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Car Overheated / Overheating / Overheats [MERGED]

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NTRCOOL

Probationary Member
24
0
Apr 10, 2002
Richmond_Va.
OVERHEATING? The issues and their solutions have remained the same- either you don't have enough cool air reaching the rad, there's a cooling system obstruction which is preventing coolant from circulating, or your head gasket has failed and is allowing coolant to be consumed or pushed away from the engine.

Discuss all possible overheating problems and solutions here.



OK,
I just left my house to go over to my GF's,and happen to look down and see my needle right before the red mark. This just happened out of nowhere. I stop the car as quickly as i can, and pour in some coolant(Coolant a little low). Still same thing. Welp im in the middle of the road, and HAD to get it home. Im only 5 min from my house. I decided to try and make it(I really had no other choice). Welp I drive no faster than 20mph, and the temp needle is BARELY into the red the whole way.And occasionaly to the left of it. Am I ok?? Do ya think any damage was done?? And im thinking either thermostat, or water pump. For each of those, whats a round about $$ figure to get replaced?? Any info you have would be GREATLY appreciated!
 
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if u want to find out if its a headgasket, do a block tests, its a kit avalible at most parts stores, its a tube u some dye into and sit it on the coolant neck were the cap is the dye will change color if u have a leak in the headgasket, no sure how much kit is but well worth using if u only think the water pump is bad to save ## self time if u have to pull the head while u have the timing belt and water pump already off. just my 2 cents, im an automotive tech for the last 7 yrs had to do same thing on my 90 gsx 2 weeks ago
 
Car will start if wp is toast, nothing to do with starting the car, ive had toasted wp in the past car still started and ran just overheated.
 
the only way I can think of the waterpump keeping the car from starting, is the pump locked up and stripped teeth from the t-belt causing the engine to be out of time.
 
:nono:
When there is no water passing by the cooling sensor, the gauge will not go all the way up, Because there is no water heating the sensor, the sensor will not send the wright signal.

This is HUGE design flaw (IMHO). Mine did the same thing... on the freeway the temp read near normal but the coolant was literally boiling!!!

-Raffi
 
dsm water pumps not run from timing belt they are run from the belt that runs the alt from the crankshaft. timing belt and balancer shaft only things run by timing belt


Yes, we know that.

But, If the water pump lacks, it will hold the Crank Harmony pulley, which when going on high rpm It can cause a Timing Belt to Jump.
 
Just got the over heating problem fixed ...IT WAS THE RADIATOR CAP !! Lol
Thank god it wasnt tooo serious ..

BUT MY CAR IS STILL POPPIN (misfiring) & STUTERING after 3000 rpms and its driving me crazy
I know I need a tune becuz the turbo was upgraded to a 16g and bigger FMIC

But is there anything else is could possibly be? That I can try to fix before I get her tuned???
Im changing spark plugs tomorrow
 
Cant seem to figure it out. I drive about 60 miles on the highway from my house to my national guard unit. When i was on my way back home a couple months ago i noticed it temp gauge started creeping up to the overheating mark. when i turned the heater on it dropped to normal operating conditions. I replace the thermostat and dont know if maybe i put it in wrong or what. It does perfectly in town but as soon as i hit the highway its on. Any ideas what in the world could be causing this? Also on the radiator fans only one of my fans turns on which is the fan closes to the passenger side. Is that normal or should both turn on?
 
First thing you should do is check you Coolant level. Obviously let the car cool down first. Hose out the Radiator fins to make sure air can flow through freely. Then make sure there is no obstructions blocking airflow to the rad, Like a license plate or mesh grill.

Do you have A/C? were you using the A/C at the time?

If none of that helps you can try to flush and refill the rad with fresh 50/50 coolant. When you're flushing the rad make sure the water is flowing well through the inlet and out the outlet. If the flow seems slow then you may have a blockage inside the rad as mentioned above.

Worst case scenario, you may have a failing head gasket and/or water pump
 
A bad or clogged radiator could be a cause since the heater is a small radiator in your cabin.

Do a cooling system flush and make sure you did buy the right thermostat. Just take the housing off and check the temp reading for the T. Stat you purchased. The fan closest to the passenger side is for your cooling the driver side fan is a ac fan. If you dont have ac you dont have to have it. Or if you want to get crazy you could wire both fans in series and when the T. Stat kicks the fan on both will come on for alot more cooling power. Like I said earlier you dont need both fans tho if you are not running ac.
 
Its sounding like a few things, First yes it is normal for the one to spin while the other doesnt, ones for the ac and ones to cool stuff down. For the over heating issue, double check the thermostat to make sure its in right (which im pretty sure its Hard to do that) if that looks good the make sure your radiator doesnt have the green corrosion on the lower side, Could be producing a tiny leak that you cant see.

Also check the the oil for the milky brown look,if thats the case then you need a head gasket, check all the hoses and bolts to the thermostat and hoses.

If all that checks out to be good and solid, maybe you have a bad coolant to water mix which would cause it to overheat a little. Just a few things to check and good luck!
 
Overheating on the highway sounds like a plug somewhere and are you leaking coolant ? also it could be a bad Rad Cap. remove it and check the seals to make sure everything looks fine. if not replace it anyways. its a 11 dollar cap and i would replace it. its a pressurized system and that can and will cause issues and is most commonly overlooked till the end.
 
Overheating on the highway sounds like a plug somewhere and are you leaking coolant ? also it could be a bad Rad Cap. remove it and check the seals to make sure everything looks fine. if not replace it anyways. its a 11 dollar cap and i would replace it. its a pressurized system and that can and will cause issues and is most commonly overlooked till the end.

Thats a good idea. And with what the other guy said. If you can get the T. Stat in upside down, someone needs to slap you. Lol they will only go in one way and you would have to beat the crap out of that thing to do so. Second, A blown head gasket will not always be oil and water. Sometimes you only burn coolant or have other harder to notice symptoms. Oil in the water is just the easiest to spot.
 
no i got the t stat in right side up. not that much of a dumb a**. I noticed it did start doing it once i got my new vet plates for my car. I did a rad flush and the guy suggested use full coolant. should i have mixed it 50/50? the oil is good no milky brown. i will replace the cap cause like you guys said, its only 11 bucks and wouldnt hurt to do it anyways. Thank you all for the info. im going to start with the cap and work my way through.
 
could be thermostat of clutch fan, or you could try How to Stop an Engine from Overheating - wikiHow (tips section)

"thermostat of clutch fan" has to be the best suggestion yet. :rolleyes:

It is normal for only one fan to turn on. The other is for the A/C and is only operated as such. You could try wiring them together to they both turn on but I suspect you have issues elsewhere.
 
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