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!

 

[Woody91GSX]

Exactly what they're saying. Relays, temperature sensors, and fuses are what should be checked before replacing fans and radiators. Does your fan come on if you sit there? If not, I think we've found the problem.

 

[wastefuldreamer]

Check your fluids?

 

[93talontsifwd]

also could be the waterpump but first check to see if you have enough coolant and like everyone else said check to see if your radiator fan is coming on.

 

[thehyena]

i would replace your thermostat and radiator. It's easy to install and doesn't cost much www.radiatorbarn.com

 

[Goblin]

Originally posted by thehyena
i would replace your thermostat

I'd start there and see if that fixes it. I had the same problem with my 92 Talon, the thermostat wasen't opening replaced it and the car ran fine. Flush your radiator before you think about replacing it.

 

[skatah]

okay so my car over heats still and heres what i have done.

brand new radiator, new thermostat, also tried runing it with no thermostat, and it still over heats.

my only other options it could be now as far as i can tell are:

blown headgasket (but noil coolant in oil or vice versa)
bad water pump


how much does a water pump cost?

 

[TalonRacer18]

Me and my dad just changed the water pump on his 96 dodge grand caravan with a 3.0 v6 and the water pump only costed like 40.00. It was a pain in the azz by the way.

 

[skatah]

okay new update. water pump works. i check it out. my fan doesnt work but if i turn on the AC it does so i figd itd all be good. boy was i wrong now after takign it for a spin i have boiling coolant overflow again.....

any ideas any one help plz

 

[Doug99RS]

Overheating... as in the gauge on the dash says it's overheating or the coolant keeps dumping out in to the resevior?

If it's the gauge then I'd say you're right in the description of it "overheating". And would suspect coolant flow or headgasket integrity.

If you are referring to blowing coolant out you could have one additional source. The radiator cap. What pressure rating is it and did the new radiator come with a new cap? If you reused the old one that may be your cause.

A bad cap will often release coolant in to the resevior once the pressure in the coolant system is enough to over-power the spring or seal of the cap itself. This is commonly misdiagnosed as being an "Overheating" condition when in fact the engine does not overheat until all or most of the coolant has already been blown out.
Doug

 

[skatah]

no new cap.

it bubbles/boils out the overflow bottle. smoke/steam the whole works. not just the guage, guage is fine

the guage rises and goes into the red zone. unless i stop it by cuttin the engine.

 

[Flat Lined]

My car had done the same thing, it would be fine if I left my a/c on. That led me to beleive that the other fan was not opperating. I looked at the plug and noticed it had fried. I unhooked my battery and hardwired the fan and now all is well. Check all the simple/little things first, because you don't want to buy parts you don't need.

 

[me612]

sounds like the head gasket. Just happened to me not too long ago. The radiator hoses got filled with pressure, coolant spewin outta the over flow tank. Sounds just like what happened to me man. do a compression test, that'll answer a lot, and only takes 5 minutes for an idiot to do.

 

[TalonRacer18]

no new cap? no that there is not a new cap or no it is a new cap? if not then you need to go buy a new one.

 

[me612]

well the fact that his engine temp gauge is maxin out, id say its not the radiator cap, id say its his head gasket, just do a comp test tho

 

[Doug99RS]

Originally posted by TalonRacer18
no new cap? no that there is not a new cap or no it is a new cap? if not then you need to go buy a new one.

What he said.

Is it a new cap or an old cap?

Yes, if the gauge says the car is overheating, and the coolant is blowing out, then it may not be the cap. My point was to bring up the fact that a low coolant level can be the cause of an engine overheating. And of the many components that can cause a loss of coolant, a cap could be one of them. It's the easiest and cheapest thing besides coolant to buy to aid in stopping or diagnosing a coolant temperature problem.

A compression check is a good idea when the blown section of the gasket is between a water jacket and the combustion chamber. They are not always conclusive, good to check, just not conclusive.

If you do a compression check make sure all the plugs are out. Also, buy a coolant pressure tester and pressurize the coolant system without the plugs in it. Leaving the plugs in will seal the cylinders leaving no where for the coolant to leak to.
Doug

 

[Defiant]

There's also test strips available that'll check for exhaust gasses in your coolant.

 

[skatah]

well how much does it usually cost for a head gasket fix?

 

[me612]

95 bux for a mitsu metal headgasket, if you have a loca mechanic do it fpr u then it could cost around a thousand bux with labor costs

 

[skatah]

yeah so brought it to the shop. had them do a compression check. cuz they said theyd do it for free. yep got a cracked head and a blown headgasket. life sux, i just lost my dsm

 

[elfili]

After reading plenty of threads regarding this issue, it would appear that there can be many reasons for why my car had overheated. I'm gettting very similar symptoms as other people with the burnt smell of coolant... burnt coolant in the reservoir... and most importantly, no heat out of the vents.
I'm fearing that it could be a bad waterpump, since a blown head gasket would be unlikely since I'm running stock boost. But before I jump to any conclusions, (with no possibilities completely ruled out) can anyone recommend the first things I check? I have a feeling that the "no heat" is the key to this problem.
Thanks for any leads.

 

[thehyena]

check the thermostat and the lines running into your firewall

 

[elfili]

I know where the thermostat is, and how to take it apart, but what exactly am I looking for?

 

[jott5555]

check your heater core could have cracked happens a lot and is also a cause of bad heating stuff, check your coolant level mabey do a system flush, make sure your rad fan is common in and all that good stuff

also make sure to post back

 

[jott5555]

check your heater core could have cracked happens a lot and is also a cause of bad heating stuff, check your coolant level mabey do a system flush, make sure your rad fan is common in and all that good stuff

also make sure to post back

 

[elfili]

The first check I made last night before working on it was to see how the coolant level changed. It was nearly drained, yet no puddles under the car. I'm thinking where did all the coolant go?
I decided to flush the radiator and run to NAPA to replace the cap and perhaps thermostat. It was the least I can do at this point. Since I didnt know what to look for in a bad thermostat, I figure a replacement couldnt hurt.
After flushing the system I put new coolant in and let it run without the cap to see if the coolant was flowing. It looked ok, and it was flowing alright. However I wasnt sure how fast it ought to be flowing. There was some drips of coolant just below the belts. (now I'm really thinking bad water pump) I observed the temp gauge to see if it would skyrocket and luckily it didnt. Turned on the HVAC to see if I'm getting hot air, and sure enough it was behaving this time. Fans were going on.
I felt confident enough to go for a spin. Put cap back on and kept it easy. Had the engine running about 20 minutes and came back to see if I'm still leaking coolant. Nothing significant this time, but I did notice some wet spots. Wasnt sure if this was from the initial leak, or if by running the car, the small leak was just trickling to the underside of the car. Kept it idle for another 5 minutes, and no leaks. Then again, I'm not sure if it is or not, but no drips on the floor.
Needless to say, the car is still on "probation" and I'll check the coolant level when I get home from work.
If it's nearly drained again, I know I've obviously got a leak somewhere. The theory on the bad waterpump weep hole leaking seems like a logical explanation for this.
I dont know about the blown gasket theory since there was no water in the oil. Then again, I'm no mechanic.