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Phantom overheat
- Thread starter bngl3rt
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Sorry to hear about your HG, and 3.5K can do exhaust system or rims already.
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- 25 February 2012
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It seems the price has gone up, or you're on the favorite customers list, or I'm on the annoying customers list. Possibly all three :frown:
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Visited my car this weekend (does anyone else do this? Or am I just nuts?). This head gasket thing is annoying but on the plus side, it seems the engine is getting pulled apart, cleaned, and having a bunch of small wear items replaced in the process.
And hey, if machining the heads increases my compression slightly and gives me a hair more power, I certainly won't complain...
OEM gaskets and studs are being replaced with MLS gaskets and ARP head studs.
OEM paper gasket:
Hollowed out engine bay
Gunky head (to be cleaned and machined):
And hey, if machining the heads increases my compression slightly and gives me a hair more power, I certainly won't complain...
OEM gaskets and studs are being replaced with MLS gaskets and ARP head studs.
OEM paper gasket:
Hollowed out engine bay
Gunky head (to be cleaned and machined):
Just had all this done myself but you are getting off easy. I had two head bolts pull right out of the block so I had them timesert every headbolt. Also had them go through and replace other wearables. Expensive yes. But it is a sports car and once you get through all these little (but seriously aggravating) issues, you will fall in love with your car all over again. Good luck.
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I sure hope so. Legendary Honda reliability this ain't.
At this point the car has spent as much time in various repair shops as being driven since I bought it earlier in the summer. Seems like everyone spends their first year getting their NSX "just right" before they settle in to many happy years of ownership.
Sometimes you get lucky and after a good PPI you drive away a happy person with no major issues. I did get a PPI, fixed what needed to get fixed and then the gremlins hit. My car has spent more time on jack stands then running since November. But everything is fixed and it's running wicked good right now. What a car.....in the end, it was worth the time and money to get it right. Hang in there.
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I have my car back with a fresh MLS head gasket, temps look okay on the gauge but under hard driving (2nd gear mountain road kind of thing) I am still feeling the tunnel (shift boot/parking brake/bottom of the gun compartment) heat up.
I wonder if my water pump isn't moving coolant around fast enough.
I wonder if my water pump isn't moving coolant around fast enough.
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I did. He said the previous owner replaced the OEM Carpet with aftermarket carpet that doesn't have any insulation, and that that explains the heat coming from the transmission tunnel.
do you believe him?
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Kind of. The first time it happened (right before the actual overheat which blew the gasket) was right after I got the car back from some electrical work that supposedly re-enabled VTEC. So it's possible the car was making less power and therefore less heat before, then VTEC was fixed so it started making the correct amount of power and heat - or possibly way more than it was supposed to, and that blew the gasket. Now I have an indestructible SoS gasket which is harder to blow, but maybe the engine is still running way hotter than it is supposed to.
Water pump, thermostat, hoses, and coolant have all been replaced very recently. What else is there in the cooling system? The fan is working fine and as far as I can tell so is the radiator.
Hopefully it's just post-surgery paranoia. There are coolant pipes right under that tunnel, and they will get hot during extended aggressive driving with coolant going to/from the radiator. I'd almost be more concerned if it didn't get hot. That said "hot" is subjective I suppose. If it's too hot to touch, that's probably wrong. If it's just noticeably warmer than the surrounding cabin surface, that may not be an issue.
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It's not too hot to touch, nor does it make the cabin an uncomfortable place to be. A previous owner *did* remove the OEM carpet and install some red stuff which I assume did not come with the same kind of insulation.
Only reason I'm losing any sleep over it is that it only recently started happening. If it had been happening all along I wouldn't be so worried, but instead it happened once and then a day later I was gushing coolant from the overflow hose. Thanks to a new thermostat during the HG job internal temps the gauge reads stable now regardless of driving style.
Maybe I need an oil temp gauge. Or a new radiator.
Oil temp gauge would be useful to corroborate the story the water temp gauge is telling. I've honestly yet to reach the limits of the stock radiator (since I've had good HGs) on a track (stock power levels), and I try pretty hard. Might've been a bad thermostat preventing or restricting the hot coolant flow through those pipes that let to the problem in the first place.
Im really sorry you have had so much bad luck with this car. I know its not a true measuring stick of the NSX... the previous person (or person before them) really set these dominos up for you.
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Yep. It really is a fabulous car when it's working properly. Some of them just stop working properly more often than others.
I knew there were a zillion things that a PPI could miss, but I was in the Shawn school of thought - "If it runs, buy it, anything can be fixed". Technically true, but boy it's an expensive school to get into!
In this case the issue isn't fixing it but instead figuring out exactly what the hell is wrong with it in the first place. Once the failing component has been identified it is easy to replace (though not always cheap). So far I haven't found anyone who isn't totally stumped upon hearing the symptoms.
you might measure the temperature difference between the radiator inlet and outlet hoses after a brisk drive (enough that the tunnel gets hot). Just to see if the radiator is doing it's job. There should be a measurable difference, but if one side is stone-cold and the other is super-hot, then you might have a problem.
I'd recommend an infrared thermometer if you've got one laying around to avoid toasting your fingers.
I'd recommend an infrared thermometer if you've got one laying around to avoid toasting your fingers.
Did you buy this car from out of state? Did it came with maintenance records? Were the jobs done at reputable shops?
