Honda 3.5 thermostat or no thermostat

[baja5]

Thanks for all the info guys. The other question I have for the Honda guys is what temp does your fans come on at? Cause we put a new fan switch on it to and it doesn't turn the fans on tell 230.

230 is too high. Mine kick on at 210 or so and the gauge never goes above that.

[Farmer fab]

Thanks for all the info guys. The other question I have for the Honda guys is what temp does your fans come on at? Cause we put a new fan switch on it to and it doesn't turn the fans on tell 230.

230 is too high. Mine kick on at 210 or so and the gauge never goes above that.

So do they sale different factory temperatures switches?

[baja5]

No, just the one on the thermostat housing. That switch is actually a back up. the fans are actually controlled by the PCM. They work though. I would stay away from aftermarket ones.

[petew]

I might have come in late but 2 things...
1. He's not bled all the air out. He needs some sort of purge point at the HIGHEST point in the system.
2. ALWAYS use a thermostat. Will kill the motor early otherwise. You can however take the FLIPPER VALVE (small metal tag that sits in a tiny hole) out of the thermostat to allow air to pass through the thermostat and be bled out more easily.

[Farmer fab]

The air is all out of the system that was the first thing I checked. Even though the radiator is in the front it is higher than the motor. I'm down to just water flow I'm thinking cause when it is idling and start to get hot like 230 all I have to do is get the rpms up to like 2500 and the temp starts to fall fast back down to 205. Thinking of doing a inline water pump. Any ideas on one?

[petew]

If it's sitting as high as 205F to begin with, you might want to consider a bigger radiator. When I had my Subaru EJ25, the fans were already coming on around that temp. 230 is already near the danger zone for most modern engines with alloy heads. 260 is a real worry. In fact, I think that's might be your issue. Could you post some pics of your setup? That helps a lot.

The other thing to consider is how the air is getting to and away from the radiator. Is there an obvious draw through in the system? Again, pics will help us.

[takotruckin]

The air is all out of the system that was the first thing I checked. Even though the radiator is in the front it is higher than the motor. I'm down to just water flow I'm thinking cause when it is idling and start to get hot like 230 all I have to do is get the rpms up to like 2500 and the temp starts to fall fast back down to 205. Thinking of doing a inline water pump. Any ideas on one?

You don't need an inline water pump. You either have a restriction somewhere or air in the system.

I had a front radiator system for a long time, the air is hard to get out, any high point needs to be cracked loose and bled.

[petew]

Hmmm, yeah. I'm still thinking that.

[az66ss]

My 3.5 was kind of a pain to bleed and I have a rear mounted radiator. Runs cool now though. Definitely run a thermostat. If car won't stay cool then there's something else going on. My fans hardly come on at all.

[az66ss]

On another note. 3.5 baja is a blast to drive! Luckily I'm in N Arizona so we done get grief for fenders and whatnot. 500 miles on it so far and the 5 rib is holding up. Tapping on wood now.

[Leatherneck]

Az66 we need pictures.

[Farmer fab]

IMG _20160229_221444.jpg

[petew]

Hmmm, that's not looking very big. When I was building my EJ25 buggy years ago, I was told by experts the air inlet area needed to be minimum 40% of the radiator area. But like you said, you also need to get the air AWAY from the radiator afterwards too. Any chance we can get some other pics of the car to get a better look at it?

[Farmer fab]

Thanks for all the help u guys. I am pretty sure I fixed it but I don't know what did it lol. Got a little inpatient one day last week and started throwing parts at it. Did the water pump, new thermostat, new fan switch, and water wetter. Now it only got to 220 after an hour of driving it at plaster City in 3rd gear luggin it alot in the wash and little mud hills. But besides that it ran at like 205 most of the day. So in all I don't know what fixed it but glad it is running cooler.

[petew]

Nice to hear it all sorted out.