Summer is here! Let the overheating begin. Before I delve into my story,
let me ask a question about something only a novice would not know: when
driving down the road, what temp, as read from the gauge, is considered
"overheating?" I know that 212 is boiling, though the wonder of a
cooling system means that at that temp the water is not yet boiling; but
how hot is too hot?
Now that the weather has finally warmed up (85+ during the day), my SII,
with a stock cooling setup, has taken to getting hot (half way between
190 and 230 on the gauge) all too regularly. When it does this, it
begins spewing out some rather ugly looking coolant from the overflow
tube. I have verified proper action of the thermostat (160 degree) in
pot of boiling water- appeared to have full action. Disconnecting both
ends of the rad and dumping water through it, the flow rate appears very
quick, with clean water coming out clean. Same goes for putting it
through the thermostat housing. So, I fear that there is gunk in the
block. Opening the spigot from the block results in no water coming out-
even when the system is freshly filled. Finally, the second question: is
there a way to check and/or clean out the water passages in the block
without pulling off the inlet/exhaust manifolds or (worse) removing the
whole engine?
As always, all comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Chris
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