator, or maybe something funky with the water pump i guess, but i find the radiator being plugged more likely.

laserredgt

i replaced the cap fo free and it seems that its holding the pressure just fine...i think the old cap might of been leaking little or i may not of hear the steam or water coming out before after shut downs and let it run too low...i dont know but it didnt heat up at all today after driving around town about an hour...i hope this solved my problem if not im going to have to buy a radiator soon :/...

MaKaVeLi

did you bought a new radiator? did it fix the problem?

b96gtman

Dude if u have a predator tuner im pretty sure u can use the end user paramators to lower your low and high Fan temp settings. It doesnt do that much good to go to a 180 degree t stat without lowering the temp that your fan comes on at. I have a built motor and live in fresno cali where it gets to 110 degrees somedays and with a reg 195deg t stat with the ac on my car got to like 210 at the highest,i changed the t stat to a 180deg and NO difference. Then i lowered my fan ON temps 10 degrees for low and 8degrees for high and now at the highest my car will hit 200degrees idleing in 100+ weather with the AC on.

BUT, i do think just like Cliffy that your main problem IS your radiator. If you had rusty crap come out of it ,it is probably clogged and when u have the AC on it is just TOO much for the tiny little clogged radiator to handle in that ind of heat. B carefull heating your car up too many times too high will warp a aluminum head and then u will be really screwed. Good luck bro.

Brian

smitty2919

If I understood all this, you bought a new radiator, took the old one out and flushed it with water then put it back in??

If you have the new radiator, and you saw all that crap coming out of the old one, PUT THE NEW ONE IN! Running water through it will not clean it...it sees an average of 16psi when pressurized on a regular basis, and if THAT doesn't clean it out then a garden hose and gravity certainly won't do it. Like cliff said, you'd have to get it flushed and even that isn't a fix-all.

Throw new radiator in and go from there. I agree with it being the radiator.