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!

 

[nice97civic]

could be two things. one, your thermostat is stuck and not allowing coolant to flow. take it out and put it in boiling water to see if it opens up, if it does, its working. another thing is that your rad fan might not be coming on to cool things down. check the plug to your rad fan and make sure its plugged in all the way, mine was out creating an overheating problem. also if you have a haynes manual there are a few tests you can do without taking the thermostat out to narrow down your problem. hope this helps

 

[Defiant]

There is one thing that puzzles me. It seems like i was losing water yet i had no signs of a leak.

An indication of a blown head gasket.

After adding alot of water and coolant, i had to drive 15 miles to get home in an overheated state.

That may have done the motor. Your initial cause might have been a stuck thermostat.

Do not discuss street racing, in any form, on DSMtuners.

 

[hun6over]

That may have done the motor. Your initial cause might have been a stuck thermostat.

Are you saying my motor is gone? My motor still idles fine btw.

I just wanted to add that a few days before this whole incident even happened, I checked my coolant level and it was below minimum and it had never been that low before. I check my coolant alot too so i know. I felt that it was a little strange but i had no overheating issues so i just added more coolant.

Maybe i had a small head gasket leak then it escalated to a bigger leak? It all makes sense now. About 2 weeks ago i just installed my MBC and had to do some test runs where i accidently boost it too high (about 21 psi). I quickly turned it down but the damage probably had been done.

On another note, sorry for talking about street racing. I just thought it was important for anyone diagnosing my problem to know that i pushed the car really hard before the problem arised.

 

[DSM90AWD]

I forgot to add, most service stations are equipped to do a coolant system pressure check which could also help you diagnose specifically where coolant is being lost. Or can do what I've done, pressurize the cooling system yourself via the overflow nipple on the thermostat with LOW PRESSURE (less than the radiator cap pressure rating) air from a compressor or bike pump and see if holds pressure OR boost leak test at the TB elbow and look for bubbles under the rad cap / overflow.

 

[hun6over]

Ok i just checked the coolant and i can see a milky film on top. I can also see air bubbles when the coolant is flowing by looking through the radiator cap. I am pretty sure now that the headgasket is gone.

My mechanic friend came over and gave me a price quote on fixing the head gasket. He suggested that i should change the timing belt, water pump, a/c belt, alternator belt while i was at it. Is there anything else i should do while my head is off? I am planning to leave it stock just to drive it to school and then sell it in maybe 6 months.

 

[DSM90AWD]

May also want to have the balance shaft belt replaced as well as the timing belt auto-tensioner, tensioner pulley and idler pulley. Call up JNZ Tuning and let them know what you're doing and they'll tell you all you need parts-wise.

As for what to skip. Honestly, if you can afford it I'd do everything if the parts you are replacing are of unknown age and the labor should be the same (other than the water pump) than if you had to do a basic head re/re. Save the reciepts / mechanics bill and will only improve the resale value of the car (obviously not $ for $ )

 

[hun6over]

Hey thanks for all the advice but i have one more question. Because i am planning on leaving it stock, i am unsure if i should spend extra money on getting ARP headstuds and expensive headgasket (cometic) or just get a felpro gasket set and felpro headbolts from Kragen. Links to the felpro ones: http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?MfrCode=FEL&MfrPartNumber=HS9627PT3
http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?MfrCode=FEL&MfrPartNumber=ES71177 I also found a brand new 6bolt head for $250 but dont know if i need to get it or not. Thanks in advance.

 

[TerribleTSi]

you might want to go to the dealer and get a head gasket there instead. those felBLOW gaskets bust at around 15psi. and it doesn't take long at all. i've seen it all too many times. just thought i would save you the heart ache of going through this whole process again. i know your car is stock but god forbid your car ever spikes boost. they cost about the same anyway.

p.s. the part number at kragen for a head gasket for the turbo and non turbo are the same. those parts stores are not too concerned with quailty as long as it fits....which it does but it totally sucks for turbo cars.

 

[hun6over]

So i finally towed my car to a shop. I thought i needed to replace my headgastket but when i got my car there we did a compression test and i got 150 psi across all 4 cylinders. The next thing we did was replace the thermostat. The new thermostat fixed my overheat problem.

 

[mattp_65]

Tuners,

I have a problem with my car after I put a big FMIC. The next day on the freeway the gauge went above the normal temperature like about 3/4 of the way up. So I replaced the upper and lower hoses, thermostat, and exchange the coolant and added some water wetter.
This helped alot but still hotter than normal temperature, then I did a mini project with cutting the front bumber with holes as shown below. This even helped more but then today with outside temp about 80 degrees and went about 3/4 on the gauge. all on the freeway. Driving on the streets it would never over heat.

I have a slim fan constantly on and the stock passenger fan comes on when it gets to hot and I need help on what the cause can be.

 

[kwAlk23]

Tuners,

I have a problem with my car after I put a big FMIC. The next day on the freeway the gauge went above the normal temperature like about 3/4 of the way up. So I replaced the upper and lower hoses, thermostat, and exchange the coolant and added some water wetter.
This helped alot but still hotter than normal temperature, then I did a mini project with cutting the front bumber with holes as shown below. This even helped more but then today with outside temp about 80 degrees and went about 3/4 on the gauge. all on the freeway. Driving on the streets it would never over heat.

I have a slim fan constantly on and the stock passenger fan comes on when it gets to hot and I need help on what the cause can be.

Did you make sure your FMIC wasn't touching your radiator?

 

[crimsondragon]

Best bet is your FMIC is crowding the radiator. Is your radiator stock? If not I would look into some aftermarket ones.

 

[kmoore]

Did you make sure your FMIC wasn't touching your radiator?

WTF- Unless the FMIC was butted up directly to the radiator itself (which I don't even think it's possible to install the FMIC this way) there is no way this would be causing his overheating

Best bet is your FMIC is crowding the radiator. Is your radiator stock? If not I would look into some aftermarket ones.

WTF Tell me one FMIC that doesn't crowd the radiator? And no it in NOT necessary to buy an aftermarket radiator (May help, yes, but not necessary at all for your application at the moment)

What I would do (and what has been proven to work) is to construct some sort of ducting that directs air flow directly to the radiator itself. Those holes that you made probably helped a little bit but I would also consider some ducting. Let me find a link for you...

Edit: Here you go... http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=224201&highlight=How+lowered+coolant+temps

Also, do you have some type of logger to see exactly what your coolant temps are?

 

[sd_ff22]

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=245981

-Dan

 

[fastclip]

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=245981

-Dan

Mattp 65, I ended up doing this mod when i was stationed in FL, and having to deal with the temps and then when i was restationed to San Diego never had an issue. So the mod is worth the time and isn't expensive at all.

Also, I saw you changed out some parts but did you flush it? So try to flush you radiator if you haven't. If you have the money, vented hoods help a lot.

And assuming you have looked at it, but I hope your coolant doesn't have any oil residue in it??

 

[turboglenn]

I had the same problem from the time i replaced my main fan with a slim line untill yesterday, when i found a way to cram the stock fan back in there and build new IC piping to clear it. the weird thing is mine would overheat faster on the highway than in city traffic *shrugs*

I had replaced the main fan with a slim line when i upgraded from my 16g to my t3/t4 hybrid. I even had a pusher fan on the front between the condensor and radiator and it stil overheated. I've been fighting overheating since then, so i finally gave up on slim lines altogether.

Although crowded, i made room to get the stock "large" fan back in there. It wasn't hot today, but i ran the AC constantly to try and over heat her and with the stock fan wired to only run on it's max speed it kept the thing cool as could be in both city adn highway cruising..

I knew it was the fan from day one because when i had the 16g with the same FMIC, i could run the AC all day with no over-heating issues what so ever. Not to mention i've had my slim line come loose and it ended up rubbing a hole in my radiator. I've really developed a grudge against them since my old 89 mustang 5 liter had them on it and constantly overheated as well.

I also have a friend with the big aluminum Fluidyne radiator and two 850CFM slim lines in his GSX, and he has the same issue. The minute he turns on the a/c the temps shoot right up. The slim lines just can't cool like the stock "main fan" that mitsu provided with the car when new.

read the post linked to here, it documents my swap back to the original fan
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=274216

 

[crimsondragon]

WTF Tell me one FMIC that doesn't crowd the radiator? And no it in NOT necessary to buy an aftermarket radiator (May help, yes, but not necessary at all for your application at the moment)

I meant as in like how the FMIC covered the entire opening of the bumper and was not allowing sufficient flow to the radiator. If he cut the top of the bumper a bit more, air can flow over the FMIC and into the radiator. I remember seeing a diagram of it but I can't seem to find it.

 

[turbosax2]

I meant as in like how the FMIC covered the entire opening of the bumper and was not allowing sufficient flow to the radiator. If he cut the top of the bumper a bit more, air can flow over the FMIC and into the radiator. I remember seeing a diagram of it but I can't seem to find it.

Look at the 2nd and 3rd pics again. He's got airflow going to the radiator.

 

[turbolover10]

Great links! I'm doing this for sure when I get a fmic!

 

[mattp_65]

The FMIC is far enough from the radiator. I have changed the coolant 50/50 mix about 2 weeks ago. The airflow is going above the intercooler into the radiator. I know there is more load on the engine on the freeway but there is more air flowing thru so I dont know the reason for the overheating. I will try to figure out a vent from the bottom to get more air to the radiator this weekend.
It will be hard to put the stock fans back on because of my external wastegate.

 

[turboglenn]

I still say no matter how many holes you open up, untill you've got a fan that can pull the right amount of air through the radiator it's going to over heat.. I tried everything before going through the trouble of building new intercooler pipes and remounting the stock fan and NOTHING worked untill i got the stock fan back in... I say if you can try that before you hack up anythign else, or end up spending bookoo dollars on aftermarket fans and radiators, it would be well worth your time and probably more effective. Like i mentioned before the friend with the fluidyne and 4 fans ( 2 pushing and 2 pulling ) still over heats when teh AC runs. factory engineers design their systems to be able to cope with conditions far exceeding what they should ever see, ao trying to do better than what they designed is a feat in it's self.

Trust me, try the stock fans first. I tried everything but that for over 5 years now and nothing has helped, and my FMIC is much smaller than yours .... if you have acceess to the tools to build or modify the pipes to clear the stock fan, You'll save money and have a lot less head-aches and regrets in the end. Then, if that doesn't cut it you might just have to give up on either having such a large FMIC or just drive ti on cooler days if you can't find some other way to keep it cool.

Also, if you're decent with fiberglass, build the most elaborate ducting system you can think of or accomplish and see if that helps any. One trick to making large flat sheets of fiberglass is to lay the cloth on a large piece of glass and then spread the resin on it ( i use an old piece from a screen door that was replaced on my old house )..make several large flat pieces and then start piecing them together to make large smooth passages to direct air around the FMIC and into the Radiator..also if you don't care about the AC, you could always remove the condensor, it blocks air to the radiator just like your FMIC, and is the same size so it blocks every square inch of it.

 

[mattp_65]

DO you have any pics with your stock fans? I will try to figure out a way to put my stock fans on, but should I get a aluminum radiator to help cool it down more.
Thanks

 

[turboglenn]

There's pics in that thread i linked you to in the post above.... You should be able to clearly see what i did. I would not think that an aluminum radiator would be necessary untill you're making BIG horsepower and actually need it for keeping the motor cool while running under load . Plus there's no provisions for the stock fans on the aftermarket radiators ( or at least on teh fluidyne my friend has ). Not to mention they are thicker, which would leave lss room for running the stock fans.

here's the pics again

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You can see the stock fans in place, and although it's a TIGHT fit, nothing is rubbing so tight to where it would cause anything to wear through

 

[95talon_in_ma]

Just a thought. Since it only happens on the highway it sounds like the coolant is not staying in the radiator long enough and is going back to the engine still hot. Albeit more than likely from the FMIC, it still wouldn't hurt to replace the thrmostat and cap. If the thermostat was stuck open prior, it may not have made that much difference.
For $10 it's worth it to eliminate it as the culprit.

 

[TearsForTalon]

Thats some crazy bumper cuttage. I thought with Greddy the cutting was minimal to none.