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!

 

[hopwoodp]

All the overflow tanks that I have seen have two hoses on the top of the bottle/tank. The smaller hose usually goes to the thermostat housing while the other hose dumps to the ground.

 

[dan2288]

But if we did a compression and leak down test then im sure the headgaskets good, right ? If it would be bad, then you could see it in the compression test.

 

[turbosax2]

All the overflow tanks that I have seen have two hoses on the top of the bottle/tank. The smaller hose usually goes to the thermostat housing while the other hose dumps to the ground.

Yup, and don't forget the hose that comes from the thermostat gets connected to a hose underneath the cap that goes to the bottom of the tank. This is so air doesn't get sucked back into the cooling system.

 

[hopwoodp]

Right, unless the tank is empty. You had me confused for a second.

 

[SOADweskey]

So one line on the bottom and the other on the top of the overflow tank??? what if both nipples on the overflow tank are in the top??? will that be ok? I am just saying because I have an oil catch can that I have never installed on the car and could use it as an overflow tank.


Thanks guys.

An oil catch can wouldn't work. On an overflow bottle even if both hoses go in at the top on will be connected to another hose in the overflow that goes to the bottom. As your engine gets hot the coolant expands and is forced into the overflow and then when your engine cools it needs to have the end of the hose submerged in the coolant so it can suck it back into the engine and not just suck back in air that will make your cooling system less efficient.

The autozone bottle that turbosax2 linked to will work great for you it is what I have in my car since the short route piping goes where the stock bottle was. Or if you are really cheap I have my stock 2G one that may fit into a 1G that you can have, hit me up if you want it.

 

[4G63_Attack]

Things that I would like to touch on:
1, radiatior hose = how old are they, and what is the condition of it?
2, coolant = how old is your coolant and when was the last time you change it. Is it 50/50 or some other mix.
3, t-stat = you know with out it you wouldn't pass smog with out it.
4, Cap = good idea to change it to a high pressure one. make sure you have new/good hose.

Well for my car i have stock coolant parts and still happy in the past week o weather.

 

[HustlerTalon]

I might change the radiator hoses though they don't look that old...Its just that I managed to fit a 2g fluidyne radiator into my 1g, so I guess I need new 2g hoses or something (I got that radiator at the junk yard for $20). I guess I just have to get a overflow tank with one hose on the bottom and the other in the top.

Is it easy to flush the radiator? or do I have to take it to a shop?

 

[silverbullett]

From what I remember, the t-stat keeps coolant in the radiator long enough for it to dissipate heat. Correct me if I'm wrong. My customers always try that trick to make their cars run cooler and they always end up coming back to me looking for a low temp t-stat because their overheating problem only gets worse when they remove it.

 

[turbosax2]

I might change the radiator hoses though they don't look that old...Its just that I managed to fit a 2g fluidyne radiator into my 1g, so I guess I need new 2g hoses or something (I got that radiator at the junk yard for $20). I guess I just have to get a overflow tank with one hose on the bottom and the other in the top.

Is it easy to flush the radiator? or do I have to take it to a shop?

Ya, it's pretty easy to flush the radiator. I wrote a quick summary on this thread.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=269153

 

[turbosax2]

From what I remember, the t-stat keeps coolant in the radiator long enough for it to dissipate heat. Correct me if I'm wrong. My customers always try that trick to make their cars run cooler and they always end up coming back to me looking for a low temp t-stat because their overheating problem only gets worse when they remove it.

The thermostat helps get the coolant up to temperature quicker by not allowing it to flow into the radiator until a certain temperature has been reached. Running a lower temperature thermostat will not make an overheating problem better or worse - it will only delay that problem. However, this is a VERY debated topic.

 

[synthetek]

From what I remember, the t-stat keeps coolant in the radiator long enough for it to dissipate heat. Correct me if I'm wrong. My customers always try that trick to make their cars run cooler and they always end up coming back to me looking for a low temp t-stat because their overheating problem only gets worse when they remove it.

That is a very debated topic. A common misconception is that if coolant flows too quickly through the system, that it will not have time to cool properly. However the cooling system is a closed loop, so if you are keeping the coolant in the radiator longer to allow it to cool, you are also allowing it to stay in the engine longer, which increases coolant temperatures. Coolant in the engine will actually boil away from critical heat areas within the cooling system if not forced through the cooling system at a sufficiently high velocity. A bigger problem seems to be that the higher flow from no thermostat can cause cavitation or bubbles to form in some cooling systems and that can make it less efficient. From my personal experience having no thermostat usually makes a car run cooler, but it can have a negative effect by not reaching the correct temperature for the cpu to get out of its warm up mode.

 

[silverbullett]

Thanks for clearing that up. My fellow countermen and I debate this issue at least twice a month.

 

[hopwoodp]

HustlerTalon- The overflow bottle has both hoses at the top. The hose coming from your thermostat housing goes into the cap of the bottle then another hose connects to that and goes down from the cap to the bottom of the bottle to suck up the coolant(when needed). The other hose is like a vent. It will spew out the extra coolant when it gets too hot and starts to overflow the bottle. The "vent" hose goes from the cap and dumps to where ever you put it.

 

[stealth mullet]

also, i didnt see you say this before, but did you change the oil after it overheated? that is almost always required when a car overheated, becuase it breaks down the oil a thousand times faster. but as you already know, its time to rebuild then engine. i would recemend a valve grind too if there is excessive carbon build-up on the valves since you head is going to be off anyway.

 

[dan2288]

well, we're going to put the car back together along with the oil catch can tomm and ill let you guys know if it helps any.

 

[dan2288]

Ok, well it still smokes. After we started it for a bit, we took out the spark plugs and there was oil on top of every piston. Could the rings be bad ?

 

[wont_luz]

you're at the point where you need to rebuilt the bottom end. that compression is way low. and you were lied to..you shouldnt see 183 compression. at best with a car this age the compression should be at 160. i've seen an average of about 150-155 on my past 3 dsms

Not true. My motor has over 150k on it, runs 178psi across the board (insane for the miles, yes.) And if his motor has 3400 miles on it...it should be somewhere around the 180 mark (new factory spec).

For sure do a leak-down test. It could be that your head gasket is gone, your head is warped, anything could be wrong really if your coolant temp. needle was pegged. Also, the alternator putting out 16.9V could've been enough to burst the battery...I've done it once from overcharging mine

 

[ryanallan]

Can anyone help with an overheating issue I am having ?

Before posting I did some checks and have some info.

First I checked the oil via the dip stick. It was a nice clean oil color and looked to be coolant free.
I also made sure the water pump belt was tight and that the coolant overflow bottle was topped up.

Second I started the car with the rad cap off and let it warm up.

Until the temp needle reached the middle portion of the gauge the car was smoking white, but once the needle reached the middle the white smoke went away.

So now the needle has started moving past the middle portion and is slowly getting closer to the "red zone".

The fans have yet to turn on at this point, and I cant really see coolant flowing past the thermostat (the rad cap is still off). There was some coolant that I could see, but not the amount of flow that there should have been. There was lots of steam coming from the thermostat housing though (rad cap still off).

So finally with the temp gauge pointing at 3/4 of the gauge, and with no fans or coolant flowing I turned the car off.

any ideas ?

Ryan

 

[marcmsj]

Have you replaced your radiator fan switch?

Only one of the fans should come on, the other one is your a/c fan and will only come on when your a/c is on.

 

[ryanallan]

No I have not replaced anything yet.

I just wanted to get some opinions of what the problem could be before i spend any money.

 

[eweppler]

Bad news on my talon....I replaced the thermostat and the radiator cap, checked all my hoses to see if they were loose and im still loosing antifreeze out the resovior so im guessing that i need a new headgasket but thats allright cause i need to take out the engine anyways to put the tranny that im rebuiling into the talon.

 

[OakStreetTuner]

Have you checked to make sure your fan relay didn't die? The fuse for the cooling system? Maby the sensor is bad or has a short? Checking the switch as stated above would probably be a good place to look......

 

[Mitsu RacerX]

Most likely you overheated the head and busted the water jackets on the head gasket. If ya bust a water jacket you will pressurize the over flow tank, which means you will blow hot air into the coolant becuase your pistons are pushing air into the rad. system. I had to retighten down the head and the problem was fixed.

ESI (on its way)

 

[ryanallan]

So do you think a bad Radiator Fan Temperature Switch or Coolant Temperature Sensor would throw a CEL as i do not have a CEL at this time ?

 

[OakStreetTuner]

Well, it may it may not..... im not sure how the cooling system is wired exactly so i cant say for sure. i had a problem like this and i dint throw a cel.... if the sensor is simply sensing a temp increase the needle goes up. i dont know if the computer will actully realize there is a problem and send a cel.