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!

 

[Kantide]

nope i dont c any smoke tat i can c...

I am having heat problems too. I overheated while I was out today and had to get a tow home. I'm pretty sure all my coolant is almost gone, the overflow was full and boiling. No smoke coming out either. Car runs great just overheats really fast. Wierd thing is, not at idle but only while I'm driving. HALP!

 

[mnetwork]

Ok, well I got back to cracking down on the Talon earlier today. Here is what I came up with...

I tried doing a leakdown test, but it wasn't working out right and my compressor isn't good enough to supply it. Looking in cyl 2 I also see some sort of wetness on the piston, the other ones look normal. I went to doing a compression test and I came up with this:

Cyl 1 - 150
Cyl 2 - 170
Cyl 3 - 170
Cyl 4 - 170

I have 8.3:1 compression pistons so a perfect seal should yield around 173. This tester is a cheap HF one so I'm assuming Cyl 2,3,4 are pefect. All three of them shot up exactly the same. Cyl1 was consistently lower. This shows a problem right away as this a new motor. I finally have some hard proof that there are actual problems with this motor. I'd like to hear any input that anyone has on this

 

[98GSt_4life]

ok the car was running fine with no overheating problems until one day driving to the beach i got on it a little coming out of a toll and bam it started over heating really bad. pulled over let it cool down and there was no coolant in the system. took about a gallon of water to fill it back up. started it back up everything was fine and 5min later it was doing the same thing except this time all water i put in it was boiling out into the overflow. after spoting and goin i finally got the car home and checked everything i could think of. compression tested it and had 175-180 on all cylinders. changed the oil flushed the cooling system, removed the thermostat and its still overheating.

now i have a new mishimoto rad. OEM fans new thermostat and radiator cap.
at first the car fan fine drove for about 30 min with no overheating, until i pulled in the driveway and let it idle for a few min and it started getting hot again. about 210* so i shut the car off and could head it boiling into the overflow.

i dont know what else to look at except the head gasket, but both compression and leak down tests showed no problem with that..

and today my friend told me theres very little white smoke coming out the exhaust when i accelerate. could it be my turbo is going bad and pushing air into the system under boost??

 

[TurboSportAWD]

Do the fans kick on at all?

 

[98GSt_4life]

yeah they both work

 

[zimfro]

I've heard of bad radiator caps causing this exact thing. Just something else to look into.

 

[98GSt_4life]

i replaced mine with a 16psi cap. and i believe oem is only 13psi.

 

[98GSt_4life]

im starting to think its the headgasket now ### theres a puff of white smoke when i start the car too. and it idles rough for about 10 seconds then smothes out. it would brobably be because im geting coolant in the combustion chamber right??

 

[southrneclipser]

210 isn't that hot dependng on the outside temp. my 2g rs will go up to 210 until the fans kick on to bring it back down. i also have a 16 psi rad cap. make sure all air is out of the system and there are no rotten hoses. you should run about 30% coolant 70% water. i found that worked best for me. delve into all other options before tearing into your head.

 

[98GSt_4life]

i shut the car off at 210* it was still going up. and i didnt want to risk doing more damage sence the other time it overheated it went up to 235*

and just about everything in the cooling system is new except for the water pump, but the pump isnt leaking and with the radiator cap off i can see it flowing just fine.

and that still wouldnt explain the white smoke that seems to come and go..

oh and the engine was rebuilt 20k miles ago and i had bothe the head and block resurfaced. ive got a cometic headgasket with arp studs torqued down correctly.

 

[LTUSPE]

If your car is slowly eating coolant (not leaking) then I would suggest doing a leakdown test. More than likely you're looking at a headgasket and possible decking of the head.

 

[greg90gs]

could be your valve guides leaking, if it is they are letting oil drip into the cylinders over night then burning it out in the morning, but i doubt it if your having cooling issues, try the garden hose trick and see what happens

 

[98GSt_4life]

could be your valve guides leaking, if it is they are letting oil drip into the cylinders over night then burning it out in the morning, but i doubt it if your having cooling issues, try the garden hose trick and see what happens

whats the garden hose trick?

 

[crimsondragon]

Get a hydrocarbon tester from like Autozone. Sample the coolant and see if anything comes up. If there's hydrocarbons, the head gasket is leaking into the coolant jackets. Are you running a water cooled turbo?

 

[talon187]

Ok im not trying to take over the thread or anything but im wondring two things one at what temp is the car acutally over heating? whats the hotest you should let it get and is it the same with 1gs?

 

[johnmarines]

Sounds like a head gasket problem, I had the same problem, pull the head, check to see if its warped, check the block with a true straight edge to make sure its not worped and install a new headgasket. While your at it I would suggest replacing the water pump and get a new therm.

 

[98GSt_4life]

Get a hydrocarbon tester from like Autozone. Sample the coolant and see if anything comes up. If there's hydrocarbons, the head gasket is leaking into the coolant jackets. Are you running a water cooled turbo?

yeah its an E3 16g.

 

[crimsondragon]

Detach the coolant lines, drain it and leave them. Reroute all coolant lines with a single hose and clamp it down. Drive and see if it still smokes. Don't boost. At the very least you can rule out the turbo.

 

[RayBan GST]

try to double the seal on your rad cap , its worth trying and let us know

make sure you have no air in the system , let it bleed out and then double the rubber seals and cap it off


dont jump to conclusions that your HG is gone without trying the simple things.

 

[mnetwork]

Well, between the compression test, seeing wetness in cyl 2, and the constant overheating.. I brought the car back to the shop last night with a long letter explaining everything. I will update with what they do. I am not dealing with the car the way it is, I paid for it to get done because I didn't have the tools to do a engine removal myself and I am not going to put up with this. I will update when I have an update.

 

[98GSt_4life]

i never replaced the water pump during the rebuild because there was nothing wrong with the old one. the bearings are still good, it doesnt leak and the coolant is still flowing through the system.

and ill try sealing the cap better but that still doesnt explain the white smoke. the only two things that would cause that is the head gasket or turbo seals right?? and sence it idles rough when i start it im assuming its the HG?? idk

 

[jrohner]

You could just have a hose not tight enough that allows the system to suck in some air yet not see any coolant leaking. Do a cooling system pressure test, it is very common to have it show something. I always pump it to 18-19psi since that's just a little bit more pressure than I should ever have running.

 

[jrohner]

I wish I had at least that much compression, I only have around 140psi and I'm 8.3:1 also. I'm thinking 160-165 should be about right for this compression ratio.

 

[DGajre777]

I bought a SPAL High Performance curved blade 12" 1450 CFM fan SPAL USA and a SPAL Medium Profile curved blade 12" 1340 CFM fan SPAL USA and car no longer overheats, even with the A/C on in the Florida heat. I am amazed at how much air these fans pull together.

On a side note, the Procomp 12" PC2052s fans are crap. They are rated at 900cfm with a CFM Pull-1200-1450 (bullshit!), more like 500-600cfm. I noticed 2 differences between the SPALs and the Procomp fans:
1) The fan size. The SPALs are bigger, even though they are both sold as 12" fans.
2) The Procomps takes about more room for the motor and the blades are shorted.

Also, have you tried taking a garden hose to your A/C condenser? Our cars are getting quite old and dust/dirt/debris gets in the fins of the condenser and blocks airflow. I had a 87 S-10 that did the same thing only when the AC was on. Well, come to find out the condenser was really dirty. I cleaned the damn thing out and it worked beautifully after that! Check it out! It may be something you've overlooked.

A/C condenser looks clean, if the SPALs didn't fix things (which it did), that was going to be the next thing to be replaced.

First pic - procomp fans. Second pic - SPALs.

 

[mjb2118]

Hey guys I own a 1997 Eclipse GST with a 16g turbo. The car is overheating I took it to many mechiancs and there telling me that they "think" it can be the headgasket. I have changed the thermostat and the water pump. The anifreeze overfill tank is boiling hardcore, the anifreeze looks murky and it just been changed with new antifreeze. I removed the t-stat out and drove the car for awhile and the temp gauge goes about half way, unfortunately it still boils in the overfill tank. My mechanic did a compression test on the motor, here are the numbers. 150 130 130 135. There isnt any sign of white smoke coming out of my exhaust. If you pull the dipstick out the oil looks normal with no signs of water, you cant even smell exhaust fumes in the overfill at all. I been trying to get this car solved for the pass 3 months, I am trying to get every info off of anyone before I confirm it has a leaky headgasket or blown headgasket.