I recently replaced the Head gasket on my 96 Cavi (2.2 AT). At that time, i had to replace the head (cracked), I put in new plugs, wires, water pump, alternator, serpentine belt, PCV Valve, the head bolts (of course), and every gasket associated with the job (no Tstat, read on). The first time i drove it the temp went to hot, so i had it towed back home. I went to replace the Tstat, and couldnt get the bolts from the housing off. so i ended up replaced the housing, as well as the t-stat. I filled and bled the system. No problems this time. I drove it for a week (270 miles) with no real problems, the only issue i had was a ticking noise from the left side of the motor, closest to #1 cylinder, I dismissed this as a stuck lifter, and figured it could work itself out.

Fast Forward to the other evening. I start the car, and it runs like dirt. engine light comes on. I make sure my fluids are good, and decide to limp home on what feels like 3 cylinders. I made it home with no issues. This morning, i figured i could take it to work (goodyear) and find my misfire, hoping for a cracked plug, bad wire, something stupid of the sort...well i didnt get very far. The car drove about 4 miles, and began to overheat! So I pull over, and it starts to go down...what the hell? im thinkin restriction and/or bad t-stat, because if i just let it idle, it wont overheat. it will rn at just over half on the temp guage. as if its getting some coolant flow, but not enough at higher rpms?

The misfire has me baffled. ive switched plugs and wires around, so those are good. the coil pack is good. (did you know if you switch 1&4, and 2&3 the engine runs abut normal? weird). maybe the ticking is a loose rocker arm, and its not operating the valve properly? I noticed ALOT of carbon on the spark plug..

help me if you can..

btw i hpe this is the right section..

I had the same problem! Just replaced my head because I cracked it from overheating. After getting everything back together it'd do the exact same thing (overheat at idle or by driving) and tick somewhere under the valve cover. We changed the Tstat and all that jazz with the same results. After awhile it started creeping down to norm (water temp) and the ticking stopped?

The only thing we did was re-torque the rockers since that's needed after letting them seat, and we continously put dex-cool coolant into it while letting it idle (if it went over 190deg).

You could've screwed something up with your valves by revving so high under the 500mile mark and them not being fully seated or re-torqued....


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Heya Jeff, You mentioned engine light comes on?. I did you get the trouble code scanned?. Its sound like for youre overheat issue, Would be you still got air in youre cooling system, Did you fill youre coolant up, With the motor idling with the resoivor cap off and youre heater cranked on full blast for about 5-10mins. With that method should be 100% for sure getting youre air out of youre cooling system. Did you do a cool system flush with the additive?. Also could have a temp sending unit issue, Also hows the condition of the rad, May also have blockage in a area in the rad cores.

^^ Most of what he said was what I was going for!! Your cooling system has an air bubble in it basically and it has to continuosly circulate through with you filling the coolant up for it to eventually get out. It took me a good day to get it done and when getting back on the road it did the whole halfway in between norm water temp and pegging max temp! It eventually went back to norm for good after another day of driving under 3k rpms around town!


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Where did you get your cylinder head from?





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I scanned the code, and came up with P0301 (cyl. 1 Misfire). It turned out to be the coil. random..

Im still having issues with the overheating. I took it to my shop and decided to let them take my money for diagnosis. They said it was the thermostat i had just put in. So i told them to have at it, and make it work. they ran it at idle for one hour, then drove it for 20 miles (highway) and said it was good to go.

I drove it home, temp stayed in the 1/2 to 3/4 range (seemed high..), with no issues. Coming home from work this morning it pegged to hot. so i limped it home (40 mins to go 3 miles..that sucked balls). Once it cooled down, i removed the rad cap, and the reserve was full. i opened the two bleed screws for the cooling system, and a TON of air came out...it took an additional 1/2 gallon of coolant. basically the technician didnt bleed it properly.

Im gonna do what you guys suggested (and what we do at work) and pop the cap and let it bleed itself. I've never run into such a picky system.

Thanks for your input guys!!! Most appreciated.

BTW, what do you guys consider "normal" operation temp via the in-car guage? i would assume anywhere close to half would be good..?

Oh, I got the head from Autozone (Moore's is their distributor). two things i saw i didnt like.

1.) the entire thing is painted (except for combustion chamber area), so you need to clean the paint off, specifically the EGR/Coolant housing side so as not to contaminate the new coolant.

2.) there are these "drain plug" looking things on both ends of the head (one on front, one on back). My only guess is thats the area they drilled out to physically get into the head? ill take some pics if you guys wanna see.

I guess i should pull the valve cover and re-torque the rockers. hopefully that kills the tick.

Ive come to the conclusion that it only overheats when driving, not while idling, OR racing the motor. this makes no sense to me at all..ideas?