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Overheating after mechanic worked on my car.....

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187dsm

Proven Member
54
0
May 4, 2014
Palm beach, Florida
I just got my car back about a hour ago from a mechanic. They did the clutch kit, fork and pivot ball.

I took the highway and it's about 25 mile ride to my house. As soon as I pulled off 95, I noticed temp rising up and ac getting hot. I drove for another 3-4 minutes and temp got higher so I shut the car off. When I got out there was smoke coming from under the hood from the coolant (not a lot but noticeable) .and the coolant in the resovoir was boiling or bubbling.

Now what... I try calling the mechanic and no answer. I'm stuck on the side of the road and I don't have the money to get it towed.
 
I drove under 70mph the whole way and didn't boost at all since I got the car back. Didn't even take it over 3k rpms
 
You obviously have a coolant leak coming from one of your lines. I would not drive it any further till you can retain the coolant in your car and get it home / to the mechanic.

Also, you were prob low of coolant to begin with if it overheated so quick, and you only noticed a little bit of coolant.
 
Call up your mechanic. They wouldnt have to drain the coolant for a clutch job but if they did it could be the wrong mix of water/coolant. You ever have this problem before?
 
If they have hands like mine, I'm sure they popped off one or two of the coolant hoses (specifically the heater core hoses) to make room to get to the back trans mount and bolts.

Top off with water, turn the car on and wait for it to warm up. Once it does it will start showing you where the leak is real quick.

FYI old hoses get pinholes in them real quick and can not be noticed until the hose moves slightly (in which coolant will shoot out thats under pressure). Make sure your clamps are tight all around.

I highly doubt someone used the wrong "mix" of coolant. And if they did yo'd notice by how thick and potent smelling the fluid is.
 
^^^^ also if they did remove any hoses, could possibly be air in the system. I would also contact the mechanic and see what all they removed.
 
I would drain some of the coolant and dilute it with some water. After doing that I would "burp" the system. Like someone previously said, maybe they have large hands and needed to remove some coolant hoses to get their hams in there to work. I was working on swapping a turbo and had literally minutes to finish up and get to work... I put in undiluted coolant in the radiator thinking that it would hold up for the 15 minute journey to work... long story short don't ever freaking do that. As soon as I put in the 50% water the overheating went away. But as some said before, contact the mechanic, let him know what's going on and ask them if they drained your coolant. Usually a mechanic won't be the one putting coolant/oil back in... they'll have a grease monkey do it instead. ( Personal experience... as a grease monkey.. )
 
Thank you all for the replies. I just found out my fan isn't working. Checking fuses
 
If that isn't it you might want to take a look at the electrical wires for the fan and temp sensors. Maybe they pinched one of the wires when moving the tranny around or unplugged fan/temp wires to get them out of their way during the install.

Did they not test drive it after the install?

I use a general rule of thumb on locating the source of new problems.... What was messed with last. Especially if it happens right after the work was done. Another words it didn't overheat before they worked on it and now it does makes it very likely it was something they may have done to cause it. You do notice I said "may". It still could be just a failed component. Let the mechanic know what happened or what you found ASAP.
 
If that isn't it you might want to take a look at the electrical wires for the fan and temp sensors. Maybe they pinched one of the wires when moving the tranny around or unplugged fan/temp wires to get them out of their way during the install.

Did they not test drive it after the install?

I use a general rule of thumb on locating the source of new problems.... What was messed with last. Especially if it happens right after the work was done. Another words it didn't overheat before they worked on it and now it does makes it very likely it was something they may have done to cause it. You do notice I said "may". It still could be just a failed component. Let the mechanic know what happened or what you found ASAP.

Where are the wires that I should look for?

I reset the tripometer when I took her in and they drove it almost 2 miles. Not long enough to overheat?

First thing I did was call the mechanic but he didn't answer and now they're probably closed until Monday. Sucks...
 
Trace the wires back from the cooling fans and on the thermo housing. This should help alot to ID wires. http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/2g-engine-bay-electrical-connections.298047/

2 mile test drive on the trip odometer. I doubt they let it even get up to operating temperature since all they did was test the clutch. I'm not saying that caused the problem but it would be a good bet that is all they worried about testing so maybe it never even got warmed up.

If I ever take a car to a mechanic I always take a picture of the odometer showing date and time because the trip can be reset. That's the only way to really know how many miles they drove it.
Take pictures of anything you find to show the mechanic.
 
Everyone was very helpful. I am about to ride over to where my car is parked. Already checked fuses so that's out of the question. I'm going to check wires, fill with water, burp it, and let it idle. Watch for leaks. See if fan kicks on.

If that doesn't work I'm stuck
 
Put a gallon of water in my radiator. Then some in the resovoir. Started it up with heater on defrost. I had the radiator cap off and filled with water as it bubbled and went down. Bubbles got slower but never completely went away. Fans kicked on and temp was half way on the gauge. But after 10 mins of idle, I noticed gas dripping off of the fuel rail/injector. I looked closer and saw a rubber ring was ripped. It dripped every 3 seconds. I shut it off. Now I have 2 problems :( can't talk to the mechanic until Monday.
I checked my oil and there seems to be nothing mixing which means it's not the head gasket?
 
That's the rubber piece that's messed up. (Left injector if you're looking at the motor) And in the other picture, the bottom bolt is where the gas drops from...
 

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Bigger pictures.
 

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And then I noticed the right side injector had a messed up rubber ring also. But I didn't look to see if that leaked.
 

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Yikes, those seals need some attention. Not an expensive fix, nor difficult.

If you're getting exhaust gas into your air system that would be a good explanation as to why it's not completely burped and you're still getting air bubbles.

When it was idling, did you notice the overflow tank gain fluid? or did it stay the same?

Also, did you figure out where the small leak was coming from?
 
Ok.. Good to hear. I actually didn't get the chance to look in the overflow tank, or see where it was leaking from. When I was looking for the leak I saw the gas so that instantly made me shut off my car because I don't know what it could harm.
 
Those are insulators not seals. The seals are inside of the bore in the fuel rail and in the boss on the intake manifold. Call precision and order you a set it will come with everything you need. Also, while this fuel leak IS a big issue, it most likely is not directly related to your over heating problem.
 
I tried looking up precision injector insulators and I can't find anything..they are 680cc
 
Call precision and ask for an injector seal kit or many of the vendors carry the kit (Extreme PSI, STM, And others). It will come with the seals and the insulators. The seals are leaking if you see fuel dripping so change them all and lube them up before installing your injectors again.
 
I'm more worried about the overheating problem. I'm just glad I saw the fuel too. Since I have to order the seals anyway, I probably won't work on the car until I speak to my mechanic on Monday or possibly tuesday because of memorial day
 
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