waterpump?

[bretthejet26]

heres my question.

well yesterday it was rainy and i had the heat on, and everything else.. lights, etc.. and i noticed the yellow coolant light went on.. so im like ok.. then all a sudden it shut off. so im like wtf. i look in the overflow tank, and it was empty, so i filled it..

today im comin home from work and the light goes on again... i look in the overflow tank and its dry!!.. i take the radiator cap off, and theres nothing!. so i fill it again... i take it for a drive and i have NO heat.. just blows cold air so im thinkin waterpump.. BUT. then i go to take a corner and the heat comes back on hot?!?!? im not getting this.

a little side note.. my powersteering is grinding dont know if the belts have anything to do with the waterpump? it sounds like my belts are scratchy and stuff

btw my temp sensor is broken so i cant tell how hot its getting

 

[bretthejet26]

it was the thermostat.. thanks anyways

 

[bretthejet26]

update:

it wasnt the thermostat i thought it was fixed, but nope.. any other ideas?

funny thing is that i got my waterpump replaced a year and 1/2 ago

 

[flytalon93]

Do you notice a leak anywhere? Or how about after shes parked, is there a puddle? If not, check the oil dipstick and if comes out watery on the stick then your oil and water is mixing. Which isn't good. Give some more details, like what have you done to try to find where the coolant is going.

 

[jpolizo]

When water pumps go out, they usually just leak. If you look at how they are made, if they are turning they will pump. Efficiency only goes down if they get clogged with rust or severely pitted which isn't likely with one that's 1 1/2 years old.

Your belts don't sound good; if the pump isn't turning at full engine speed, you will have an overheating problem. Fix the belts.

An often overlooked problem area is the radiator cap. The cap has a spring and a rubber seal and both of those have to be OK for it to hold pressure. If the cap doesn't hold pressure, you will lose coolant. These are cheap.

Have the system pressure tested, or pressure test it yourself. A deceptively small hole can cause big problems like you are having.

If you fill it up again and idle it, check for bubbles appearing in the coolant reservoir. If that' happening, that's not good.

As to the thermostat, make sure it's installed correctly (the little dongle at 12:00 high) and that you've bled all the air out of the system when you refill it.

 

[bretthejet26]

thanks for the replies but somthing worse just happend

im driving back from a friends house and i hear what sounds to be like a backfire of some sort, but the sound was right under my seat.. where the downpipe is.. so im like ok thats not good.. i roll down my window there is smoke/steam everywhere coming from under my hood, to the back of the car.. all of a sudden my car makes a hideous noise and starts sounding like a friggin lawn mower. REAL loud. like sounds like someone hitting a hammer on metal really really really fast...only when i have the throttle, when i let off throttle it goes away.. so i make it home and steam is friggin everywhere.. its shooting out near the alternator parts, i couldnt see cuz it was dark


heres my guess.. coolant shot everywhere in my engine bay all ova the alt.. cuz i would lose power sparatically. the loud banging was my exhaust falling apart, probably from coolant inside it??? and btw my radiator was ice cold after a 15 minute drive.. which is not a good sign i gotta get it down to my mechanic asap