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!

 

[thehyena]

thermostats aren't that hard to get and not that expensive just get a new one

 

[pimpngear]

It's ok guys.... I think I have enough knowhow on cars to not run it without the thermostat. I just pulled it out for problem diagnosis. The car doesn't even run yet, so I am not too worried about it. Thanks
-Robert

 

[wantarace95GSX]

OK past couple of days my car has been overheating, Now i checked for my headgasket and it wasn't blown, checked water pump its fine. I found that i didn't have any coolant in my overflow bottle. Would a dead thermostat, or bad receiver be the cause of my overheating. Some days it will overheat and somedays it won't. I am thinking about doing a radiator flush and see what happens. If anyone had any suggestions please let me know thanks.

 

[PropXprt]

flush the radiator and replace thermostat (could be sticking), fixed my problem...

 

[stjoetalon]

Exactly. Thermostats are cheap and an easy fix.
If that doesnt work, check your fans.

 

[wantarace95GSX]

thanks guys probably do this tomorrow

 

[wantarace95GSX]

thanks guys probably do this tomorrow

 

[jpolizo]

An even more common problem is the radiator cap; they're cheap so replace that too.

 

[m_eclipse_96]

Hey guys well heres the deal, my girlfriend just got a 97 GSX a/t with 56,xxx mils on it, it was running just fine till tonight when I got in and started to drive it, well I was about to take off but I was looking toward the rear of the car talking to one of my buddies and seen that blueish color smoke was coming out of the exhaust then I looked at the engine temp gauge and it was all the way in the H, it was overheating. So I immediately turned the car off to let it cool down. when it was cooling down I went over to a gas station and got some antifreeze and water. I added about half a gallon of antifreeze and some water, then started it up and let it idle for a little bit and the temp stayed normal so then I took it around the block blue smoke come out the exhaust now from what ive heard when blue smoke come out your exhaust that meens your burning oil. So what I wanted to know is if u guys had any clues as to what could be causing this to happen

jason

 

[98eclipseRS]

turbo is dying would be what i am guessing.

 

[talonted_one]

pull off the intake snorkle and pull on the turbos compressor wheel.

there maybe some in/out play...not a big deal if its just a lil
and minimal lateral play....once again if its not too much dont worry about it.

if there is a lot of lateral play then the turbo may be blown.

 

[Laserlance]

Ok I noticed my fan was not clicking on when the car warmed up like it is supposed to. Then I was like oh well I will just turn on the A/C so the ac fans can do the job for a little while. But that did not help I held it at a rev to see if it would over heat and it did. But if I leave it at regualr idle 1000 RPM it does not over heat. Is it because the fan is supposed to click on when the car is warmed up and to speed up when the RPM's go up??? And maybe it dont keep it kool since the fans arent speeding up when the rpm's go up??? I also just recentely changed my radiator cap and flushed the radiator when I did not know the fan was clicking on. Can anyone help? Also what would be causing the fan not to click on?

 

[bretthejet26]

maybe your thermostat is busted. throw a new one on there and see what happens

 

[jott5555]

ya theres also a sensor that tells the fan when to turn on and off at certian temps, it dosent go up wiht the rpm;s at idle your enging is running water throught it fine no prob mabey cooling at right rpm u get more heat, so the water is moveing faster and its also hotter causeing the fan sensor switch to turn on at i think its 210 then off at 190 causing you to keep in that certian temp range,

your problem is more than likely a bad switch relay or sensor, check em all

somone should wright a vfaq on this

 

[BoMbS]

I don't know whats wrong...

Here's the symptoms:

When I start the car it starts and drives fine, but sometimes coolant will shoot out the overflow hose. It happened today when I was reversing to park, and it happened yesterday while I was circling my block. I did a couple laps of my block and I noticed lines of coolant on the road around the bends. It is leaking so much that I have to re-fill it every time I drive the damn thing or it will overheat. I'm positive that it's leaking from the overflow hose on the overflow tank. What is causing this? I just replaced the thermostat, and my fan is working fine....

 

[ltvarney]

When the car is warm, it will push coolant. Eventually it should settle to where the overflow bottle will read FULL when the engine is cold. If that is not happening, and it is pushing coolant excessively, check these:

A blown head gasket will cause the overflow to push out coolant.

A bad water pump will cause overheating.

Check for restrictions in the cooling system by backflushing the radiator.

 

[BoMbS]

I hope this doesn't sound stupid, but what do you mean by back flushing the radiator?

 

[BoMbS]

I took the thermostat out, (just to check if that was causing it), but it is still losing the coolant all over the street. It happens mostly while decelerating...

 

[ltvarney]

When you decellerate, the engine has less airflow over the radiator etc. That's probably why it occurs more then.

Backflushing the system would involve using a water hose to push water through the radiator in reverse direction.

Before you do that, I have another idea for you. Remove the radiator cap when the car is cold. Start it up and let it reach normal operating temp. Watch how well the coolant flows. Keep an eye on the temp gauge while doing this in case she starts to heat up too much. The coolant should be moving pretty good. If it is, let it do this for a short while. It will do 2 things - let you see any crap that might flow through, and eliminate any air pockets.

If the coolant flows very little or not at all, it's a bad water pump or blocked water passages. Flush the radiator by removing the hose on top and on bottom of the radiator. Put a garden hose in the top of the radiator and let water flow. It should spit out the bottom of the radiator. If no water flows out, there's a blockage. If water flows freely, I'd say water pump. If it doesn't flow freely, remove the radiator, flip it over, and flush the bottom opening on the radiator until it flows freely.

If none of this works, it's probably the head gasket. That's usually more evident during hard acceleration so I doubt that is it. Symptoms of it are poor performance (coolant blowing out spark) and coolant pushing under WOT.

 

[jpolizo]

One of the most common causes of overheating is a bad radiator cap. If the gasket on that thing gets old, it will not seal and pressure (which is normal) will force coolant out of the engine. Once the coolant leaves, you start getting more air bubbles and steam pockets forming. Not having sufficient pressure also means the coolant will boil at a lower temperature, meaning more coolant loss.

Check the radiator cap.

Beyond that, it sounds like a potentially clogged radiator. Home flushes usually don't work for squat.

Water pumps do go bad, though when they do the most common symptom is leaking. It is possible for the impeller to get clogged with rust or, in some cases, to erode to the point that it doesn't pump well -- though that's not typical. More typical is that the belt is slipping.

 

[Black_Stalon]

I would also make sure your puppy isnt out slurpin up all that yummy coolant your spewing out everywhere....

 

[Wobble]

get an OWM radiator cap from mitsu, chances are yours is too weak and the pressure being built up is causing a massive overflow.. either that or you have head gasket issues... pray its the cap.

 

[BlackViper]

My car heats up if I sit there idleing, but its fine when I drive around and get some wind into the engine. I was thinking about getting a bigger radiator and slimmer fans. The radiator I found was like almost 400 dollars so does anyone think it'll help more than the stock one? Also I think my fans aren't coming on when I just sit there and thats why it overheats. What can I do to make sure they come on?





BlackViper

 

[Todd95TSi]

Check fuses and relays.
there is a way to short the relay and make the fan come on, but I can't think of it right now....... but run the engine with hood open and look at the fan to see if it comes on....... ps only one runs for cooling, the other is for a/c

 

[Turbo98]

Put power to your fan and see if it kicks on... Also check your coolant temp sensor cause if it's telling your computer that it's only 130 degrees and it's wrong than your fan will not kick on.