I don't see how any amount of ducting will help my car cool when the engine is off and the car is parked. If you didn't read the thread don't post in it.

For anyone else that reads this.

THE CAR DOES NOT OVERHEAT UNTIL PARKED, WITH THE KEY SWITCHED OFF

I had about a year of overheating issues. Replaced thermostat, hoses, fans, etc... she still ran too warm when the car was sitting still.

The issues were finally solved with a Mishimoto radiator. My car runs cooler than a polar bear's toe nails now, even though I just noticed last week that one of my slim fans isnt coming on, temps are still the same.

Thanks Jaxness. I think I may have found one issue, will post back if its fixed once I figure out why I am only running on 2 cylinders at the moment. Kinda hard to diagnose an overheat issues when I can't drive the car due to having no spark on cylinder 1 and 4.

Well when the gauge was showing it was hot I didn't notice any boiling in the resevoir. I replaced the cap and it didn't help. I swapped out the new sensor for the gauge with the old one and its back to reading normal. To test the new and old sensor's resistance I have a multimeter. If the sensor is working properly what should it read? Also since its the gauge sensor it only have the 1 plug, how would I hook the multimeter up to it? One end to where the clip goes on and the other where is would make contact with the engine?

Did you do compression test, i had a fresh hg and it blew what hin 200 miles, not sure why but never rule things out, until you know for sure. I did that turned out to be the hg blew. mmm

Ok I know there's a lot of threads in the forums about this situation, but none of them are matching up to my particular situation. When I got the car she was leaking antifreeze out of the hose that leads to the turbo, new hose clamp and no more leaking as far as I can see. I refilled the radiator and didn't have any issues for a few days. Yesterday I took her out for a drive to see about another problem with her and she started over heating again and I mean bad. The temp. gauge is maxed out and the overflow tank fluid starts to boil and goes all over the engine and of course white smoke starts pouring out of the hood. I haven't had the time to check her out today but from the history of this issue she is losing antifreeze from somewhere and I'm not seeing any puddles under the car.

I am going to do a compression test either today or tomorrow and hopefully I don't find out I have a blown HG. I'm sure I will get some flak about this next bit of info, but the "overflow tank" that the guy put in before me is just a gatorade bottle, now I am still an amateur with DSM's so I am not 100% sure if this will cause any issues. I plan to get a legitimate tank before I go driving anywhere else.

Ok last question and then I will stop talking and let someone answer back haha, what are the compression specs for a 2.3 stroker with about 5,000 miles on it?

Chances are that you do have a blown hg.

Im not sure on the compression specs, I guess that it would have to do with the pistons that are in there though.

Do a compression test, boiling sounds like a hg blown, gatorade bottle wont matter let us know the results then we will know more.

You'd be shocked at the amount of people that use a gatorade bottle or other makeshift bottle. Either way, its a plastic bottle it isn't going to effect you in any way as long as you have the bottle semi filled when cool. From the sounds of it the first post may be right, they do sound like symptoms of a blown headgasket. How long does it take for the car to overheat? If its only a couple minutes have you checked your thermostat?

Sounds like a head gasket, however since youll be getting into the car when you do the legwork on it, replace the thermostat and gasket just to be in the safe side to know that if the problem persists you atleast knocked out 2 possible problems

Don't forget to check your fans, make sure they are working right.

Yes its a blown headgasket...n I know everybody else diagnose that but nobody talked about the head....after you change the head gasket you should get your head checked out 4 warpage...I had the same problem not to long ago n the head turned out to be warped....LIKE I SAID GET THE HEAD CHECKED OUT!!!

darkgant said:

Yes its a blown headgasket...n I know everybody else diagnose that but nobody talked about the head....after you change the head gasket you should get your head checked out 4 warpage...I had the same problem not to long ago n the head turned out to be warped....LIKE I SAID GET THE HEAD CHECKED OUT!!!

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Could you please use English next time when you reply, that is very hard to read man.

My compression was 150psi across the board with a cold engine. I'm in the middle of a HG right now because during hard pulls I was pushing a little bit of oil into my overflow tank. I actually think it was the combustion gasses causing my coolent to overflow but it's the same repair anyway, new HG time. STM quoted me $350 for a Mitsubishi MLS HG and Arp's L19 studs, pretty good price IMHO and their customer service is top notch(this is for a 7-bolt also.

phunny said:

Could you please use English next time when you reply, that is very hard to read man.

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Isn't grammar a requirement on this forum? At least it used to be. I have noticed a huge increase in horrible grammar/spelling recently.

There seems to be some confusion. It might not necessarily be the head gasket like everyone saying it is. Most likely your headgasket is blown by now if you over heated it that badly. But you do not need a puddle to form under the car for the coolant to be lost. Some things you should do before anything else is:

Pressure check your cooling system(no matter what if it is the head or not you need to find where you were loosing coolant for ex. coolant dripping out slowly and drying up before it hits the ground, not a properly bled cooling system leading to a large hot spot etc)

Check your radiator cap, if your radiator cap was not functioning properly it will allow the coolant to boil over and spill out into the overflow like you said and cause over heating issues.

For compression test numbers a quick search on google yielded:

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/stroker-tech/413323-2-3-stroker-compression-test-results.html

How much build up is on the tip of the old sensor? if the build up is heavy it will give you a lower reading.

5taR said:

Don't forget to check your fans, make sure they are working right.

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+1 to that, I had the same problem. Im running my ac fan with water wetter to keep my car cool until I can fix it.

Ok well I found that the upper radiator hose had a small rip in the bottom side of it. I got it replaced and took her a drive and she ran great. On the way to work today though, about a half hour into the drive the temperature was slowly rising. It would get up about 3 quarters of the gauge and then back down to normal. It did this back and forth about 8 times or so whole still slowly getting hotter and hotter each time. Eventually she got all the way up, but luckly by then I got to work and was able to shut her off and let her cool down.

Not really sure if that is still the HG, but I still plan to do the compression test this weekend just to eliminate or confirm whether its good or not.

try replacing the thermostat. Cheap, simple

It could be sticking, causing you to be loosing hoses.

Did you bleed the cooling system?

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

Man, it could seem to be the head gasket but everyone is jumping to conclusion.
You should first try the freebies or cheaper stuff first. No reason to jump to expensive fixes.
First try the radiator cap. If that spring isn't holding it will release all the fluid back to the reservior and cause you to overflow and loose coolant.
2. See if the fans are turning on.
3. Make sure you are not loosing coolant through cracked hoses. Yes you might not see puddles but some hoses they don't leak until the hose reach a certain pressure point then they start to open and leak.
4. Make sure there are no air bubbles in the system, that will be a weak link and cause that part to heat up. Warm air expands.
5. Check thermal stat, the boiling water test
6. When the car is cold. Rev the motor to 2k rpm for about 1 minute and a half. If the temp is already half way or so and the coolant hose is tight- that can also indicate that there are cracks in the head gasket causing pressure from the combustion chamber to leak to the cooling system.
7. If you really have to drive and are worried about the temp. Have the car on defrost mode, heat on high, and when you come to a stop or feel like the car will get hot turn on the fan and that will automatically turn on the cooling fans and open up the heater core, recirculating coolant.
This is my .02
Head gasket, what do I know? But try these out before jumping to the head gasket part, which likely it could be. Thanks!
Resort back to #6 I mention.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfPIIEoNOSA

I subscribe to this guy for a while, very helpful tips!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA7KVQq9vKA

Compression/leakdown tests are needed.

Vashu said:

Ok I know there's a lot of threads in the forums about this situation, but none of them are matching up to my particular situation.

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None of the other "it got to the red, smoke poured out, wonder if it's my HG" threads matched up to your "it got to the red, smoke poured out, wonder if it's my HG" thread?

I have a problem with my 96 TSi AWD, which I have had for a while now, and haven't been able to solve.

After about 5 miles of driving, the water temperature gauge will start to rise rather quickly, and if I don't let off the gas the gauge will go all the way to the top. However, if I let off the gas, the temp gauge will go back down to normal level (just below halfway up). This will continue until I shut the car off and completely let it cool down.

I hooked my car up to a scanner called Auto Xray, through the OBD2 port and took a drive until the temp gauge did its thing again. The report looked normal, except for "Oxygen sensor 2: 0 volts" and "Coolant temp. 219 Deg F."

I have changed out my thermostat, and flushed my coolant system. I was getting ready to replace my downstream O2 sensor, but had someone tell me that a clogged cat may be the reason the O2 sensor isn't registering any reading on the Xray. The only problem there is that the cat converter is rusted (east coast car) to the exhaust pipe on each end, and the bolts are unrecognizable.

I've been stumped for some time now, and had pretty much given up on fixing it, due to lack of tools, time, and money, but now, I've come upon a second, even scarier issue which is going to require an immediate fix.

Yesterday I let the car warm up for a few minutes (like usual) and pulled out of my drive. When I pushed the gas pedal down about 1/4 way, the turbo spooled up and my aftermarket boost gauge read 12 psi. The problem is that the car didn't really want to go anywhere, and my tach was climbing extremely slow. As soon as I got to 2500 RPM's the car started to act like normal again. It did this for about a mile before the engine started shuddering like the car wanted to die. After that, I got the car home and decided to consult the great Tuners gurus.

I had my charging system tested. The alternator is good, and the battery tested at 12.4 volts. I can't think of anything else I have done that may have anything to do with this. I can answer any questions that anyone has, I just need some help and Google didn't turn up much for results.

My dreamt dsm, you got it right man, she is leaking but only when she heats up. There is a small hole in the wall of the back side on the radiator. Will jbweld be a good fix or should I just go for a new radiator? For the most part the radiator is in good shape short of a small dent on the bottom of it, besides this leak, it keeps the engine cool.

Sounds like the cat, except that I wouldn't have expected it to make any boost pressure while it wouldn't accelerate.
Have you tried the good ole fashioned rattle test on the cat? Bang on it with your hand (I recommend doing so when the exhaust is cold to prevent 2nd degree burns).
If the catalyst is breaking apart, you could have a chunk that gets 'stuck' in the outlet causing zero power. Once it falls or moves out of the way, all will seem normal again.
Depending on how badly it has broken up, the extra load of the exhaust trying to flow thru all the melted/broken pieces could certainly cause the engine to run hot.
It wouldn't be that hard to cut the bolts at the back of the cat so you can see inside, although you may want to look at the front side also. Nuts and bolts will work to put things back together once you are done