Car overheating problem

HARRIS AFRICA

MEMBER
2004 FORD IKON
1.3L
4 CYL
2WD
MANUAL
279,000 MILES

I recently blew a head gasket. I had the head skim and re-seated four valves. I also had some work done on the crank due to a clogged pick-up. Replaced all bearings to their new cup sizes, new oil pump and replaced all the rings as well. Once assembled and started the car started overheating, so I replaced the water pump thinking it might be the sole course of it but still it overheats. Took out the thermostat but still it overheats, had the thermostat checked out but it was all good since I replaced the thermostat housing just a couple of months ago. I flushed the cooling system and even replaced the radiator, but still it overheats to an extent that the water starts boiling in the water tank. Now I'm clueless what to do next. Please help

1 Reply

SCGRANTURISMO

MECHANIC
4,897 POSTS

Hello,

This sounds to me like you might have an air pocket in your cooling system. When you refill your cooling system you need to fill it from the highest point and let the coolant push all the air out of the system. Water, or in this case, coolant, will always go to the lowest point possible. It is a law of nature, so it has no choice. For instance, in my personal vehicle, a 1997 Ford Mustang GT with a 4.6L engine, If I take the upper radiator hose off and start filling the cooling system with coolant from there, knowing it is the highest point of the cooling system, and very easy to get to, until it runs out of the thermostat neck that the upper radiator hose connects to, then I know that the cooling system is full with no air pockets and will operate properly. When air pockets get in the cooling system they act as "road blocks" not letting the coolant flow and creating a hot spot, where that part of the engine will not get cooled.
To fix this just fill the cooling system from the highest point until the coolant flows out the other side of where you break the circuit at. I have included a couple of links for you down below.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/engine-coolant-59420607
https://www.2carpros.com/articles/engine-cooling-system

Please get back to us with what you find out

Thanks,
Alex
2CarPros