you have more than one problem. bad temp guage, forget idle speed, ECU may try to correct overheat with high idle (some cars have this feature)

my guesses:
doest that top rad hose get fully hot, NO then stat is no good.
1: tubes in radaitor clogged.
2: rotor on water pump rusted to until almost gone.
3: bad fan clutch. <<<< high suspect.

4: ignition timing way wrong. did you time engine properly with timing light and placing the timing freeze jumper on the DLC jack? Retarded timing (gross) dump vast amounts of heat to the coolant jackets.

click>>>>>dizzy


The radiator canbe checked (your location?) buy using a IR gun.
rent ,barrow or buy one at harbor freight (tm) strore and you can measure each tube
and find if all are same temp , top to bottom ,left to top ( bottom is most important reading , cold side).


you should check timing (IGN and cam) because you had the head off.
same store you can buy a $10 timing lite, cheaper than renting, huh?

SEE NEXT POST AND link , my link makes all here redundant.

 

when head was off, did you pull pump and look at rotor and spin it to feel if bearings
are bad ( and examine inside of weep hole for signs of green glycol?)
if bearings dont fell like greased bearings, loose , noise or they feel wrong. they are junk.
WP is low life span part.
Buy oem , new pumps, not aftermarket or used pumps. ( trust me)

when you put the cam belt back on was the crank TDC pointer UP and the Cam E mark up? exactly.?
if you need any written procedures for above , let me know (timing, both)


click me >>>overheating

I added a short list to my page, it is a crude page but I hope is missing nothing.


if i had to pick one, id say your car has clogged tubes. but the IR gun would rule that out in minutes.

 

I'll check tubes tomorrow, the temp gauge is now working the ground was bad. Would U say there is a chance of a bad rad I dont have any leaks but wondering if it was a possibility, also wondering how to determine a faultiy fan clutch it seems to be performing fine.. Can u give me full detailed instructions on doing the proper timing adjustment on this thing, I made certain the cam at E position and crank were both pointing up exactly. The idle is inconsistent it goes from about (1500 and then goes down to about 700).

 

you saying it is loping or surging a idle?

inductive timing light, attach mag clamp to #1 plug point to front oftiming cover just above crank pully.see index marks.
looks something like:

10 5 and 0
|||^||||||||

but ... before that, place a small paper clip (opened up to shape of a U) in to the following jack.
Jump 4 to 5 , look here for 6 pin connector photo;
CEL

click here for IGN timing procedure.
dizzy

1 place jumper per above.
2 shine lamp strobe on crank and start engine. Idle 800 RPM.
3 loosen DIZZy clamp bolt and move DIzzy slightly UNTIL
you see 8 deg mark align with the pointer mark on the edge of the damper crank pulley.
pulley has a mark ( i put a dash of liquid paper on it)
then 8 degree mark is 8 notches to the left of 0 , above.

reason I mention timing is because all was lost with head pull.
in fact the dizzy must be completely retimed ,as you most likely
pulled it, right? no one does head work with dizzy attached.
or am I wrong.? never see that .

glad your gauge is working.
does upper RAD hose get to full temperature? it must be very hot in your case if not STAT is installed upside down, or bleed hole in
the wrong position trapping air (FSM says hole to be aligned to mark on inside of housing.).

tell my all about DIZZY , was it removed.
did you time it.

 

one thing about these engines.
if the timing is retarded ( strobing way to the right of the timing mark) the combustion throws a ton of heat into the water jacket.

that paper clip jumper freezed the ECU automatic Timing controls.
if you dont do that , the timing jumps all over the place.
making it impossible to set static timing.

 

before reading your last message I went carefully over the crank and cam position and found they were off slightly, I then readjusted the tps, and idle speed, and now idle is pretty damn good no surging or lobing around steady at 800rpm at idle, overheating subsided a little bit, but drove vehicle pretty hard for about 15min and let idle for about another 10min, and it started to seep a little fluid back to resevoir and ran hot. and yes dizzy was readjusted when head job was done.

 

one cog on the belt is alot.
that cam belt must be perfect, after that , comes the dizzy timing.

then cooling.

retarded timing, can really heat up a Radiator.


Here is my newest IGN timing steps:
click>>> dizzy

it has finer steps and lots of hints. now.

 

timing issue is fixed but still overheating how do you determine a bad fan clutch, itseems as if it spins pretty fast and spins freely when car isnt running. I had a friend ina repair shop today flush the system and there are no clogs.

 

here is what the FSM says.

fan clutch slips bellow 131F outside air temperature.
then above131F fan will stop slipping and start to slip less such that when
water pump shaft is 4000 rpm the fan is about 3000 rpm.
so below 131f fan does little to nothing.

are you sure your water pump impeller is not bad?
some just corrode to nothing.

are you sure Stat is not upside down (wax pellet must be down)?

the Stat, air bleed hole must be forward.?

is radiator cap holding 12 PSI pressure.?

* engine not retarded ignition.
* radiator not clogged.
* thermostat 190F and installed wax pellet down and bleed hole forward
* Water pump not bad.
* RAD cap holds 12psi pressure.

if and when you pull the pump you can see inside engine water jacket and if it is full of
sludge.

 

I cooked my 97 vitara a few years ago, started looking at timing, water pump etc. Turned out to be the radiator fan! The fan has a viscous clutch in it, which can be repacked. It was heating up at idle but cooled down at cruise, turned out the fan was running loose as. With your engine off, turn the fan as if you're trying to make it freespin, if it stops as soon as you stop turning it, no dramas. If you can make it freespin, take it to a radiator joint and they'll repack it for you. I took the fan off and gave it to them, charged me $5.

Hope this helps.

 

looks like that rules out the fan then it moves whem u push it by hand, but if you gave it a good push it wouldnt make it a whole turn.

 

it kicks in at 131 deg. F. so with hot radiator , stop engine and feel it. try to rotate fan.
if you cant feel the friction , it's no good.

 

I hope not to revive a dead thread but I have this EXACT same problem just paid $800 to have thermostat replaced, fan clutch replaced, radiator cleaned out, and apparently have a toyota radi cap put on.

car runs great cause they reset timing to proper and still have the same overheating problem ive had for the last 20k miles!!! makes no sense!

it gets SO HOT that it literally boils out half the rad if I remove cap. I have changed fan clutch 2 times therm 4 times and cap 4 times!?

 

Brett, you should start your own post with your own symptoms and spec out what car you are driving. Although your symptoms may be similar, each car is really different - different maintenance, history, etc. Start your post and advise what you are driving, how car starts from cold, when overheat occurs, what you have done/replaced, etc.