Well my buddie was driving my car about 2 weeks ago and he over heated it to the point that the radiator was shooting coolant out of it on the bottom tank. He was on 74 when he noticed that the temp gauge was pegged in the red. He then proceeded to drive the car still, down towards the shell station across from paradice. Hmmmm a little dumb if you ask me.

So any way i replaced the radiator and the thermostat and the car still over heats after a few minutes of driving it. I checked the dipstick to the oil and it does not seem to have any coolant in it. I also checked the overflow tank and it did not seem to have any oil in it. So i am asking you guys what i should do next. Do i take the head off thinking its a head gasket or maybe i need to mill the head or what. Please any knowledge of the situation would be great. Thanks!

you might want to check to see if you installed the thermostat upside down.... if you did (easy to do) it will not open and close properly.

another cheap diagnostic you can do is to drain the antifreeze and check to see if there is oil in it (sure sign of blown head gasket/cracked head)

Do your fans kick on???

does your car blow white smoke/steam from the exhaust???

you may have also got a bad thermostat (happens too).
you might just want to pick up another one while you are checking the install of the current new one. they are cheap!!!

after that I can not think of anything else besides blown head gasket/cracked head

Good luck

I hope this helps

The thermostat is installed right and my fans are wired so they run all of the time. The first time i started the car it blew white smoke but hasnt done it since. I did notice the white smoke coming out of the over flow tank and it came out of the thermostat housing when i took the cap off it to.

could be the water pump

Imma hafta go with Spy on this one. If your head gasket wasn't already blown, driving the car that far with the temp in the red probably did it for you. Its possible that your head is warped as well. I'd get it checked by a machine shop. I'd also check your water pump.

And gsxracer, how could you possibly install a thermostat upside down? The cap wouldn't close...

I bet if you do a leakdown test you'll get bubbles in the coolant.

did it once on another car.... figured that if it can be done on one car, it can be done on others.

I've accually never changed the thermostat in the DSM.

Thanks

how do you check to see if your waterpump is bad besides pulling it off?

they way i check them is remove the thermostat and start the car and see if the water if flowing.