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!

 

[Oldsid]

[Previously the car was running hot and was hard to tune. Knock was random and tunes weren't consistent. There was also what seemed to be a very faint noise coming from the bottom end.

Some side notes:
Tstat is a new OEM 180 degree
Water pump is also brand new
Radiator is a punishment racing aluminum radiator with shroud and two slim fans[/QUOTE]

Are loosing coolant or are you just running "hot"? Did you have this problem before or after you changed your water pump? If your coolant level is normal (no loss or boiling) and this problem started after you installed the new water pump, I would suspect that the pump could be defective. This would explain "the very faint noise coming from the bottom end" and the heating at cruise (not enough flow through the radiator). I hope this would help

 

[mnetwork]

The coolant has to pass through, the system is a whole system with no accessories. I'm not sure which side is IN and OUT, but there are two hoses that go into the heater core. The first one is from the tail end of the water pipe and the other is on the thermostat housing. They are 3/8" in size.

So you are saying if I filled the heater core with cement that there would be no coolant flow in the entire system?

 

[tragdor]

I might be stating the obvious here, but I'll throw it out there. I know this is a new build but it does seem like your head gasket could be the culprit. If the head isn't seated correctly, I believe this could create hot spots on the head and definitely overheat the car. I don't know how much more difficult tuning would be, but my though would be that the more aggressive the tune, the more likely that the car would overheat. I would second using another method of measuring the temperature (dsmlink or a water temperature gauge). Good luck!

 

[tjbiker031]

I think it is a blockage/restrictive issue more than anything else. i am by no means an expert but i think it sounds like a gasket or debris is restricting the flow. but i would def. put on an aftermarket gauge to monitor the system better. i don't trust stock gauges.

 

[ben's93talon]

i would say that ## head gasket is cracked

 

[Mitsu RacerX]

There has to be something being missed though. It isn't even a fan issue... it gets hotter when cruising then when idling. Is it somehow possible theres a some super small crack in the block that wasn't seen or something like that?

Are you sure your HG isn't leaking at the water jackets which is cuasing it to get hot while driving. When driving the pistons are push pressure into the coolant system.

 

[Rex2342]

If you have truly replaced everything dealing with the engine and it's doing the same thing then the problem lies somewhere in the car itself. Do like blcknspo0ln said and check the heater core hoses. Get the car warmed up and just feel the hoses coming from the firewall to see if they are the same temperature. If one of them is hot and the other is warm/cold then your heater core is clogged and needs to either be replaced or flushed to remove the clog. If the hoses are the same temp then it's time to check the radiator and everything else over again including the head gasket. Just because you've changed a part doesn't mean it's working the way it should be. I work on cars all day long and constantly swap out brand new parts that don't work right after they are installed. It happens with OEM and aftermarket parts all the time.

 

[brassc2007]

what is your timing set at i know on my 350 sbc the timing can effect the running temerature. Aslo have you tried running without a thermostat and there is also a test you can do to check for exhaust fumes in the antifreeze. And yes technically the heater core is an accesory. If you blocked the lines going in and out of the motor to the heater core it would still run normally. So we know its a new head gasket, water pump, radiator, thermostat and fans. When you did the head gasket what kind of gasket did you use? Cometec, mls, oem. the best you can do is start testing. I would first test for exhaust fumes in the antifreeze that will eliminate anything with the head gasket. Did you put the thermostat in boiling water before you installed it to make sure it opened.

 

[Nvisabl]

quote "Oh, yes a clogged heater core would do this. It will restrict the flow of coolant throughout the system (so it'd have a tougher time cooling). Just check the two heater hoses going into the firewall and make sure they're "the same temp" "

Water does not need to pass thru heater core if you have temp set to cold no water passes thru core.

I would do a leak down test with radiator cap off , If the water rises with the cylinder pressurized you will know head gasket . (I don't believe that is the problem.) I really suspect your radiator. did by chance it sit out of car out of box for any lengths of time? I would check with a temp probe different areas on Radiator ( spiders build webs that will block a radiator( I know from experience ) brand new radiator sat in shop 20 days and got plugged by a spider

 

[brassc2007]

i was just saying that it was an accesory, yes it would restrict the flow a little as it does divert some of the fluid through it so yes that is right and could be a possibility i was just saying from my experience that i have blocked some of for customers who could not afford the fix during the summer and it ran the same, and i have mine blocked off as i dont drive the car during the winter. But start testing it will pop up it just takes time and patients

 

[brassc2007]

is your radiator cap good?

 

[brassc2007]

hey did you figure this out

 

[mnetwork]

hey did you figure this out

I don't have the car because the shop messed up the motor. When I would drive the car rpms would drop when the clutch was pressed. I told them to check crank end play and it wound up being out of spec. When they first started the motor the oil pump wasn't priming because of dent in the oil pan. They pulled the oil pan and found that the bearings were messed up. They should be taking the crank out today and sending it to get checked out and polished and then brand new bearings will be put in. When I get the car back I will be removing the condenser because it has a hole in it anyway, I probably wouldn't replace it till next year anyway. I am also going to try and bypass the heater core. I will update when I get the car back. This would be going faster if I actually pulled the motor, but I don't have the tools to pull a whole motor and I'm pretty glad I didn't because then this whole thing would be partially my problem.

 

[goodluck_laser]

So i've done alot of searching this last hour or two and cant find anything that answers my question.
I just got my car back from a shop where the 02 was replaced and some other wiring done and it drove fine for about a week no problems no overheating or anything. Then mysteriously one day driving home since work is 65km away my car overheats almost instantly.
The shop told me when they gave it back to me that my wastegate actuator was seized but i needed to car to get to work the next day so i had no choice but to bring it home. They also showed how well it ran after everything was done but how much better it ran without the upper IC pipe hooked up, it wasn't much of a change but enough to notice for me the car owner.
Now I've changed the thermostat, checked all wires, checked for coolant in oil, replaced a leaking rad hose, even pulled off the wastegate actuator to see if it was actually siezed but i can move it but im betting 15 psi wouldnt stand a chance in hell i had to really put some effort into moving it.
So here I am wondering what is going on with my car. I know someone is gonna tell me to flush my rad and yes it will be done once I get paid on friday. But would the wastegate cause an overheating problem like this. It only overheats when highway driving not idling or city driving. But any advice is helpful I've been pondering this for a couple days now and can't figure it out, I've even been reading all 3(Yes THREE) manuals I own for my car, so please help me.

 

[jdodds]

Are your fans kicking on? Does your radiator cap hold pressure?

 

[TastyTalon]

Try replacing the radiator cap with a stock Evo 8 or 9 cap. I had very similar problems to you last winter and I replaced it with an OEM one, still had problems. As last resort I swapped it with the stock Evo 8 cap and problem solved instantly. It worked for me but maybe its worth a shot for you, just my 2 cents.

 

[bluegs03]

Try what you mentioned above, flushing out the radiatior, most likely since it is highway driving, it is something to do with an obstruction inside the radiator. At highway speeds the cooling fans dont need to come on in all but the hottest environments as air flowing past at 65 mph is cooler and faster than what the fans can do. With a large obstruction in the radiator, it will only show at high speeds because at low speeds the fans keep the car cool. Hope this helps, a new "performance" radiator is not that expensive and is usually $150-$200. That is of course if you have tested the radiator caps and tried the above.

 

[90 TSI FWD]

You may have a blown head gasket. I had similar issues and nothing I did solved the problem. It wasn't until a couple weeks later when the head gasket completely showed itself and blew. Hopefully that's not it, but from my experiences, it probably is.

 

[deerhunter0881]

When that happen too me my head was cracked. First do the cheap things people above me said. Another thing the heater core mite be blocked too try bypassing the heater core.

 

[frankenstein406]

take out the middle emblem between the lights if you must drive it. what condition is the radiator in? any deteriorating fins? call the shop to see what they say? are fans kicking on? losing any coolant?

 

[Turbo Talon DL]

What cockpit /dash indications are you getting? How far is the temp needle moving? Are you sure the thermostat is in properly? Is the cooling system free of entrapped air? Whats the condition of the water pump? How about your hoses or your coolant level? Are you burning anything besides gas and maybe some blue-smoke inducing oil?

Try building some custom baffles out of sheet metal and using water wetter. I built some baffles last summer for my car and the cruising temps INSTANTLY showed a drop. The car ran a little bit cooler and the area right in front of my radiator felt like a wind tunnel afterwards too.

If you think its a blown head gasket then buy some of that combustion gas detector for coolant. I've seen it at Autozone before. Do a compression test too. Flush/fill radiator. Scale and corrosion inhibit heat transfer. Oh what mixture of water to coolant are you running?

 

[mnetwork]

Still waiting on the motor to be finished, but a side quesiton. I didn't see anything in the cooling diagram that shows that all coolant MUST pass through the heater core to get to the other side. Another thing, when car is up to temp and being driven... when I pull over what should both coolant hoses feel like? Should they feel the same or should the bottom be cooler?

 

[blcknspo0ln]

Both should be engine-temperature. If the shop has it now, just tell them to not hook up the coolant lines when they assemble the motor again and instead, just loop the waterpipe to the thermo housing. It'll save you the headache.

 

[jhood99]

So here's my update I haven't had the car for about the past month. It's been at the mitsubishi dealership getting "fixed". The first time I took it in and they said it was fixed,( I only had one fan) They switched cooling fan to opposite side and connected to proper connector , and they said the temp stayed normal. It didn't and I had to bring it back . So the second time at the dealership , they replaced the coolant temp sensor , thermostat ,radiator piping , and installed another fan (so now I have two) and said the temp stayed normal. I drove it home and the temp was still going up again. The next day I brought I back to the dealership. The third time it was at the dealership , they said my radiator was bent and that one of the hoses for the heater core broke , so they replaced the radiator and the hose for the heater core. They also said they took of the water pump out and the propeller was backwards so they turned it around. So today I go to pick it up because they say it was "fixed" and I said I had to road test it before I paid. So I went with the technician and road tested it. I pushed the car and as you can already guess it the temp went up again. Up and down , up and down. This time I had a witness , the technician with me to see exactly what the car is doing. So I said to the tech , what the hell am I paying for and they are telling me the car is fixed and it clearly isn't? They say they are road-testing the car , but how is that possible if I drove the car less than 4 miles and it was already overheating. So now the tech thinks it's the headgasket , they haven't called me back today so , I'm assuming they are going to call me back tommorow. What the hell should I do? The radiator , cooling fans , thermostat, CTS ,pipping all were replaced and the problem still exist , & I'm the one footing the bill ????

 

[97gst_spyder]

You should watch them to the compression test, so they can prove thats bad to your face... I wouldnt have let this go this far in cost but too late now. Also, have they showed you the old parts?