i just got my reman started and i cant keep it running for more than a couple minutes without it trying to overheat. so i took the thermostat out, tried it again and it still overheated.
now i'm checking the coolant level at the radiator fill cap and it appeared to be a little low, so i added some coolant and there are little flakes floating on the top of my coolant... what could this be?

 

Metalic flakes?

Oh jeeze.....
Fluch the coolant system and see what comes out......

 

should i be worried

 

Did you port this engine? maybe there was metal shavings stuck in some of the water passages?

 

Removing a working thermostat is not going to keep it from overheating. If anything, it will make it worse.

If the coolant level is low, maybe there were some air bubbles in the block that haven't worked there way out yet?

 

Start it without the cap and let all the air out, then top it off (before it gets warm), then close it all up and try again.

 

Are the flakes magnetic? Might simply be flaking from the inside of the water pump housing, rotor housing, etc. Or could be some odd sealant the builder used.

As for overheating, make sure that the engine is completely purged of air. It's handy to disconnect the coolant hose at the back of the throttle body and fill until that hose overflows.

Oh, and put that thermostat back in.

 

When I got my rebuild running again I just put water in to flush everything... when I drained it the water was clear and a dead spider came out... flush the coolant then refill it and see if the flakes keep coming out.

 

under further review it seems that it is the engine assembly grease. the flakes turned into goop when i touched them.

 

now about the overheating... i turned the key to ON today when i woke up (the car had sat all night) and the temp gauge went right to the middle. then after the car warmed up the gauge went up to above 3/4. i shut it off before it hit the H cause i was scared

i have a series4 rear iron in my reman (its a s5TII everything else) so i am using a series4 coolant temp sensor... could this have anything to do with it?

 

If the temp was in the middle when the car was cold, your temp sensor is screwed. Try checking it to see if its working correctly.

 

is the coolant even circulating through the radiator. feel all the hoses and see if they are getting hot.

 

yeh, the resistances/outputs of the S4 & S5 temp senders might be different- hence the funky readings...get one that will match the series car gauge cluster & see what happens...

 

i cant get one that matches the series because i have a series4 rear iron on my reman (series4 coolant temp sensor threads) and a series5 car. its also a new series4 coolant temp sensor from autozone so the problem would have to be the incompatibility between the series'

can anyone find out for sure if they have different outputs? i would imagine so because the gauges are different between series4 and series5's

 

anyone? anyone?

 

anyone? anyone?

 

options:
1) find an adapter fitting to thread an S5 sensor into the rear housing (although the probe will probably sit further from the coolant stream then)
2) use it as is, keeping in mind the needle starts at the halfway point (kinda scary, huh?)
3) find a suitable resister (through trial & error) to install in series with the circuit to get the needle to start at the proper location (not sure if this would work or not)
4) install an aftermarket temp gage