I've got a slight problem. Just had my headgasket replaced, thermostat and radiator cap. Car is overheating again. Any ideas? I was thinking maybe the water pump?

 

Did you make sure to get all the air out of the system.
With the cap off can you see the water moving once the thermostat opens.
Do any of the coolant hoses seem to get abnormaly hard when it get up to temp.

 

Do what Tom said just make sure the cooling system is not pressurized. Meaning if you drove it... let it sit for an hr or so and turn the radiator cap slowly so no coolant comes flying at you causing severe burns.

You can always do that on a cold start. Take the radiator cap off and start the car.

Really just for added assurance this is just me. I'm paranoid due to things that happened in the past with previous DSM's. When I replace the rad. cap, thermostat, I usually go ahead and replace the rad. hoses as well. Thats just some assurance on my part.

Is the fan kicking on? Like Tom stated are you sure you got all the air bubbles out of the system? Maybe it could be a faulty thermostat... even though its new it can happen.

 

Both fans work, and I'm not real sure about the hoses yet (if they get hard).

So I just start the car with the cap off and wait for the coolant to start flowing, then I know there is no air in there?

 

Well everytime I've replace cooling parts and flushed out my cooling system and replaced parts and added the coolant...

I start the car with the radiator cap off. Add coolant when necessary. Wait till it starts to boil... see all the air bubbles popping (you will see the coolant rise and go up and down and just start to the top of your thermostat housing... keep an eye on those bubbles because it will stop and when you think its done some more while appear / I usually have the car running for about 5 min or so just to make sure all of them are out or atleast most) once it completely stops and if the fan kicked on I put the radiator cap on... if the air bubbles stop popping and the fan doesn't kick on I wait and wait till it does. You want to make sure the fan kicks on. Thats the way I do it... I'm sure there's other ways but thats the way I've done it for years and I have had no problems.

 

Thanks for the help guys, rep given, I'm gonna try this when I get off of work tomorrow and see what I come up with.

 

Remember to let the car cool off for a couple/few hrs before attempting to take off the radiator cap since the system will be under pressure if the car was running unless your starting the car from a cold start then its okay to take off the radiator cap and start the car.

 

Yeah, my uncle did that shit when I was in high school, messed him up pretty bad.

 

I think the problem is solved. I did what you guys said, without changing the hoses cause I'm running real short on money right now. But I drove it around afterwards giving it as much hell as I could driving on base, came back parked it. After it shut off, no boiling or no extra coolant in the resevoir.
So I did that, put on my bov, installed my new turbo timer, and mbc. Now I just gotta get my walbro, injectors and fmic piping and I should be good for a while. I'll do that when I get back from the big sand box across the water.
Thanks to all for your help, and thanks to Brothers for your great work.

 

Glad we could help. Good luck with the rest of the adventures.