Yes, there are airdams on the underside of the car, but the car has a grill that allows plenty of air through, but it's worth getting them to force the air where it's supposed to go. Yes, get a thermostat, it may help a lot on this. Also, I know that water constantly goes through the heater core, so there may be air trapped in there, I know my bro had problems on his car getting the system to release all the bubbles and fill with water after he changed the engine.
Also, change your radiator cap. It holds the pressure in the system, and is spring loaded to allow it to vent to the bottle, and they do wear out. I think your water pump is fine, if you've looked at a bunch and they're all teh same, it should be fine, plus I don't know of any years that had backwards rotation on the fan/pump.
Also, is your electric fan one with a fan shroud, if not, that could cause yu to overheat as it will just suck air from around the fan and not through the radiator.
I'm outta suggestions, but if you suspect it's the HG, do a compression and leakdown test and at least get that out of the way and make sure it's not that.
|