sooo...anyone available near ft belvoir to check my car out

[thewraith]

the car overheats at standstill. i'm guessing it's the thermo or hg but come from a "honduh" and corvette background so i have no experience w/dsm's or the little things that can go wrong with them. i'll buy you beers and dinner

 

[gsx rated98]

Where are you located at? There are quite a few people in that area. Have you tried burping the coolant system? Are your fans coming on?

 

[thewraith]

hi,

i'm in kingstowne, alexandria. right off of van dorn street. i have to double check but i'm pretty sure the cooling fans come on (i know one of them comes on but not sure of the other). now that i think about it- the car only overheats when a/c is on and it's at a standstill. maybe the a/c fan is not firing. will update you as soon as i get a chance to check it. i will burp the cooling system tonight after i flush it.

thanks for the reply bro,
meek

 

[Black 95 TSI]

sounds like a fan problem does the car over heat standing still WITHOUT the ac on? The ac fan is the one on the driver side of the car.

btw im Like 15 mins from you bro

Don

 

[gsx rated98]

ok, car over heating only when A/C is on, hate to break this to you man, but welcome to DSM's. What you are dealing with is a mitsu optoin they put it. The car is just going to over heat, sorry.

I saw your other posts about needing to swap your HG. If that is all you need to do, its really not that hard of a job, can be dont in a day. The head work you may/may not need, im not sure, but the HG is pretty easy. Also, when your doing all that, great time to get all the timing parts as well. You have to take the belt off, might as well replace everything (if you dont know for certain when the last timing job was done)

 

[thewraith]

are you really serious about the overheating while a/c is on thing? here is what happens. i drive the car for 40 miles w/no a/c on and it's fine- temp is in the mid range. as soon as i put the car in my driveway at a standstill and turn the a/c on, within 1 minute the car goes straight to overheating. that's normal?? i'm not questioning you- just hope this isn't how it is.

 

[gsx rated98]

that does sound extreme. Most DSMs when sitting in traffic (stop and go) and are running A/C will more then likly start to over heat.
What you are describing really doesnt fit the mold completly.

Id definatly check your fans. Maybe look into replacing the thermostat as well.

 

[thewraith]

thanks for the advice bro. which thermostat should i buy? would a standard thermo from autozone do, or should i go to mitsu dealer and buy oem? i know sometimes regular thermos won't fit certain cars correctly. i'm guessing your next reply will be "stff"

 

[gsx rated98]

no not at all. I got my last therm from autozone or one of the local stores. Not a huge deal. You can go for a colder running one, which may help you some.

Maybe someone else can chime in on where to get a colder running therm, im not 100% sure.

 

[TjPhillips36]

I would try driving it with the A/C on to see if it still overheats.

Any car is going to heat up after being driven for 40 miles then sitting usually its only a few degrees, however with turbo temperatures it can be higher on DSM's. Add the fact that your turning the a/c after you have stopped the vehicle, which while sitting is trying to cool hot air with no way to radiate the heat since very little air is going across the condensor.

If it still overheats while driving with the A/C on I would recommend pulling your thermostat and testing it. If it's fine then next thing would be to flush the coolant system and checked for any blockages that may be affecting the flow. And if that doesn't fix the problem then its time for a new headgasket. Also make sure your A/C fan is operating properly.

 

[thewraith]

ok..i will try all those things. but i have never had any other car that i've owned do this, it's definitely not the norm from my experience. but i'm not a dsm guy...yet. i will do as you guys instruct and get back to you. thanks for the replies!

 

[BigRedMonster]

did someone say beer????

 

[bling5tatus]

you might check and see if your radiator has a bunch of bent up fins on it or debris in it, that would affect it's ability to dissipate heat well. Also, it's worth noting that not all dsm's have problems running the ac and overheating at the same time. That's a crock, how would they have even sold more than 100 of them if that was the case? There are other smaller problems that amplify the end result of over heating. Many people with over heating issues are having those problems because of their fmics... or a stuck thermostat... or a problem with the fans. There's only a small handful of things that will make your car overheat. Are the heat shields on your turbo/exh manifold?

 

[awp8605]

hey im in Alexandria VA im lk less then 10 min away let me know i can meet u up one day and take a look at it