Anyone have any idea why it keeps overheating? Changed water pump, thermostat 3 times, just had head gasket done everything looks to be working right, water circulating ok but still overheating, at a loss as to whats wrong! Any ideas?

Edited August 15, 20178 yr by Lisashortstuff
Ford Escort 1997

is the temp guage right up? or are you saying the water boils past the pressure cap? or both?

when does it overheat?  when left idling for a long time?  or just when driving hard?

I know you say water circulating ok, but have you actually checked the radiator?   years and years ago I do recall the radiators would get bunged up with silt and you could clear them by taking them off the car and putting upside down and reverse flushing them. I am talking about the types of rads in mk3 cortinas etc where you have the tanks on the top and bottom of vertical waterways through the rad.

I assume you have checked the electric radiator fan cuts in when the temp gets up. I don't know if it is possible to get it wrong but make sure fan is not sucking the air the wrong way (eg. if fan mounted back to front or wires switched around- I do not know if it is possible to get this wrong).

I had a sierra where the water kept boiling past the cap, although temp guage not up really high. This was because of uneveness in the neck of the coolant reservoir where the rubber washer of the pressure cap pressed on it. it did not seal well so did not maintain enough pressure in the coolant. I do not know what style cap yours has

 

Yes the temp guage is right up, it happens all the time regardless of standing idling, driving in normal traffic conditions or driving it hard. Under normal driving conditions it'll hit top of guage within about 10 mins. I've had the radiator system all flushed out so that should be ok. I've had all my sensors checked and they're all good only thing left to change is pressure cap as soon as i can get a geniune one.

Heaters working fine?