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!

 

[Ghosted]

I 100% DID NOT RTV the head gasket,

I did use a bit of RTV on the thermo elbow though, but I followed instructions like a good boy, and its holding tight.




"maybe try a different radiator cap, - new

more water/less coolant, water wetter, try another thermostat -(eeh i put that in with RTV too)

check into warped head, - its good to go

check coolant lines/passages, - is there a way to do this??

and are you running lean...do you have a wideband?"
I do but its not hooked up


Maybe I should try bypassing my heater core to see if that has something to do with it??

 

[Aproductions]

and are you running lean...do you have a wideband?"
I do but its not hooked up

I can't even laugh at this because I'm in the same boat

 

[eclipse_spyder]

Maybe I should try bypassing my heater core to see if that has something to do with it??

I was going to say maybe it has something to do with your heater hose/core. Try bypassing it and see if it helps.

 

[92AWDTalonTSI]

This does confuse me. Ah. Collapsing coolant lines? Check your lower radiator hose with the car hot. See if it is collapsing. That could restrict the flow of coolant. Also a blocked radiator could do that as well. ^^ Flush and check those lines.

 

[streetraceboi]

Did you get the head pressure tested? Are you sure its BRAND SPANKING new? Or a rebuilt head with new parts?

 

[Ghosted]

The head has been surfaced yes.

 

[AlaskanDsm]

I was going to suggest bypassing the heater core. If it is plugged up or those hoses have gone bad on the inside, it can constrict the coolant flow. I had the issue when I installed my engine I bent one slightly and didn't know until I replace the heater core because it was leaking inside my car haha.

So the head was just re-surfaced and is still the original head that you had on the car correct?

 

[Piranhaman33]

How long does it take your car to warm up on a cold start? A buddies car would be already warm within 2-4 minutes after a cold start, turned out to be a bad Coolant temp sensor.

 

[motozachl]

I am surprised no one has suggested burping the coolant system of all air bubbles

+1 for leak down test

Also run the car with out the thermo stat and check the upper/lower coolant lines along with the ones that run to the heater core

 

[cutty2fast]

sounds like you've replaced everything except the radiator???? think about it

 

[realruffryder]

Do you have a large fmic? Mine was blocking a lot of the airflow and I have problems with over heating even after changing out everything and setting the fans to run all the time. I removed the ac condenser and it hasnt overheated 1 time since then.

 

[AlaskanDsm]

sounds like you've replaced everything except the radiator???? think about it

So far to try to fix the overheating problem (and busted head gasket) I have replaced:

-Water Pump
-Radiator
-Thermostat
-Upper and Lower Intercooler Pipes & new clamps
-Removed and replaced gaskets on thermo elbow & cleaned everything

Already replaced.

 

[PieEyedPiper]

Are you running aftermarket fans with that new rad? Are they pushing or pulling?
Check coolant temp sensor and investigate the heater core.

Also, please fill out your vehicle profile.

 

[cutty2fast]

Already replaced.

sorry for the blonde moment if you want to check your thermostat take it out and put it in a pot of water and put a thermometer in there and put it on the stove and turn up the heat, when it gets to the temp it should pop open

 

[dsmbooster]

Is it building pressure right away in your cooling system? This would be a sure sign of combustion entering your cooling system by some unnatural way. NAPA sells a chemical test kit that sits on top of your coolant cap sealing surface( where you fill the system) and it has a special chemical in it that will change color if it sense's any exhaust gas in the coolant. I have used it for this very thing and it works great. This test is a good way to determine if you may have a crack somewhere that is so small it is not noticed by the naked eye(most commonly a cracked cylinder wall) but leaks under extreme combustion pressure into the cooling system. I know that this is a less common than usual problem but certainly has been the source of a strange overheating issue with symptoms like you have. I would do the chemical test next before spending another hard earned buck at a guess.

 

[Ghosted]

The fans are actually stock.


My SMIC is also stock


How do I bypass the heater core???



As soon as i start the car the temp gauge immediately goes up to 50%, right away. Gains another 10% within 15 seconds.
After 30 seconds it starts to go up again, generally up to about 75% before i turn the car off.

 

[doctor_shock10]

The fans are actually stock.


My SMIC is also stock


How do I bypass the heater core???



As soon as i start the car the temp gauge immediately goes up to 50%, right away. Gains another 10% within 15 seconds.
After 30 seconds it starts to go up again, generally up to about 75% before i turn the car off.

maybe the sender unit to the water gauge is bad cause that doesnt make sense right when you start the car it goes straight to 50%.

 

[cutty2fast]

yeah thats not right if the car is icy cold it shouldn't jump up half way right off the bat

 

[BLINKY619]

ok another thing... how do you know that your overheating... is it because you looks at your stock gauge? if so i consider it trash.... get a aftermarket one

 

[Ghosted]

I think the next thing I want to try is to bypass the heater core.

If that doesnt do anything Ill hook it back up and pull off the thermostat.


How do I bypass the heater core tho???

 

[doctor_shock10]

I think the next thing I want to try is to bypass the heater core.

If that doesnt do anything Ill hook it back up and pull off the thermostat.


How do I bypass the heater core tho???

i had to do this once, and all i did was drain the coolant and take the inlet hose off the block and put the outlet hose in the inlets spot(so it make one hose going from the outlet of the block to the inlet of the block) if the made any sense? hahahaa sorry. you know where your heater core is right?

 

[AlaskanDsm]

Basically what doc said. You just have to loop the hose across the pipes that feed the heater core. Also, get a logger. This will tell you the actual temp of your coolant as long as the CTS is good. Otherwise it could just be the coolant temp sending unit to your gauge that is bad and you aren't overheating at all...

 

[Piranhaman33]

I stand by my previous statement.

 

[AlaskanDsm]

How long does it take your car to warm up on a cold start? A buddies car would be already warm within 2-4 minutes after a cold start, turned out to be a bad Coolant temp sensor.

I stand by my previous statement.

This is true but you do have to remember that there is the temp sensor in the radiator and in the thermostat area AND the sending unit to the gauges. Anyone one of the 3 could be bad.

 

[Piranhaman33]

This is true, but the fact that the car is warming up almost instantly on the gauge leads me to think that its the actual sending unit for the "gauges." Should have been a little more clear. It's a little wierd that the car is instantly overheating upon a cold start. When I've experienced this I swapped out the sender to the guages (single connector to the unit located on the thermostat housing) and all was well. Took a rough temp reading with an infrared thermometer just to be sure I wasn't selling myself false hope.