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!

 

[REV MOTORSPORTS]

now we have replaced the water pump and its still pumping water out the overflow

 

[REV MOTORSPORTS]

well... because its straight up spilling into the overflow... im now concentrating on the radiator cap... i think the system after building the motor is pushing more pressure.. so we are puttin on the greddy high pressure radiator capp... does this sound right... because if it were the head gasket i do believe u would see smoke with as much fluid as being pushed out the system

 

[jpolizo]

Well, what you hope is that your engine is pushing more heat. If it's pushing pressure past a leaky head gasket, no radiator cap in the world is going to help you because the engine is running like 150psi.

The radiator cap is important because the coolant will boil at a much lower temperature if the system is not pressurized. If heat is your problem, the cap can help you. A bad cap will definitely cause you to lose coolant.

My head gasket went and I didn't have a noticeable amount of smoke. I did, however, have little bubbles appearing constantly in the coolant reservoir which was pushing coolant into the overflow and eventually out onto the ground. That sounds similar to your problem, but like I said, check all the easy stuff first.

 

[REV MOTORSPORTS]

my mech presure tested the coolant system it seems after all the heavy modification that... the coolant system is now running at 15psi... so i went ahead and called my dealer and got a greddy 19.5psi radiator cap..... even he said dsm's were notrious for this problem after heavy rebuild.... the cap will allow everything to flow back to normal..... it only overheats when all the coolant is gone... because its just straight dumping into the overflow and out of the car onto the ground

 

[gen1runner]

I HAD THE SAME PROBLEM IN MY ECLIPSE AND MY EXHAUST GAS WAS PUMPING INTO MY COOLANT SYSTEM PRESSURIZING IT. COOLANT DUMPED RIGHT INTO THE OVERFLOW AND ONTO THE GROUND. CHECK THE LOWER AND UPPER RADIATOR HOSES AND SEE IF THEY GET HOT SOMETIMES IF THE HEAD GASKET IS BLOWN IT TRAPS PRESSURE AND WONT ALLOW THE COOLANT TO FLOW PROPERLY. THIS MAY BE YOUR PROBLEM. MINE WOULD DRIVE FINE FOR ABOUT 20 MIN THEN ALL HELL WOULD BREAK LOOSE

 

[pimpngear]

Ok. some I am on my way home from a class one day and I notice I am overheating. In all my troubleshooting that I went thru for the next 2 days I changed the thermostat, changed the cap, Bypassed heater core, and flushed radiator. After determining it was the headgasket (with convincing from extreme and slowboy) I swapped it out, yes it was blown. While doing that I changed out ALL coolant lines, flushed the heater core and the radiator again. Put it all back together and I can't get the car to run right (that's a different thread), but once I let the engine get up to normal opperating temp (yes, the fan comes on) instead of a steady flow of water I get the same violent spurting of hot water all over my arms and stuff. I think I got to everything in my cooling system and not a clue why I am still having this problem. HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME PLEASE. The car isn't drivable yet so I don't know if this has any bearing on something not being seated yet, but as far as the experts say the head gasket will never work better then the it's first start. Thanks for reading my blurb...I am very very open to suggestions.
-Robert

 

[boostlessNT]

This is just a thought - could it be the water pump?

 

[pimpngear]

I guess it could.... i had it changed out about 20K ago. I don't know of anyreason for pre-mature failure of it, but it is possiable..... anyone know of a way to test a water pump?

 

[jpolizo]

Off-hand, it sounds like the thermostat is stuck or installed backwards. I don't think you can put an OEM thermostat in backwards, but an aftermarket perhaps? Another possibility is that the thermostat has a little hole in it (make sure yours does if it's aftermarket) that must be installed at the top so that air pockets don't form by the thermostat itself.

Assuming the thermostat is OK, did you have the head checked when you did the head gasket? If you overheated, at all, the head can warp or worse. The block is probably OK unless you way hosed something.

Water pump is a possibility, though usually they leak rather than stop pumping so bad you notice. The impeller can erode and get clogged with rust, though so efficiency can go down but it sounds like your problem is more severe. A more common problem is a slipping belt.

Finally, most home radiator flushes don't do a heckuva lot; your radiator may be clogged.

 

[boostlessNT]

Originally posted by jpolizo

Assuming the thermostat is OK, did you have the head checked when you did the head gasket? If you overheated, at all, the head can warp or worse. The block is probably OK unless you way hosed something.

Water pump is a possibility, though usually they leak rather than stop pumping so bad you notice. The impeller can erode and get clogged with rust, though so efficiency can go down but it sounds like your problem is more severe. A more common problem is a slipping belt.

Regarding the warped head - if the seal between the head and the block was still fubar'd (warped head) he'd still be burning white (coolant/water into the combustion chamber) and the performance would be adversely affected - right?

I agree about the water pump, when they fail - they usually just piss all over the ground, and a slipping belt would definitely give you problems with the water pump - but keep in mind, the water pump itself really doesn't create that much restriction, so if he's got a belt problem, do you think he'd be seeing other issues as well? I still think looking at the pump would be your best next bet. Not to mention the cheapest. what are they now, $40 USD (I think they're 110 CDN) ??

 

[jpolizo]

Originally posted by boostlessNT


Regarding the warped head - if the seal between the head and the block was still fubar'd (warped head) he'd still be burning white (coolant/water into the combustion chamber) and the performance would be adversely affected - right?

I agree about the water pump, when they fail - they usually just piss all over the ground, and a slipping belt would definitely give you problems with the water pump - but keep in mind, the water pump itself really doesn't create that much restriction, so if he's got a belt problem, do you think he'd be seeing other issues as well? I still think looking at the pump would be your best next bet. Not to mention the cheapest. what are they now, $40 USD (I think they're 110 CDN) ??

When my headgasket went out there was very, very, little smoke of any kind. There was, however, lots of exhaust gas venting through the cooling system and blowing the coolant out which caused rather nasty overheating. Note also that he did not indicate that his car was smoking before the HG replacement either. I would not take lack of white smoke as a sign that all is right with the world in the head gasket sealing area. If someone overheats and replaces the head gasket, I can think of no good reason not to have the head checked.

There, are, however, other things to check too. I don't know that I'd do the waterpump first, they are cheap but it's not like they are easy to get to. My gut feeling is the thermostat is in wrong, but ya just nevuh know.

 

[My96]

i have a 96 gs and just 2 days ago it started overheating badly. now the engine was just replaced about 500 miles ago. i was driving probably about 3 minutes the other day and turned around to go home on the way home the temperature just kept on going up and up it didn't stop so by the time i got home there was white smoke coming from out of the engine. I drove with my girlfriend's car back to exactly where i was when the car started overheating and i see a big puddle about 12" in diameter of anti-freeze on the ground and a lil line about 100 feet leading up to it i go home and there is no antifreeze in the car this is with a new antifreeze resevoire and new hose to the radiator. i don't know what caused the car to dump all of my antifreeze and it seems like the fans aren't goin on. i put antifreeze in again and drove it about 5 mins to my college and when i got there same thing no more antifreeze left and white smoke was begining to puff out from under the hood. when i drive as long as i continue to accelerate the temp is above the middle marker but it's not all the way up to hot i think because air is getting into the engine just from when i'm driving which is leading me to believe that the fan isn't working properly. i checked the fuse for the fan in the engine bay and it's fine. what should i do where should i look to. i've done a search and nothing's been able to help me im going to put antifreeze in again and try driving it but i don't want to mess anything up really bad. sorry for the long post any advice would really help.

 

[Kevin90GSX]

Well you may have already done serious damage to the motor. You should never drive a car without antifreeze. Its like a motors death wish. Your fan probably broke or you blew a fuse of some sort which is causing the fans not to kick on and you to over heat.

My suggestion is stop driving the car period. Get the fans fixed. Either you do it or have a shop do it but if you keep driving your car with no antifreeze your gonna blow a head gasket or worse.

Get the fans fixed. And if its not the fans maybe its time for a new radiation. ( http://www.radiatorbarn.com )

 

[Defiant]

I gotta start a thread. WHY CARS HAVE GAUGES, and RED MEANS STOP.

 

[turboholic]

Originally posted by My96
this is with a new antifreeze resevoire and new hose to the radiator. i don't know what caused the car to dump all of my antifreeze

-Obvious thing to do is to check for leak, ie: crack radiator (upper & lower end caps) , broken hose(s), seal of the coolant filler cap, drain plug on bottom of the radiator.....

 

[GreddySpyder]

or your thermostat could be bad

 

[forcedfedgsx]

wouldnt a break in the seal of the head gasket between two cylinders show up on a compression check, do it and if say your middle two are low then the head is a little warped and not getting a good seal

 

[My96]

it ended up being a hole in the flex tube on the cooling line that runs off of the thermostat. cost about $3 to fix car is great now thanx for the help guys

 

[TuRBo'DTWiX]

Ok a number of things happened. At first my car started overheating so i took it to strauss and they replaced the thermostat and then i realized one of the coolant hoses were leaking so i replaced that too. Now the temperature needle starts going to the red but sometimes while driving it will start to goto the 3/4 then go back to overheating. And today i saw white smoke coming out from under the hood and smelled coolant. Opened the hood it was coming out from the hose thats supposed to be connected to the coolant fill bottle near the cap. It seems to have popped off or maybe i accidentally pulled it off while installing the intake yesterday. So i put it back on clamped it and i decided to go out again and when i was coming back i saw white smoke coming out of the car again but this time there was also oil near my valve cover but the thing is i just installed a fuel filter a fram g2 and i put it on facing the wrong way so i figured thats y the oil was comin out because it was only around the valve cover tube. The coolant still is a problem though and the i think maybe the car temperature sensor is messed up? it just overheats like after a min the car is running. I think i should just take it strauss aand make them check the thermostat. Could i have blown a head gasket?

 

[GreddySpyder]

if your head gasket is blown you'll notice other things like lumpy idle, and oil in your coolant or vice versa. it still sounds like a thermostat problem to me. it is VERY easy to change a thermostat, i would buy a genuine mitsubishi thermostat and install it myself if i were you. they may have put the thermostat in backwards, or not have even changed it at all and just said they did.

 

[TuRBo'DTWiX]

how can i tell if they put it in backwards?? I had the thermostat replaced by Strauss Discount Auto maybe 1 month ago or less

 

[GreddySpyder]

have you checked to see if the top coolant hose has pressure in it once the car warms up? if the thermostat is sticking or not operating properly the top hose won't build up pressure.

 

[TuRBo'DTWiX]

u mean take off the radiator cap before starting the car then starting it to see if coolant flows thru the upper radiator piping?

 

[pimpngear]

I appologize for not getting back to everyone as quickly as you guys came in for me. I just got the radiator power flushed 2 days ago, and to say the least it was no were near dirty. So i was mad and the shop guy couldn't figure out why. He probably thought i was handicap or something. So when i got home and threw the radiator back in I decided it would be a good idea to pull out the very new thermostat and give it a run. Sure enough I turned on the car and no issuies. I never got a chance to let the car fully warm up due to my other problem so I am not sure if this was a total fix. hopefully the next post will be a confirmation of the repair
-Robert Smith

 

[Defiant]

Don't run the car without a thermostat, if that's what you're up to.