Need some help diagnosing overheating issue...

[NateHertz]

So since I purchased the car about two months ago I have recently been dealing with this issue... The first couple weeks of driving it never got hot and I was driving about an hour and a half each way to work... Then all of sudden bam I'm driving to work one day and I see my temp gauge rising ... And I start smelling coolant ... I pulled over with the gauge still in the white zone just at the very end of it... First thing I did was replace thermostat... Added new coolant and instantly the thing was dumping coolant all over the ground... I saw my rad was cracked so my buddy gave me one off one of his 7 festivas... No leaks fan works perfect and coolant goes the whole way threw it seemingly no issues for a used rad... We'll that helped the issue but every time I shut off the car it gurgles and bubbles coolant out the overflow... I assume it does this as I'm driving as well... Because the past few weeks every time I go to drive it I dump in a shit ton of coolant...my next issue came along on my way home from work fired up the car sounded great (after my straight pipe to can muffler install) ... Started driving down the road hit 3rd gear and all this sputtering ... Was bad jerked the whole car... Thought maybe bad gas or a clogged injector at first... So tried driving to see if it would stop well it didn't so figured I'd give the drive home a try and just take it easy... Got up to highway speeds and after about 7 miles it went away... But then came back the next day... So I got denso iridium plugs distributor and cap wires will be in tommarrow... Issue is fixed I had a fowled plug 3 were clean one was black as coal and had some rust on it .. Think maybe water got to it anyways ... Car is still getting hot goes up to right above the end of the white on my 42 mile ride to work... But every time I drain the rad and refill the coolant I'll get one solid day out of it of driving before I can dump a shit ton more coolant in there... It has to be going somewhere... Was thinking maybe head gasket because after I get off the 35 miles of high way and down shift at the light I get some white smoke but also never noticed it till I put that muffler on that was caked with residue from a Honda ... So maybe it's just breaking in? And burning off the caked on shit? This whole coolant out the overflow is the only noticeable leak but only see it when I park? Waterpump? Head gasket? Any help would be appreciated I'm in a bind and I want my baby running smoothe

[NateHertz]

Also it's a 93 festiva manual

[dalebwilson]

A blown head gasket is probable and can cause overheating, poor running, white smoke and coolant loss.


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[NateHertz]

Ha I think I'm just gunna replace all of the above I have the water pump haven't put it on yet ordering timing belt and head gasket kits

[TominMO]

Yeah most likely the HG, but it's a good idea to do the WP/timing belt while you're in there.

[NateHertz]

That's the plan... Anything else I could replace to make it more capable of handling boost ... I'm pretty convinced Ima research more into turboing my b3. I have full dunk access and my girls brother tunes

[WmWatt]

Have you tested the rad cap?

[zoe60]

When it is cold in the morning, take the radiator cap off and fire it up. If coolant comes out of the radiator you have combustion gases getting into the cooling system which is probably going to be a blown head gasket. When I bought mine yeas ago it would shoot out of the radiator like a geyser when cold. Never seen such a shot engine. Total neglect. Had to replace it right away.

[Movin]

Probably a plastic tanked radiator ? Those are horrible about having a good surface for the rubber in the cap to seal to once they overheat one time. Cheap asian plastic. Definitely do not want to put in a head gasket and run it hot again before you find that the cap cannot hold pressure. Idling with the hood up when the cooling fan kicks on the upper radiator hose should feel like it has pressure in it. The recovery tank hose should not be hot.

If you are thinking turbo Dale Wilson has a sweet easy engine fluff you do with the head gasket job that would help the b3 turbo hold the boost for awhile.

[NateHertz]

It's definitely the head gasket... Added coolant and it bogs on start up afterwards and puffs smoke... The overflow I think is just the exhaust gases pushing it out of the rad ... So I ordered the kit and Ima get her all fixed up and read for boost. Would love to find a comp cam for this thing in the meantime and advance the timing a bit after I get this issue fixed

[WmWatt]

A compression test might confirm that diagnosis. Low compression on adjacent cyclinders is usually leakage between the two by way of a bad head gasket.

[Movin]

A compression test might confirm that diagnosis. Low compression on adjacent cylinders is usually leakage between the two by way of a bad head gasket.

Thats a good idea, putting a pressure tester on the radiator after a drive or warm up, then pulling the plugs the next morning and looking for traces of antifreeze in the cylinders can find smaller leaks. Both tests are useful because bigger leaks show up best with the compression test. Of course catastrophic failure will show up as bubbles even just cranking . Even cranking the engine will sound uneven. The best ones are the geysers !!

[NateHertz]

Anyone got a tool list for everything to head swap gasket timing belt and water pump