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!

 

[TSiAWD666]

blackGSX2g summed it up perfectly.

For driving speeds with an fmic you need adequate ducting.

For low speeds or stop and go, you need good fans. Something has to move lots of air across the a/c condensor and the radiator, which is now restricted further by the fmic. Stock fans work really well, probably due to their shrouding, but aftermarket ones for me do the job too. Ducting should help this too, but in my personal experience just working fans alone was enough.

 

[BIGBLAZE79]

I have had such a hard time with my car overheating too. I bought an aftermarket aluminum radiator. One stock fan and one slim fan as a pusher on turbo side, no room with external waste gate. Built sheet metal duct work to only direct air through the intercooler then to radiator, also built a scoop underneath to direct air between the intercooler and radiator. Both fans on all the time using DSMLINK. There is a lot of suction on the front of the intercooler. New OEM thermostat and drilled a couple small holes in the housing to help it stay cooler longer. Redline water wetter. Wrapped the manifold, turbo, O2 housing, downpipe and water pipe from pump with Fiberglass Header wrap. Cut two holes in the hood for ventilation, took out the weather stripping at the back of the hood as well. Water pump has 20K miles on it. It still over heats when on the freeway if I run the AC (aprrox 110F outside). Even with out the AC it runs hotter than normal, about 3/4 to H after about 20 mins going 70Mph. If I pull off the freeway to stop and go trafic it does better but with AC still gets hot.

I was thinking it could be a possible head gasket leak, or maybe the water pump was bad or maybe the system is clogged a little somewhere. Well yesterday the head gasket sprung a leak out the turbo side of the block and there is coolant in the #1 cylinder. I started tearing it down yesterday to replace the head gasket. I'm going to replace the water pump and timing belt while I’m in there. I'm going to change from the MLS head gasket back to the stock composite gasket. When I built the motor about 20K miles ago. I didn't have the head and block machined to a specific surface finish. I just had the machine shop deck the head and block. I think the composite will seal easier than the MLS.

I hope this fixes the overheating issue; I'll let ya know next week when I'm done.

 

[One Equals Two]

The stock fans are what I am running. It seems to do just fine without the A/C in any circumstance, so I was kind of assuming that the A/C was the straw that broke the camel's back. I think I'm going to pull the FMIC out and figure out how to get something else in there. It's sometimes 100 degrees here, I want my A/C to work, and besides, if I have it, I want to use it. If it didn't come with A/C I could care less, but I like everything to work on my car.

An aluminum radiator is on the wish list, but until fundage comes along, I'm SOL.

Thermostat is brand, water pump recently done, and the radiator is flushed. It ran a lot cooler when I flushed it, so I think it helped, but wasn't enough.

Anyway, thanks for confirming my suspicions. Any word on a horizontal IC, like the STi/WRX style? Or maybe two small intercoolers where my fog lights used to go?

 

[steve97Talon]

I have the same issue,but only when temps are above 100 degrees,you might have a restricted radiator, get an aftermarket radiator ,the stock 2 core radiators are to small..with big fmic. I dont have a problem with running a/c with fmic and aftermarket radiator. Make sure your fans are at least 800-1000cfm anything lower than that is inadeqate...

 

[jimmythesaint]

The general rule of thumb is:
If you are overheating while driving you have coolant issues.
If you are overheating while stopping you have airflow issues.

Odd that you would have both. It does seem that the A/C is the final straw and I have similar problems overheating when my A/C is on but only in stop and go. Mine doesnt even go over the halfway mark with the A/C on the highway.

As a highway solution you may want to do what I did. I went to the junkyard and pulled and air scoop off a trans-am (tons of other cars have them) and put it on my car so it pulled air under the intercooler and forced it up to the radiator. You may have to trim it to the size you want but its a cheap fix that should get your radiator pleny of airflow while cruising.

As for driving in stop and go, I turn off the A/C open the vents and crack the windows...

As of today im gonna try to work up some ducting with aluminum flashing from the hardware store. Im gonna run it between the intercooler and radiator. This should force more air into the radiator. goodluck with yours.

 

[BIGBLAZE79]

I was also thinking about getting a small radiator like the same size as the stock intercooler. Then mount it in the stock intercooler location, Teeing into the heater core coolant lines. Just an idea though. I know what you mean about keeping the AC. It's a must have here in AZ. It's a 30 min drive to work and with it 115F outside and the heater on full blast down the freeway to keep the car from overheating. I feel sick by the time I get home

 

[kelly8911]

Okay so I just had the head gasket changed and put in a cometic one and new head studs and everything, the head was just rebuilt and I just did a 6 bolt swap, brand new water pump, new radiator cap, there’s really not much left of the car that’s not brand new. There is no A/C in the car and I don't have a FMIC. I do have a koyo radiator and some aftermarket fans but I forget what brand they are. The fans are wired to run all the time and the radiator was checked a while back and was fine at that time.
SOOO my car just started to randomly overheat so I took out the thermostat and turned the car on and let it idle and the coolant is def flowing good. Now sometimes I can drive all around and it doesn't overheat but the temp still usually gets to normal temp even without the thermostat in. Then randomly (obviously my car is possessed by the devil) the gauge will just start to shoot up and I always pull over and turn it off immediately. The overflow is usually boiling a little bit but I usually don't let it get that hot because as soon as the gauge starts to climb I turn it off. It seems to be doing it when I'm driving at high RPMs like the highway or if I'm getting on it. It usually takes at least 20 minutes to get hot. I was thinking maybe the radiator isn't getting enough air but it's kind of weird because I would think it would get better air when I'm driving on the highway? I was also thinking there's air in the coolant system but I've let it run and run without the cap on and burped it but could there still be air? Any suggestions or should I just look for someone to do an exorcism

 

[1990gsx1781]

are the fans coming on?

 

[kelly8911]

Yes they are on all the time

 

[99redgst]

No thermostat is a bad idea. Without it in there there is not enough restriction in the system. The coolant flows too quickly and does not stay in the radiator long enough to dump the heat. You should reinstall the thermostat, or if your really against it, dismantle the thermostat(remove the spring and valve) and just install the plate to provide some restriction in the system. Sounds like there is another issue here as well, just thought I would point out no thermostat will not help.

 

[Rob10_99]

Yeah, if you are going to run no tstat use a washer or gut an old tstat to stick back in there.
Your waterpump is cavitating at those speeds and no flow=overheat.

 

[kelly8911]

I can put a thermostat back in tomorrow I was just experimenting but wait are u saying that bc there's no thermostat that's making the waterpump cavitate and making it overheat?

 

[Rob10_99]

but wait are u saying that bc there's no thermostat that's making the waterpump cavitate and making it overheat?

Yes there's not enough backpressure on the system and it cavitates.

 

[lacroixdp]

If you haven't already, I'd replace your radiator cap for good measure. Make sure the lip is clean so the cap gets a good seal. I'd also check your cooling system for small leaks. If you have any old hoses, now would be a great time to replace them.
Edit - I just saw you replaced your radiator cap.

 

[One Equals Two]

It looks like I am heading the way of no intercooler for now. I can't afford to blow engine. Well, it's not can't afford, it's "I don't want to!!". But you all understand.

Either or, I am not too excited about modding the radiator to aftermarket (I'm stingy), but I think I will in the future. Today I ran the car without the A/C and it was just fine. Luckily it was "only" 92 outside.

It seems to be happy, so I am going to pull the FMIC and wait until I get some project plans going. Thanks a ton, you guys have helped, I know which way I will eventually go with the cooling.

 

[1gcrazy]

Are you pushing any coolant?

 

[DSM1G90]

any form of blockage in front of the radiator .. like a licence plate or similar? Danged thing love to act like air dams and actually push air away from getting through the radiator causing boilovers real easily.

 

[kelly8911]

-yea all the hoses and stuff are all new. and I don't see any leaks or anything.

-What do you mean pushing coolant? I have refilled it every time it overflows or anything if thats what u mean?

-And actually yea there is a license plate recently put in the front (after paying $300 in tickets for not having one). I guess i'll try to move that and see what happens.

Someone suggested to me that the water jackets might be cracked? Is that likely or how do I check for that??

 

[crimsondragon]

Do a compression check and make sure it's not the head gasket. I heard of Cometics not sealing right if there's a tiny flaw on the surface of the head or block. Is the thermostat new?

 

[kelly8911]

I did a compression check and it was 180s across the board. and I will buy a new thermostat I haven't yet but i will today after work probably and see what happens. But I'm just really hoping its not cracked water jackets does anyone know about symptoms of that or anything? I mean it must mean something that it only overheats at high RPMs?

 

[Defiant]

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/new...-8-7-no-no-no-no.html?highlight=no+thermostat

 

[kelly8911]

I put the thermostat back in and it didn't overheat....yet...but the weird thing is the overflow is bubbling but its not because the water is boiling, its air coming back in through the hose bc if i take the hose out it stops bubbling? So Idk what that means?

 

[BIGBLAZE79]

My car seems to be doing the same thing yours is doing. I built the motor 20K miles ago and replaced everything! I have had such a hard time with my car overheating too. I bought an aftermarket aluminum radiator. One stock fan and one slim fan as a pusher on turbo side, no room with external waste gate. Built sheet metal duct work to only direct air through the intercooler then to radiator, also built a scoop underneath to direct air between the intercooler and radiator. Both fans on all the time using DSMLINK. There is a lot of suction on the front of the intercooler. New OEM thermostat and drilled a couple small holes in the housing to help it stay cooler longer. Redline water wetter. Wrapped the manifold, turbo, O2 housing, downpipe and water pipe from pump with Fiberglass Header wrap. Cut two holes in the hood for ventilation, took out the weather stripping at the back of the hood as well. Water pump has 20K miles on it. It still over heats when on the freeway if I run the AC (aprrox anything over 90F outside). Even with out the AC it runs hotter than normal, about 3/4 to H after about 20 mins going 70Mph. If I pull off the freeway to stop and go traffic it does fine but with AC still gets hot. This has been going on ever since the build.

I was thinking it could be a possible head gasket leak, or maybe the water pump was bad or maybe the system is clogged a little somewhere. Well Last week the head gasket sprung a leak out the turbo side of the block and there is coolant in the #1 cylinder. I started tearing it down last Wed to replace the head gasket. I'm going to replace the water pump and timing belt while I’m in there. I'm going to change from the MLS head gasket back to the stock composite gasket. I think the composite will seal easier than the MLS. When I built the motor about 20K miles ago. I didn't have the head and block machined to a specific surface finish. I just had the machine shop deck the head and block and used ARP studs. I have been reading up on it and I guess you are supposed to have a mirror finish and use copper spray to seal a MLS gasket.

I hope this fixes the overheating issue; I'll let ya know next week when I'm done.

 

[paultheninja]

I put the thermostat back in and it didn't overheat....yet...but the weird thing is the overflow is bubbling but its not because the water is boiling, its air coming back in through the hose bc if i take the hose out it stops bubbling? So Idk what that means?

Are you making sure you are burping the radiator? Also put the thermastat back in. Any form of bloackage (like your license plate) or a huge front mount will block enough air to your radiator.

 

[emanuele]

Hi,
I'm Italian and I have got a DSM 1g AWD 1991.
when I bought the car needed a lot of work to do.I replaced the head gasket on the engine and several parts. Now when I use my car as a normal the coolant increases the temperature in the red zone and I understand that the liquid is boiling.
I have replace the following parts:
- radiator, radiator cup
- thermostat
- isc motor
- I have replaced fan motor switch (on the radiator) with a similar hyundai "sonica" sensor.
- I have replaced many times the coolant
- fan relay

I haven't replace the following parts:
- ECU



Thank you for your answare.
When I replaced the head gasket I brought the head to resurfaced, adjust and control in a special shop.
It doesen't lose coolant and the fan run regularly when the temperature is raised. The problem occurs when using the car for a long time, as the fan did not take a cool enough.
Let me know a thing: When the engine is hot, the upper radiator hose should be under pressure to the touch?
Another thing: when the car turn off (and engine hot) the motor fan continues to run for a few minutes, or not?

Thank you very much
Emanuele

can any person HELP me ?

Thank you very much
Eman