Just wondering for all those who have attempted the 2.3 086 head on the 2.4 bottom end have had any problems with overheating. I recently did my second buildup of my hybrid after i forgot to thread lock the exhaust sprocket bolt my first time around.
On my first build, it only ran for about 20 min at a time before it finally bent 6 exhaust valves so I really didn't get to see if the temps were good or not. This time, I had a hell of a time getting the plumbing right to the head since the 2.4 and 2.3 coolant housings and mating surfaces on the heads are different. I did do a little bit of a rig job there with the aluminum housing from the 2.3 and some pipe fittings and plugs but it seems to be flowing ok and i have plenty of heat from the heater inside. The thermostat got replaced the first time around and i checked it out this time and it seemed fine. It reaches about 240 degrees idling and hits the red while driving. Thought it was air in the system and have tried bleeding it out but only seemed to get a little bit out. Anyone got any suggestions??
oh and I replaced the water pump also even though the orginal still looked almost brand new
Are you using the stock 2.4L thermostat in the black L-bend? If so, ditch it and run a 160° 2.3L thermostat in the head. That's what I did, and it took care of my overheating problems.
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"Youth in Asia"...I don't see anything wrong with that.
sweet beans. I'll give it a try. Thanks!
yea..ditch the tstat in the back..just make sure you seal that area or it WILL leak...the 2.3 used the tstat on the side of the head in the little housing..hopfully that will fix your problem
whats wrong with just runnin a cooler stat?
by that, i meant cooler LD9 thermostat instead of using a 2.3.
scott (section8cav) wrote:yea..ditch the tstat in the back..just make sure you seal that area or it WILL leak...the 2.3 used the tstat on the side of the head in the little housing..hopfully that will fix your problem
Good point. I took the o-ring out of the old themostat and used it to seal and no problems so far (about 1 1/2 years).
Thrice . wrote:whats wrong with just runnin a cooler stat?
2 reasons
1) The LD9 thermostat is significantly smaller than the 2.3L, so at full-open it won't flow as much volume, which is evident by his overheating problems while the car is in motion.
and
2) The LD9 thermostat is in one of the most painfully difficult places to get to in the event that it need to be replaced. The 2.3L thermo is right between the head and water neck, so it shouldn't take more than 5-10 min to replace.
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"Youth in Asia"...I don't see anything wrong with that.
And if I'm correct, 160 degrees is the coldest the thermostats go for these engines. I would love to go colder because I think i'm running pretty lean since I have no fuel mods as of yet. working on a afpr and maybe an fmu. The thing runs like a pig but not in the form of being to rich; just the opposite. So ditch the 2.4 tstat, seal up the connection with the original o-ring, seal it up with some rtv and just use the 2.3 tstat in the coolant outlet housing with the 2.3
gasket, correct?
you could just try cutting the center out of the 2.4 t-stat and then it would flow freely...
randizzle wrote:z yaaaa wrote:you could just try cutting the center out of the 2.4 t-stat and then it would flow freely...
i hope that's a joke?
joke? thats what i did with mine..just to seal the pipe anyway..you still have to use the one on the side of the head...but to get a good seal on the old location just cut the center out of it and use the outer seal...............no joke
joke? no... it works and works well i did it in my 92 beretta because it was constantly having cooling issues, we tried EVERYTHING to fix it, doing this 'mod' to the t-stat was the only thing that worked.
whats so hard to believe?? it was never a problem for THAT car (it had a 3.1 v6) i dont see why it would be for anything else that has a similar system.
I'm just picturing you cutting out all of the guts of a thermostat leaving nothing but a thermostat frame and an o-ring (which would be worthless). what exactly do you cut out?
87 Firebird
All stock...........lol.
OR..
and this is big
use the STOCK LD2\LG0 spacer that is used to seal it.....
works great.
..ohhhhhh i guess i can give you guys a PN at work wed..
NOW MAKE ME THAT HEADER
Chris
'02 Z-24 Supercharged
13.7 @102.45 MPH Third Place, 2007 GMSC Bash SOLD AS OF 01MAR08
well, it does leave the center arch thingy in it, but come to realize the engine did end up failing due to the cooling system, so maybe its not such a good idea.
i used the 2.4 tstat on mine and never got any problem with it. but i admit its alot easier to change in the water neck. i might just use the 2.3 now!!!
All right. I'll give it a try on Saturday when I have off. For those with the hybrid, what other mods do you have such as fuel upgrades. I'm going to look into it this weekend and want something easy to maintain.
Quote:
I'm just picturing you cutting out all of the guts of a thermostat leaving nothing but a thermostat frame and an o-ring (which would be worthless)
no its not worthless...THAT cut out stat is only used to SEAL the location...THEN you install the 2.3 stat on the water neck on the side of the head ....so you still have a working tstat but now you only have ONE and its a bigger one so it flows more
Update. Well put the 2.3 tstat in and gutted the original 2.4's and now it doesn't even reach 190 degrees! So it worked, but it might of worked too well!!
I'm just hoping it still goes into closed loop! If not i'll just switch out the 160 for the 190 some degree one like i was originally going to do anyways. Why i didn't, i have no clue! Thanks for the great help guys!!
