Hi guys, I finished installing my rpd r3 cam and valve springs.
Started fine, but with the tapping, ran fine. But now after about 70 km's on the cam the car is overheating.

So i pulled over and checked it out, no leaks, oil was fine. So i thought maybe the gas just needs readjusted because of the new cam.

So I let it cool down, started it up on petrol and drove, about 10- 15 minutes later the same happened.

Heres what has been fixed replaced.
Head gasket - couple weeks/months ago
Water pump - about 4 months ago
Radiator and thermostat - about 6 or 7 months ago

Its on duel fuel since february. Has run a treat after the head gasket was replaced.
But now its over heating, what could it be ???

how big is the cam,is it designed for petrol or gas? you have to tune it for 1 or the other,and gas wont like a big petrol cam,too much over lap.

Its the RPD rspec 3 cam,

I thought the same, but it still over heated on petrol, It idles quite nicely if that matters (on both petrol and gas, but very smooth on gas).

I just have stock EL gli computer.

check your water return for air bubbles at idle,when hot.if you can pull plugs out and check the colours.watch idle for 15 min. and check temp gauge,thermostat maybe?

Check timing. Cam and Ignition.

What vacuum is it operating at.

I have checked the water return for bubbles, but there are none.

I will take some plugs out soon, but i was also thinking thermostat.

It is a good idea to run the car without a thermostat (temporarily, maybe a week or something at most?).

The temp gauge moves up and down gradually while you drive around in the city, where before it never really done that.

If someone with an R3 cam reads this, could you let me know if you had any troubles with the stock ecu (leaning out mixtures etc.)

did you check valve clearences when you did the new cam???

Thermostat might be stuck closed.

You havn't reinstalled the acc belt wrong way making water pump pump in reverse?

there could also be air pocket in your head which id dought.

Are you running coolant? if no how hard are you driving the car?

have you pluged the thermofans back in?

if the car sits and starts to get hot do the thermos kick in?

dose acc kick one thremo on?

is the coolant new or old?

how clean your coolant?

there could be blocks in your radiator

has your ecu got any error codes???


I think that will kep you bussy for the weekend LOL

good luck

Yes, they where fine, I wouldnt think they would cause this though


There must be some water flowing through, If I remove the thermostat would that affect anything (apart from warm up)


No the belt is on the right way, not even sure if you could do this.


Might be, is there any way to check?


I am running distilled water, I had to remove the a coolant pipe (for the gas converter) which went over the rocker cover, so therefore used distilled water.


Yes thermos are plugged in.


I didnt let it get that hot, but it was close (so possibly yes or no)
I will put the car in diag mode and test thermos.


There might be, but it isnt that old, and I have drained and refilled it several times since new (damn cooling system).


Will reply soon.

i should of asked when i gave you the list was

when you say over heating do you mean all the way and the car alarms you of engine temp? or like over the half way on the temp bar?

take it for a drive down to ya local shops and drive back so it warms up then park the car in the drive way and watch temp gauge and see if them thermos kick in

You shouldn't run your car without thermostat unless you want to cause damage from running a too cold engine.
(nothing warmed up, expanted to correct run sizes like pistons havn't expainded in chamber to correct gaps and when you get(lead foot) into the car the pistons have free play can can damage the chambers.
That just a basic cause of running a cold engine also goes with engine oil hasn't thinned out to lubicate the engine correctly.)
Also you lose your 92 degress running temp cause the engine to allways run cold and go threw fuel a lot more as well.


Trust me you think it hard to f**k up a belt direction your should see some of the stuff we get at workshop on some cars LOL when they could of looked up and it on the bottem of the bonnet most of the time lol (funny tow in's)

IM APPRENTICE MECHANIC and i get all the s**t jobs lol
like fix alot of stuff and timming belts and solinoid valves and services and etc i recapped over cooling systems last week that proberly why im on the ball today lol

Ahaha true.

I checked fault codes and mucked around for a while, but it all seems ok now. Only one thermos workes though

Went for a drive, and it didnt heat up, still a little uneasy though. The temp gauge keeps moving up and down between the M and A on the NORMAL scale.

I usually stopped the car before the gauge went over the R, which is quite hot for the engine. I will have to see over the next couple days though, will keep checking the list.

Just a roughy , but is the motor actually getting hot , or are you just going by the temp gauge. The wire came off my sender unit and when it earthed on the motor the gauge went sky high. Sh** myself .. !!!

Yer i have placed my hand on the rocker cover and boy did i move it quick.

Today I took the rocker gear off again for some more shims, and it runs even better than before. Power everywhere! brillant idle and everything.

I went for a decent drive and it didnt over heat at all, so I will be watching it over the next couple days, with lots of distilled water in the boot (and lots of rags) just in case.

But it all looks good now, thanks for the input guys.

More Shims? as in 3 layers of 1.9mm?
Did that remove the tapping noise?

I have 3 washer type shims plus the standard ford one in the exhaust and intake.

I think all the tapping has stopped, I have the injector tapping, but havent run it on gas yet. Too scared.

Thats too much. The lifters must be literally hanging out of the rocker arms, which could lead to rocker arm damage if they turn sideways.

If your lifters are noisy then replace the lifters, dont keep stuffing shims behind them