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!

 

[Orion97gs-t]

I kinda ruled that out, seeing is wouldnt that make my car run hot at idle?
and whats the easiest way to flush it?

 

[nek]

Sounds like overheating underload. Thats whats going on with my car. Im replacing the headgasket as we speak.
If the waterpump or flow was an issue, you would still overheat at all time.

 

[Orion97gs-t]

Ok well i just flushed it ima going to fill it and run it, and see what happens.

 

[rommel rojasgsx]

a user on here had somewhat the same issue. would only overheat at a certain speed. check for overheating treads by Greathuskie. sounds crazy but he had a leak on his overflow bottle hose. u might wanna look into his tread. sound alot like your problem.

 

[highlandgst]

see i have the opposite issue under boost my cars temp drops to about 1/4th

 

[Orion97gs-t]

Yea i read that post, its different bc i can be in neutral and hold 3k rpms and it will still run up to 3/4 temp.. i just flushed it and filled it with new rad fluid still getting hot... time for a new rad?

 

[1badpurple]

Sounds like a headgasket to me.

 

[jay_vi]

pressure test your cooling system and check for leaks,sounds like your leaking coolant.

 

[gpopppa]

If the radiator is original,then yes. Do the basics, check the wires for being loose, You should tell if the motor is running hot without looking at the gauge,Itll run rough,and quieter.From personal experience. Dont ask/Also check for corrosion on the radiator on the bottom,any green flaky stuff, get that outta there!! Also, could it be that you might of gotten a bad thermostat?? do the boil water thing to double check. Check for right ratio of coolant and h20, If you have the wrong ratio it will make the gauge fluctuate,Personal experience again. Get a coolant tester. Just a few ideas to throw your way. Good luck!

 

[Orion97gs-t]

Yea i checked not leaking coolant, its the original rad, right coolant water mix. but it really doesnt seem to be running rough or the ticking noise once i see it rising i usually lay off the gas until it goes back to normal. As for the t-stat it didnt have one befor and rand exact same with one in so i might just a rad call it a day... i hope

 

[Boost-Junkie]

Mine did relatively the same thing yours is doing, semms to me like its a headgasket failure.

 

[Orion97gs-t]

Yea but with a head gasket failure wouldnt i see milky oil, smoke, leaks or all of the above?

 

[Jay's_GSX]

try looking into your crank pulley if you havent, mine seperated into 2 pieces. i replace the crank pulley head gasket, water pump and timing belt, head resurface. and my temp actually still rise when boosting, going up hill, any info guys? help help...

 

[paultheninja]

Check to make sure your headbolts are torqued down all the way, sounds like the beginning of aheadgasket

 

[90gst_sean]

put a logger on it and see what it reads for temp. I think they are different sensors but I could be wrong. anyone know for sure?

 

[93FLEETWOOD]

Yea but with a head gasket failure wouldnt i see milky oil, smoke, leaks or all of the above?

Not initially, give it some time and you might; try looking into the cylinder through a spark plug hole one morning, see if there's puddle of coolant on a piston....

 

[paultheninja]

My headgasket went bad and it didn't smoke at all. Just overheated

 

[nek]

put a logger on it and see what it reads for temp. I think they are different sensors but I could be wrong. anyone know for sure?

They are different. Gauge reads bottom sensor, ecu reads top sensor. But it seems his isnt having a problem with voltage.

 

[kawgomoo]

my vote is for headgasket.

if the headgasket is blown from overheating, its usually bad enough for water to be pushed into the cylinders during idle causing it to smoke.

if the headgasket is blown the other way {from boost, detonation etc basically from the combustion side} then the leak tends to be much much smaller.

So much so, that under heavy engine loads the high cylinder pressure is pushing hot exhaust gas into the cooling system. It doesnt take much to completely overwhelm the cooling system and make the temp climb.

If less throttle/load makes it cool down u can almost guarantee its the head gasket. it will warm up almost as soon as you get into the gas and cool down just as quickly.

On N/A engines "blown" head gaskets are typically from overheating and erosion, not little pin hole leaks in the fire ring.

Ive seen many a turbo car pop head gasket with no smoking or other signs. Just overheating on boost or pushing coolant out the thank.

Not initially, give it some time and you might; try looking into the cylinder through a spark plug hole one morning, see if there's puddle of coolant on a piston....

COOLANT does NOT have to be present on the piston top!!!!! this is kind of a dumb way to check.

Start the engine when its cold. Remove the rad cap. Watch for bubbles.

There are chemical testers that you put over the rad opening while the engine is running. The tester collects the air that is being pushed out the radiator. Any hydrocarbons present make the fluid in the tester change color indicating a blown head gasket {exhaust gas present in cooling system} alternatively, you can just watch for bubbles! Cooling systems should not bubble!

 

[Sp1kE]

Did you recently put your FMIC on?
I have seen not enough air flow to the rad on the highway. but under light loads, through the city, the fan was enough to keep it cool.

 

[Orion97gs-t]

Nope fmic has been there forever, and the car doesnt overheat it just runs up to 3/4 on fwy never been vertical. I checked bolts all are tight, its been hot as piss lately so i havent tried turning on the heater, but i was on the fwy today and car was running its normal 1/2-3/4 and i crancked on the heater and almost instantly temp went down. So im thinking that a head gasket would keep the car hot right? so its most likely rad? any one got better idea or info on that?

 

[Boost-Junkie]

Very well put kawagomoo. +1, my headgasket was not all that damaged i had the coolant passage mating surface material distort and it was enough distortion to allow exhaust gases to leak into the coolant system. And all at the same time I was not seeing white smoke. Turns out after running it hot I needed to resurface my head also. So the headgasket failed on me without me seeing any white smoke out the exhaust.

And the blower motor may have been able to pull enough heat out of the coolant to minimize your temps. My 1g did the exact same thing but as soon as i turned the blower off the temps skyrocketed. Have you tried checking for cold spots on your radiator?

 

[Orion97gs-t]

How can i check it without burning the sh#t out of my hand? I have to wait for it to have the fans turn on or no?

 

[beniger]

Check it with an infrared sensor; it tells the surface temps, or feel it if one side is hot and one side is cool to the touch, the radiator isn't cooling properly. Feel the left side vs right side then top vs bottom. If it has "cool" spots or the heat isn't uniform across thats a sign of clogged or failing radiator

 

[93FLEETWOOD]

my vote is for headgasket.

if the headgasket is blown from overheating, its usually bad enough for water to be pushed into the cylinders during idle causing it to smoke.

if the headgasket is blown the other way {from boost, detonation etc basically from the combustion side} then the leak tends to be much much smaller.

So much so, that under heavy engine loads the high cylinder pressure is pushing hot exhaust gas into the cooling system. It doesnt take much to completely overwhelm the cooling system and make the temp climb.

If less throttle/load makes it cool down u can almost guarantee its the head gasket. it will warm up almost as soon as you get into the gas and cool down just as quickly.

On N/A engines "blown" head gaskets are typically from overheating and erosion, not little pin hole leaks in the fire ring.

Ive seen many a turbo car pop head gasket with no smoking or other signs. Just overheating on boost or pushing coolant out the thank.





COOLANT does NOT have to be present on the piston top!!!!! this is kind of a dumb way to check.

Start the engine when its cold. Remove the rad cap. Watch for bubbles.

There are chemical testers that you put over the rad opening while the engine is running. The tester collects the air that is being pushed out the radiator. Any hydrocarbons present make the fluid in the tester change color indicating a blown head gasket {exhaust gas present in cooling system} alternatively, you can just watch for bubbles! Cooling systems should not bubble!

Yea, I mean I'm just saying, apart from doing everything else, it's something you could look into also. I just did a car that blew a headgasket and I determined that by looking into that and starting it without the radiator cap on; it was bubbling, no smoke, and oil was OK. Do the simple stuff, basic troubleshooting, surf online and all; if you can't find any, you might as well take it apart and check in deeper, you know.