Superheated coolant in 3 minutes.

[Heavy-D]

Well first I had an overheating issue yeserday that I'll describe afterward, so I drained and flushed my radiator, then refilled it. Now the big problem I just was after said drain/flush/refill of coolant. I was driving in a town (pretty light on throttle, almost no boost) and about 3 minutes later, i peeked down at my dash and saw my temp was nearing red. I pulled over and turned off the car with 30 seconds, and the dial was touching red now. I could hear the coolant boiling in the overflow bottle after I turned the engine off. Some vapor or smoke was coming off the bottle and engine too. I popped the hood and could hear the coolant bubbling visciously. Did I blow a head gasket? Is it time for a new thermostat?
Now my overheating problems yesterday was limited to highway driving. Without any problems up to this point, it started overheating yesterday. First the factory temp. indicator was getting high so I got off the highway, bought some coolant, let the car cool off and put a small amount in. Got back on the highway and temps started to go up so I turned my heat on full blast. temps went to slightly below halfway, but now my turbo timer, which reads from a different location just kept climbing.
So overview, dash indicator stayed normal while turbo timers reading kept climbing (got up to 53*C so I shut the car down again). Now when I got off the highway the car either stayed the same temp on the turbo timer or went down. It seemed to be that 60 mph was where if I went above hotter, and went slower, got cooler.

 

[97 4G63]

thats really weird i would replace the thermostat and see what happens if it still acts up then you need a new pump,

 

[Dream On]

Check your thermostat and radiator cap. Are the fans coming on? If that fails, it may be the water pump. Check your oil and see if you can smell/see coolant in it, and also do a compression test to check the head gasket.

 

[Heavy-D]

I'm thinking its something I did since It didn't get so hot so damn fast until I changed the coolant.
Here is what I did in case I screwed it up: Drained coolant taking off plug on radiator, then I took the radiator cap off to get the rest out. I ran water into where the cap goes to flush out the rest of the old coolant. Plugged tge radiator off and let regular water in (about how much coolant thats in the car is how much I put in). Started the car and let it idle for a minute. Drained the water out, flushed some coolant down to get the rest of the water out, and plugged the radiator again. Then I filled the emptied the overflow bottle and filled it up to full with premixed 50/50 coolant. Put a little coolant, 50/50 again, into cap. Turned car on and let it idle. I checked the level in the bottle and it was still full. 2 hours later I was going to drive somewhere and that is when I only made it 3 minutes away. So I figure my problem wasn't that bad until I did this so I'm guessing I jacked something up in the process.
Sorry that I wrote so much.

Edit* The fan never came on, it worked prior to the coolant change. I know its bad it does not come on, but can that one thing be the only cause? I feel like an ass for coming crying to this forum before I ever checked the fan, I assumed that it worked a few hours ago so it still works.

 

[snox135]

Did you fill the engine with coolant mixture or just the overflow bottle? You say you filled it but it sounds like your talking about the overflow bottle. If you did not fill the engine that would explain the different readings and fan not working.

 

[Heavy-D]

I put a little in the engine, I tried searching forums and such, but I couldn't find the exact amount to put in the radiator cap.

 

[xveganxcowboyx]

You need to fill it up.

Where is the other temp gauge mounted? It sounds to me like you are getting coolant to one, but not to the other, which may just be low coolant.

The fan is not your problem if it over heats at highway speed.

 

[Heavy-D]

I just put some more coolant in, Im gonna run it and see if the overflow bottle is empty after the car cools down.

And if by where is my other temp gauge mounted, you mean my turbo timer, I am told that it reads it from the same sensor that sends to the ECU.

And my fan was working yesterday when I was overheating at 60mph +.

 

[xveganxcowboyx]

Also, like everybody else said, replace the thermostat. You can pull it in the mean time to test.

 

[4Gmoney63]

The 2g i bought recently is doing the exact same thing right now. Before it started this it used to smoke white like it was a head gasket. Dont know if that helps but i thought i would thrown it in.

 

[Heavy-D]

How do I test the thermostat?

Also, from what I understand I can buy a new thermostat/gasket from a local autoparts store, right?

 

[xveganxcowboyx]

I just meant that you can remove the thermostat so that coolant will flow continuously. A thermostat blocks most of the coolant flow from the radiator to the engine until it reaches a certain temperature (stock 1G is about 194 degrees faranheit) It then opens up and lets coolant flow through.

You can buy a new one for ~$10 at any auto parts store. You should probably get the fail safe version for a few bucks more. It's a 5-10 minute swap out for just about any person.

 

[Dream On]

You could test the thermostat by throwing it in boiling water.

 

[Heavy-D]

I'm going to replace the thermostat tommorrow. But for now I have been checking my overflow bootle, refilling it, driving the car for 2-3 minutes, park it. The temps have still been soaring and have not gotten better. But I did see how I did not put enough coolant in. The overflow bottle was dry after first an second run, and at the refill line after the third. I just made a fourth run and it still overheated just as fast. Fan is still not turning on. It's a slimline 12" on the passenger side and my only fan due do piping clearance.

 

[snox135]

You should fill up the cooling system through the radiator cap. Then add coolant to the overflow bottle. It might use some after first running (getting air out of the system). If you did that and it is still using that much coolant it is going some where.

 

[Heavy-D]

I did the drive, cool down and refill once again, this was probably the 5th time. It took about twice as long to get as hot as before. After I park my car each time I check the fan before I shut the motor off, fan still was not working so I punched it and it turned on. After it cooled again I drove about a 12 minute round trip to buy more coolant and it only started to get hotter than halfway at the very end so I guess me underfilling it was the main cause. I just hope the fan stays working now, and I was wondering if the thermostat could be getting stuck closed if that is what conrols the fan.

 

[spyderturbo007]

Whenever you flush the system, you need to fill up the car using the radiator cap, not the coolant overflow. As stated above, fill the system first, then the overflow. Let the car warm up and make sure the fans kick on and the system cycles, then check the overflow.

Sounds like you drained all the coolant and then just filled up the overflow. If so, you were basically running with no coolant. After all your overheating, I would definately suggest you do a compression test.

The ECU controls the fans, not the thermostat.

 

[steve]

The ECU controls the fans, not the thermostat.

Not on a 1g.
On a 1G there is a thermoswitch in the bottom of the radiator for the rediator fan and the AC control unit drives the AC fan and high speed on the radiator fan.

Steve

 

[Laysher91]

Go out to your car and see if under the radiator cap is full AND your overflow bottle is full. If they are, then you have enough coolant in your engine. It sounds like you never filled up the engine with coolant initially, and just keep filling the overflow a little at a time.

As for the turbo timer temp reading. Are you sure that function is capatible with your car? For example: the Greddy turbo timers have a speedometer function BUT the function is set up for the 2g. If you try it for a 1g, it gives you crazy numbers. Just a thought.

 

[Heavy-D]

2 problems solved. 1. My dumbass thought that the whole cooling system would take the stuff from the overflow bottle and I would eventually fill the whole system. I finally poured more than 2/3 a jug of coolant/water straight through the radiator cap.
2. One of the small coolant lines that comes off the thermostat blew a hole, so I had to replace that busted line which was shooting coolant smoke all over that corner of my engine bay. With these two fixed it seems my main problem is solved.

to Laysher 91 - I am pretty sure the turbo timer reads accurate, its just where it takes its temp from. Even if its not too accurate, I still use it to compare if the engine is relativley hotter or colder.

Now I still have to see if it slowly overheats after 45 minutes to an hour of highway driving....

I'de like to thank all of you guys, and I will be ashamed for a little while that a majority of my problem was my own fault not filling it right. Definatley going to look into that thermostat if it continues.

 

[spyderturbo007]

Not on a 1g.
On a 1G there is a thermoswitch in the bottom of the radiator for the rediator fan and the AC control unit drives the AC fan and high speed on the radiator fan.

Steve

Crap! That's it, I really need to stop assuming that everyone has a 2g. Sorry about that.....