Overheating, water pump or radiator

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bcrawford

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So here is the story. Valley pan gasket went out and i started leaking massive amounts of coolant. Got a ridiculous quote for an upper intake manifold gasket as the issue so I decided to do it myself. Decided to replace a few more gaskets while i was at it since I was close. Head gaskets, upper and lower intake manifold gaskets, and valve cover gaskets. Had a leak from a thermostat when I started it up, so replaced it with a soft spring thermostat.

Fired it up again today to diagnose the repair and I am overheating. checked the auxiliary fan and it was spinning, checked the fuse and it was blown. Swapped out the fuse and tried again, still overheating. Fan was moving air but using an OBD scanner the temps were rising to 215-220. Coolant level is not changing, and no puddles anywhere under the car, and no sweet smell out the tailpipe (in case the HG job failed). So this leads me to believe it is one of two issues although they weren't issues before fixing the gaskets.

1) water pump is out

2) the radiator is clogged

Any quick and easy ways to check which one it might be?
 

YosemiteSam

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Could be a air pocket within the coolant/radiator/hoses. Was the system properly bled off?


Also could be radiator cap not holding pressure.
 
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bcrawford

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Much to my dismay, I have to admit I am a complete *****. On a whim I decided to look through the coolant system diagram in the RAVE manual. I realized that in my hurry to test my head gasket replacement I rushed through the thermostat. On closer inspection, i realized that I have swapped the two hoses coming off the top of the thermostat. That would essentially block all coolant flow through the thermostat off the radiator top hose and only allow flow through the radiator. That explains why the temp climbed and seemed to slow down near 190 but never stop. So now I'll swap the hoses, refill and try again.
 

bcrawford

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Switched the thermostat hoses yesterday and my engine temp is steady around 186 F. I tightened the bleed screw too much and it sheared :hmpf: seems like every 2 steps forward, there is one step back. I'm going to see if I can salvage one off an old disco today, if not then i'll order the BMW part that seems to be an identical replacement.

I also seem to have a ticking noise that wasn't there before the HG repair. It is a higher pitched tick, almost like a playing card in a bicycle spoke type of sound that ticks with the RPM of the vehicle. Someone suggested a collapsed lifter. Seems like a pretty likely possibility, I have thought about putting ATF in there if it doesn't go away after driving it some more (so far I have only circled the block a few times to see if the overheating issue is gone). I have heard that could cause more issues though? Currently an 03 disco with 115k miles. Any thoughts?
 

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