cooling issues!!!! advice

[phaetonv10]

hey guys
my 1.6NA starts to heat up at cruising speeds, full throttle, with the AC on.
It has a two speed fan, and the radiator is standard, aftermarket, sort of custom made;)
I think the problem is the radiator, but a friend of mine, Torch'd, the previous owner of the car, says that its not the radiator. he suggests that i replace the HG with a metal one and drill the extra holes in the block and head.
need expert opinion
any help shall be highly appreciated....

[jtanguay]

could be a number of things.  just to give you an example, my car had what appeared to be a nest between the a/c condensor and radiator (caked with mud etc)...  i cleaned that up and my cooling was significantly better.

i had a similar issue with running a thermostat that wasn't opening until about 98C.  my balls weren't big enough for me to see how far the needle would go before my head gasket gave out, so i would 'baby' the car...  i finally got around to pulling the t-stat, tested it, got mad, went to c-tire and bought their cheapie for about $10 vs stealer's $30 hunk of junk. about 2 years ago, and still using the cheapie... never looked back.

the lower radiator hose could also be collapsing...  feel it with your hand to see if its all mushy.

[arb]

the lower radiator hose could also be collapsing...  feel it with your hand to see if its all mushy.

I had that on a MKI cause over heating...

[Rabbit on Roids]

Collapsing? are you guys kidding? my lower hose is the one that explodes when ive got too much cooling system pressure. ive never had it collapse. if it does collapse, just find a pretty big spring and put it in the hose.

[arb]

Collapsing? are you guys kidding? my lower hose is the one that explodes when ive got too much cooling system pressure. ive never had it collapse. if it does collapse, just find a pretty big spring and put it in the hose.

The lower hose the the "suction" side of the loop, so when your engine is running high rpm is when it could collapse, causing lack of flow through the radiiator and over heating.

Did you check it when cold ?

[Rabbit on Roids]

yea, on my setup, if you rev on it too hard after separating the lower hose, it just blows it right apart. i always thought pressure was what separated hoses? i know it "should" be the suction side.. having my radiator shouldnt have anything to do with that either..