Lifted E30 V2

[KaiserRolls]

Have you shot it with a temp gun?

[GunMetalGrey]

KaiserRolls said:

Have you shot it with a temp gun?

I can assure you it is actually overheating. 
But no, I do not have one.

[Jdesign]

Could it be a flow issue? Did you try forcing coolant through the system or vacuuming the air out? Also are you putting the car at an extreme angle when you are bleeding it? I think sharing your bleeding process in more detail might help depict the issue.

[jc43089]

The e30s all have self bleeding cooling systems right, early ones had the rounded expansion tank and late had the lumpy one.  Is your bleed line clogged that comes from the top of the radiator?

[GunMetalGrey]

I am starting to think my problem is not surface level. 
I massaged hoses for awhile last night, cracked the bleeder for a bit, and checked levels. 
I then went for a drive, and the coolant took awhile to get to temp but slowly started creeping past once I got there. I felt the radiator and once again just the top row was hot. 
I went to squeeze a coolant hose after shutting the car off and it was hard, much more so than normal. The rest of them were plagued by the same problem.

I am starting to think that somewhere in the cooling jacket the block was cracked when the "coolant" froze and this is causing my problems.

I started all of these lines with the letter I, so that is amusing.

[GunMetalGrey]

Hoses were soft last night. 

Car is sitting outside in a timeout.

[straight6pwr]

couple ideas to try -  fill the radiator directly from the top hose opening

did you run the whole thing with the thermostat completely removed?

[GunMetalGrey]

straight6pwr said:

couple ideas to try -  fill the radiator directly from the top hose opening

did you run the whole thing with the thermostat completely removed?

Yeah, it crept over 1/2 when idling.

[Boris3]

Probably missed reading this in earlier posts but is the radiator used or new? If only the top hose and top part of the radiator are getting hot could be a partial blockage issue in the radiator even if fluid is running through it. Flush might dislodge it but not necessarily.

As far as blockage somewhere else, block drain plug pulled and block flushed? Getting any heat, if not maybe the blockage is in the heater core?

[GunMetalGrey]

I have tried two different radiators, one from the previous car that was known working. Same issue was present in both. 

Drain plug in block I'm not 100% if I did or not. 

Heat in cabin is hot as crap when it starts overheating, so that isn't plugged.

[Boris3]

Sounds like there is some circulation taking place.

Does the bottom radiator hose heat up at all?

Thermostat housing is all clean, no partial blocking?

I'd go back to KaiserRolls point about shooting with an infrared to get a sense of actual temps at the block, temp sensor housing, etc. You replaced the sensor and checked the plug wiring but how about the gauge (ground nut loose)? Still may be overheating but is the gauge reading the extent accurately?

You mentioned water pump blades and freezing earlier, when you stethoscope around the pump area any strange noises?

[jc43089]

I would remove and inspect the water pump, if the radiator flows and it will also overheat with no tstat installed, then there is not enough flow going around.

[GunMetalGrey]

Water pump was removed and inspected, and appeared to be fully intact. 

Only time I got lower rad hose temp was with the thermostat removed. 

All housings appeared to be free of blockages. 

Water pump to thermostat hose gets crazy hot, upper rad hose gets pretty darn warm, lower hose doesn't do much of anything. 

I added an additional hole to the upper portion of the thermostat and that didn't appear to help. Thermostat was bench tested / replaced to no avail. 

My only real lead lately is how hard the hoses got when at operating temp. They were darn near solid, but after the car sat overnight they went back to normal. 
I can tell it is overheating quite a bit because when it gets up in the temp gauge range it blows insanely hot heat from the vents.

[KaiserRolls]

Get a temp gun dude

[patsbimmer1]

The upper radiator hose getting hard isn't really relevant.  The cooling system is a pressurized system so the upper hose should get hard.  The only symptom you have is the lower hose doesn't get hot but with the thermostat removed it does get hot.  So your thermostat isn't opening.  That's the problem you need to be solving.

[GunMetalGrey]

patsbimmer1 said:

The upper radiator hose getting hard isn't really relevant.  The cooling system is a pressurized system so the upper hose should get hard.  The only symptom you have is the lower hose doesn't get hot but with the thermostat removed it does get hot.  So your thermostat isn't opening.  That's the problem you need to be solving.

All hoses are rock hard. Not just the upper. 

I'm aware the thermostat isn't opening, but I have come across no reason for it not to be. This is my problem.

[KaiserRolls]

Take the t stat out and toss it in some boiling water and see if it will open

[Boris3]

Did you try boiling the thermostats (stove test) to see if they open? Not unheard of to get new ones that are bad out of the box.

[patsbimmer1]

I'm just trying to say, don't over think it.  It's probably something very obvious causing it.

[GunMetalGrey]

I've boiled all thermostats and they opened just fine. Newest one I added an additional hole to assist bleeding. 

Trying not to overthink it, but I've done all of the simple stuff 3 times now and I'm getting nowhere. I'm running out of ideas. 

My only other thought is to try switching the heater core hoses, but since the heater works very well I don't think that is it. Though it's probably the last thing I haven't tried.