Car Overheated / Overheating / Overheats [MERGED]

[NTRCOOL]

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!

 

[luv2rallye]

Back flush the cooling system using your garden hose (can do with a $2 tee fitting from Napa in the heater hose) or take it to a service station for them to do it. Also replace your thermostat. If still have problems replace the radiator.

 

[plymubishi]

Is your rad fan kicking on only at start up or do you know if it is kicking on while driving also? I ran into an issue once where my fan relay was goeing and it wouldn't always turn on when it should or would keep running even with the car off.(of course that was on m yEscort)

 

[daves06r1]

thermostat could be stickin

 

[Pat D]

Check your fan switch and make sure its turning on your fans long enough. Also pressure check your system

 

[Rice Over Wheat]

Also check for exhaust leaks. I upgraded my entire cooling system top to bottom, then found I had a big exhaust leak heat soaking my radiator.

DEI thermal heat wrap works amazing. Wrap your exhaust manifold, o2 housing, and dp. Dropped my temps 20 degrees.

 

[krummel45]

The fan turns on and then stays on when running it is set up in this configuration on my AEM.

 

[krummel45]

Also if the thermostat was sticking wouldnt it over heat all the time, by this i mean if it was stuck closed when running down the hiway it woudl still over heat?

Also Luv2Rally what does back flushing the system do?

 

[keeler]

I have a 2g AWD, The fan is not coming on at all. i hooked the old ac one back up and it keeps the car cool at idle I think. The problem is when i turn the car on the temp gauge instantly goes to operating temp (about middle). Even if it's been sitting for a day. Well while driving it or idling I noticed it's starting to overheat after a while. The main fan is not coming on at all, With the ac fan on it stays good at idle (a little high) but if I drive it, it overheats again. The main fan never comes on but it keeps overheating even at 50mph. It has a new T-stat but that's it.

 

[fourreGsixty3]

Check to see if the fuse for the fan isn't blown. Are you sure the t-stat is working? There is the odd possibility that it is stuck closed( even though its new).
Hope this can start you out in finding your problem.

 

[absolute_DSM]

Im gonna say you installed that t stat backwards.

 

[keeler]

Car has had tstat for about 4 weeks, all the fuses are good

 

[TALONTRAX]

If the temp guage reads in the middle after 8+ hour cold soak, & the primary cooling fan does not operate, You may have a bad coolant temp. sensor. The coolant temp.sensor reading is what the ecu.uses to operate the primary cooling fan, & also what operates the guage on the dash. If the guage is reading warmed up when the engine is cool, The sensor may be bad, also causing no fan operation, & your overheating.

 

[DSMULATOR]

I agree with the bad sensor. Check the relay for the fan to make sure its good too.

 

[fourreGsixty3]

Yes check the ECT thermister. It is what tells the ECU when to turn the cooling fan's on/off.

 

[Rice Over Wheat]

ECU doesn't activate the rad fan on low until 210F. Assuming your cooling system is functional and you don't have a nasty exhaust leak, like out your dp/o2 blowing onto the radiator, it's probably just your engine temp sender. That's like a $15 part. It would be better if you had a logger to read the actual coolant temp reading instead of judging by the needle. Your rad cap didn't pop and steam did it?

 

[Talesin]

Only problem is that the gauge cluster thermometer uses a seperate sensor from the ECU thermosensor. Definitely check the datalogs if possible, or just replace the ECU thermo and see if it fixes the issue.. they aren't very expensive.

 

[Rice Over Wheat]

Really? Where's the other sender located at? The one by the thermostat housing is wired to ecu I think.

 

[TALONTRAX]

I think on a 2G obd2 car, the coolant temp.sensor is the only component signaling the ecu. From there, the ecu uses the reading to operate the guage, & control the fan(s).

 

[Rice Over Wheat]

I also think that's the case.

 

[Talesin]

Oop, a 2G. Heh, didn't notice that part. On a 1G, there are three thermocouples on the thermostat housing; the upper for the A/C, a two-wire for the ECU read, and a single-wire for the gauge cluster. Saw the '91 in his profile.

 

[luv2rallye]

Back flushing cleans all the crap out of the cooling system. You can also add a can of coolant flush before doing this which will loosen up the crap (then run for 30 min before back flushing). Back flushing means forcing water to go the opposite way it normally does. It also helps to remove the thermostat temporarily (and putting the housing back on) while back flushing (you were going to look at it anyway right?).

 

[Evo_KLR]

Just to make sure have you checked the one fan you do have to make sure it is working properly?

Yes, the one connected to the A/C works good.
Wasn't able to get much done this weekend though.

 

[redeclipse7782]

Since your not using your ac, pull your ac radiator out, it will be infront of your radiator. That way the air isnt getting blocked by the ac radaitor.

 

[faracon]

I dropped in a 180* thermostat and it fixed all my problems. I was running at 206* though, not totally overheating.

 

[Evo_KLR]

Since your not using your ac, pull your ac radiator out, it will be infront of your radiator. That way the air isnt getting blocked by the ac radaitor.

This is going to sound really stupid to this community, but being my first DSM/car I've ever attempted to mod, I had NO idea what that was.
Now that I know what it is, I'll take it out.
Thanks!