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!

 

[LambdaJoker]

my car blew a headgasket due to overheating, and my mechanic is now telling that it also fried my rings. is this possible or is he just trying to get me to spend more money?? he also said that my car overheated because of a cracked turbine housing, is that also possible.

i searched and found nothing having to do with overheating ruining piston rings or a cracked turbo overheating the engine.

 

[Burnett03]

Your mechanic is just trying to get more money off of you.

over heating doesnt make your rings to fry.

over heating doesnt make your turbo housing to crack.

crack turbo housing. check it if its true.

You are wrong.
Overheating can cause ring failure and or a seized motor. If you get that oil hot enough it will break down not lubricating the cylinder walls, bearings, etc trashing them. I personally think your mechanic is screwing you, i doubt you ruined them from overheating, but i'm tired of people posting BS around the forums...

 

[Defiant]

Overheated rings lose their temper, wear capabilities and spring. It depends on how badly it was overheated. If there is any discoloration on the cylinder walls, you're done.

 

[LambdaJoker]

car didnt overheat too bad. as soon as it would get over the halfway mark i would look for a gas station and turn off the car. this happened about 3 times though, but it never went past the 3/4 mark. after the third time the head gasket went out throwing out a bunch of white smoke through the muffler. turbo housing is cracked for sure, i already saw it. no discoloration on cyl. walls. so would i need to replace the rings or just a new head gasket?? nothing wrong with head neither.

 

[subie22]

I have a 93 gsx with a 6 bolt swap, and 4 bolt rear. I have a funny over heating problem. Thant i wanted to ask you guys about. Since its been getting hotter outside, the car starts to get a little toasty, more than i would like. I only have one fan on it. Which makes me think its the problem it not blowing engough cold air into the rad and the engine bay. The water pump was supposed to be done before i got the car, and i have a metal headgasket. Also it only happens like i said when its hot outside, when its cool outside such at night time its fine. So any reply would be greating appreciated.

 

[snox135]

Which fan do you have? Drivers side or passenger side, the driver side only turns on with the AC.

 

[subie22]

i have aftermarket fan, which is on all the time.

 

[DirtyBirdRacing]

You could get another fan (a puller) and wire it up with the passenger side one. Also you should check around your radiator and stuff for any blockage. You could also build some ducting around your radiator to make sure the air goes to it, and make sure that your fan shroud is positioned so that the fan is sucking air through the raidator and not from around it.

Bill

 

[subie22]

should i just replace it with a stock fan with the shroud, or should i buy something beasty like 1050 cfm or something.. .

 

[DirtyBirdRacing]

should i just replace it with a stock fan with the shroud, or should i buy something beasty like 1050 cfm or something.. .

It depends on the price, but I would prob go for the aftermarket fan, like slimline or something like that. Like I think the stock fan flows a lot, but the shroud is not that good. The aftermarket fan is also thinner then the stock fan i believe. They are thick in the middle where the motor is and then they get thinner as you get more toward the edges.

Bill

 

[DSMboostin15]

Have you checked/changed the radiator fluid lately? It could be that there is too much water and not enough antifreeze in the radiator. Another thing to check is that your thermostat may not be opening early enough. Many people will swap out one that is set at a higher temperature for the winter time to allow the engine to operate at a higher temperature.

 

[fuzzydoodle]

Does anyone know what deg. the thermostat is suppose to open? What is normal running temp. for a dsm? I;m getting a p0125 and running at 207* or so wanna know wheater to replace the thermo or the temp. sensor. Didnt mean to highjack.

 

[DirtyBirdRacing]

Have you checked/changed the radiator fluid lately? It could be that there is too much water and not enough antifreeze in the radiator. Another thing to check is that your thermostat may not be opening early enough. Many people will swap out one that is set at a higher temperature for the winter time to allow the engine to operate at a higher temperature.

The coolant could be old, so you can drain it and then fill it with a 50/50 water coolant mixture. You could also bring your car to a shop and get them to "flush" the system for you. Your thermostat is probably fine, but you can take it out and put it in a pot of boiling water to make sure that it is opening correctly.

Bill

 

[n0c7]

In the city my car runs fine, a bit hot at 210F according to my Pocketlogger and my Autometer temp gauge, but from reading other threads that temp seems to be fairly common. The last two summers I've taken the car on a roadtrip 3 hours south. Both times, as soon as I get into the city in stop and go traffic the car starts running alot hotter. This past weekend the Autometer gauge was showing 250F. As soon as it jumped up I pulled over, turned it off, and left the hood up to bring the temp down. Coolant is full, 50/50 mix, no noticable leaks, new hoses, thermostat, etc. How can I control my temp? I've got a GReddy intercooler and the Rudora front kit which I'm sure is restricting airflow quite a bit. The radiator in the car looks smaller than stock, I think someone swapped it out before I bought the car. I also cannot run my AC on any given day, 10-15 minutes of run time will cause the car to overheat as well.

Will a Fluidyne radiator help? Do I need to fab up some ducting? I've also got slim fans instead of stock, the stock fans melted because they were too close to the T3/T4 turbo.

 

[pitbull419]

A fluidyne is a good idea.
Did you try flushing the radiator?
You should try to make some shrouds for the fans.
Fans with shrouds seem to cool better.
You could also put a stock fan back on the pass. side.And leave the slim fan on the driver side.
Did it only start when you got the slim fans?
I run my car with only one stock fan and it never overheats and it runs 11's.
Im also sure its more than likely colder there than here.
So your temp doesnt have anything to do with it

 

[daves06r1]

Anytime I've had a problem with the temp rising because of turning the A/C on I always did a chemical rad flush and it's always worked. It has happened on a couple of my higher mile rides. The front mount will suck up some of the flow to the rad but the fans should be able to draw air through with no problem.

 

[n0c7]

I bought the car semi-modded and the fans and some of the turbo parts were already on, so I don't know how it ran before the slim fans. I've flushed it with a garden hose but nothing beyond that. As for putting a stock fan back on the passenger side, I think there is still too much heat from the Turbonetics manifold + Turbo, but its worth a try. All I was told was that both stock fans had begun to melt, but thats someone elses word.

 

[FORMONTOYA]

I would also look at fan shrouds and double check that the fans are operating properly, especially the one for the A/C. A "flush" never hurts anything.

 

[SlickGSX]

Try one bottle of Redline water wetter and straight water in your coolant system before you buy a $350 radiator. The water wetter/water combo is NOT antifreeze so you will have to switch back to 50/50 in the winter.

 

[Dream On]

Did you check the thermostat? Drop it in some boiling water and see if it's working. You could also add a little metal "lip" connected to the bottom of the radiator and run it a couple inches below the bumper. When you're driving, this will cause air to be picked up by the lip and go through the radiator. Cheap and easy, and it may help a little.

 

[n0c7]

- Fan shrouds look ok.
- A/C fan seems to be wired in LOW instead of HIGH, will have to spend some time with that w/ additional testing.
- Will try water wetter, heard wonders about it.
- Thermostat checks ok.
- Thought about similar ideas to the "lip". Would I be mounting this to the front or back of the rad and aprox how far down?

 

[Dream On]

You would want to mount it to the front of the radiator so air will travel up the lip and be able to go through the radiator. I would mount it may an inch or two down below the IC or bumper, whichever is lower. I've never made one myself though, so maybe somebody else will chime in about it.

 

[pitbull419]

Did you check the temp of the water you droped the thermostat in?
You have to get it at the temp its supposed to open at
You cant just get the water super hot and drop it in,it will open pruving nothing.
I dont see that fan being wired at low your problem.Could be though.
I only run one fan and i run 11's.And never over heat and its daily driven.(Till i lost my L's )
The lip under the radiator works wonders.It really does.

 

[Rice Over Wheat]

Try some of the suggestions in my "engine climate control" tech article in the tech guide section under engine. I had similar problems to you but now run 180 -190 in high heat in FL. There's a whole host of issues that could be your problem...try the simplest and cheapest suggestions first to reduce your temps.

#1 thing to do, DEI heat wrap all your exhaust components from manifold to downpipe. Try and keep that heat in the exhaust components and out of the engine bay. Your radiator heat soaks just like an intercooler.

 

[toojung2die]

I made aluminum ducts to direct air into my radiator after installing the FMIC. The ducts help during cruising when the ECU turn off the fans and lowered my coolant temps ~10 degrees.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showpost.php?p=50449602&postcount=192
Now that I have DSMLink I can turn on the fans while sitting in traffic and don't have to wait for the coolant to go over 210 degrees for the ECU to turn them on. This quickly brings my coolant temp down to ~190 degrees. You could wire your fans to turn on with a switch.