So this is my first post here, hello.

Quick overview of what happened that started the problem.. Head gasket went in the car, the person who owned it didn't fix it apparently. They changed the fluids in the car before I got there to test drive it, so everything looked fine till the next day. Needless to say I got jipped. Replaced the head, and did a full gasket kit. Noticed the water pump was severely rusted and pitted so replaced it and the thermostat.

The problem now is at idle, or cruising rpms (around 2k) the engine temperature starts to climb. If you rev the car to 2500-3000 rpm really fast and hold it for 5-10 seconds the temperature drops back to around 195.

The parts replaced so far trying to figure out this issue are:

Radiator (was slap full of rust)
Water pump (rusted and pitted)
All hoses have been replaced with the exception of heater core hoses on backside of motor
Thermostat (didn't have one when I got it)

Radiator fan comes on around 220 degrees. I put the car in my driveway and let it run for 15-20 minutes with the rad cap off to try and bleed out air pockets. Not sure if this completely fixed the problem or not. I can't bleed the line under the coil pack since the screw is sheered off in the pipe and haven't found where to get a new one other then junk yard.

I'm not sure what else to try with this problem. I ordered a new surge/overflow tank this morning since the cap may be bad and the tank was full of rust when I started cleaning out the system.

Another strange problem I'm having that I was wondering about, is an odd ticking from the front (belt side) of the motor. I thought it might be lifter knock but I put a screw driver to the valve cover, head, water pump, alternator and cannot locate where the noise is coming from. I was thinking timing chain tensioner but not 100% sure on if it would cause this sort of noise.

Any information or ideas would be much appreciated.

Running the car at idle using a lisle spill-free funnel for 20 minutes today didn't fix the problem. The only two things I can think of left to check are the radiator cap/overflow can and the serpentine belt right? I don't see anything else to look at to try and solve this problem.

Also would anyone have any ideas about the ticking I mentioned in the previous post?

Thanks

well to start off what motor do you have? if u have the 2.2 ohv the ticking u hear is the rockers under the valve cover. most 2.2 ohv do it....and does your temp hand jump around almost as if its not reading the right temp?