Hey guys.. I have a 2002 ford focus 2.0 ztech.. After a few minutes of driving temperature goes to the red and stays there until I pull over and let it cool off.. there is water boiling and steaming out of the reservoir.. Engine performance Is fine.. No white smoke.. No oil and water mixing.. Took the thermostat off the car and realized someone had gutted it.. replaced that. Even replaced the housing. Then went to the water pump.. It was fine but replaced it anyways. Then flushed out the radiator with a garden hose. Got alot of orange sludge out of it.. A whole lot.. Water runs through clear now.. Bled the air out. Then went ahead and tore it down and replaced the head gasket. Head is not warped or cracked. Heat is working fine so I don't wanna go under the dash and mess with the heater core.. Fans seem to be working proper..What in the heck could be wrong with this thing???

 

Go back to that really plugged radiator, first. You really can't do anything with it but replace it when they get that bad, as you cant take it apart and rod it (or at least not without it leaking).
Are the fans comming on at around 200 and 210 degrees (You'll need to verify that w/a scanner, if you can). Is there unrestricted airflow to the radiotor? No gasses getting into the coolant (I'm sure you've checked that already, but a block could have a problem that's hard to pinpoint). I know this sounds stupid, but does the thermostat actually open at the right temp? If it was gutted, then someone knew enough about this car that it's not an easy problem to fix.
Please let us know.

 

Gonna go check all hoses, reflush the radiator, and test the fans.. We will see what happens in a little while

 

First thing we did today was go into test mode and checked the temperature until the fans was supposed to cut on and both did... Next we flushed the radiator from bottom to top. We got a bunch more of that orange rust out of it.. Later we checked the hoses and one of the small 2 small hoses on the reservoir (the one that goes to the top of the radiator) was completely clogged up with debris.. Flushed that out.. Now there is no more over heating issue.. Also a ton of orange stuff came out of the radiator once we got it running again.. Guessing we worked it loose enough to finally come free. Gonna wait till morning and flush it back out again.. Running fine now though other than a little bit of bubbling still in the reservoir... guessing from air or all that sludge that just went everywhere.. water temp steady just below halfway

 

the radiator still might be clogged in some places ! after it gets hot shut it down and feel the radiator fins next to the fan, but watch your hands from the fan, and see if you feel cold spots on the fins ! if there are any cold spots then the radiator is still clogged in some spots ! try back flushing it ! flush it from the bottom and let the dirt comer out the top !