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!

 

[Coopens]

Second thermostat in 3 years...awesome...but would that cause the leak of coolant?

 

[mezzio]

bad seals, bad hoses, loose bolts anywhere the coolant flows around, bad heater core (but your floors are dry, thank god), hole in radiator, bad drain plug, bad freeze plugs, etc.

change the thermostat again and get a new radiator cap, itll actually pressurize the system so you'll be able to see where it's coming out of once up to operating temp... with the system pressurized itll come out as a classic steam, with no pressure, it'll just leak out.

on the bright side, changing those 2 parts is the cheapest part of the system... once you know the cheap things are working, then you can troubleshoot further.

 

[jas510]

how would one go about bleeding the air out of the system

 

[Coopens]

well I can't get the car to normal temp with fluid in it so I just run it dry? That doesn't seem very smart.

To bleed air run it with the radiator cap off I believe.

 

[mezzio]

jack the front of the car up, secure it, and run it for 15 minutes or so with the radiator cap off... ideally the air will rise up out of the system and find the easiest escape route, the open cap.

Or you could take it to jiffy lube and have them do it with their kick a$$ vacuum system... once you get everything fixed that is since it costs like $100 to do, but if anything happens they'll take care of it, assuming you have a good system going in there.

well I can't get the car to normal temp with fluid in it so I just run it dry? That doesn't seem very smart.

To bleed air run it with the radiator cap off I believe.

take the thermostat out, it should warm up assuming you don't drive the car, it won't overheat either, but once you start moving, it won't stay warm.

 

[Coopens]

I'm so confused...So without coolant in the car it won't overheat? Besides taking the thermostat off is there any other way to fix it?

 

[mezzio]

no, dont run it dry, just take the little bugger out and fill it with water, run it and see if it overheats, or gets up to temp... if it does heat up normal without overheating, you know the thermostat was the issue the whole time, and just get a new one from autozone. if it still overheats, you very well may have a clog or something somewhere in the system.

I also just thought of this, the drain plug on the radiator is next to the alternator, make sure it's not busted or loose. if it is, it could be spraying your alternator like you described.


Is there any coolant in your oil?

 

[Coopens]

See that's my issue, I can't keep coolant in it long enough to run it. The instant I put any in it leaks out from somewhere above the oil filter. My oil is perfectly clean as far as I can tell.

 

[Pozobyt]

check your lower radiator hose for damage.

 

[dsmtun3r98gst]

jack the front of the car up, secure it, and run it for 15 minutes or so with the radiator cap off... ideally the air will rise up out of the system and find the easiest escape route, the open cap.

Or you could take it to jiffy lube and have them do it with their kick a$$ vacuum system... once you get everything fixed that is since it costs like $100 to do, but if anything happens they'll take care of it, assuming you have a good system going in there.



take the thermostat out, it should warm up assuming you don't drive the car, it won't overheat either, but once you start moving, it won't stay warm.

WTF really?? All he needs to do is turn on the car when its cool with the cap off, turn on the heater on max and that should get the water to circulate around the coolant passages are the whole car; that should get whatever air bubbles he has in the system out.

Some of you guys ideas are just plain crazy

Definitely get a new radiator cap, before installing, run it with the cap off about 30 minutes or so after it's warmed up so it can bleed any air out. Just keep an eye on the gauge and coolant level.

there is no way you can actually have the car idling without the cap for 30 minutes before making a big mess you know. It doesn't really take a long time for the coolant to start spilling out once its gotten warm enough with the cap off.

 

[Texas gst]

Actually I do it all the time with customers cars and my own. If the system is ok and your only bleeding the system. Than it will not overheat or make a mess it cause any problems. The only mess would be from air pushing out and causing small amounts of coolant to come out. If you have a huge mess, than there are other problems. You can run it for hours with the cap off if there are not other problems. I'm talking about bleeding it at an idle.

 

[johnmarines]

See that's my issue, I can't keep coolant in it long enough to run it. The instant I put any in it leaks out from somewhere above the oil filter.

You need to find where the leak is coming from. Then we can go from there.

 

[dsmtun3r98gst]

:

Actually I do it all the time with customers cars and my own. If the system is ok and your only bleeding the system. Than it will not overheat or make a mess it cause any problems. The only mess would be from air pushing out and causing small amounts of coolant to come out. If you have a huge mess, than there are other problems. You can run it for hours with the cap off if there are not other problems. I'm talking about bleeding it at an idle.

So you mean to tell me that just because my coolant starts to rise up after a few mins or so theres problems in the coolant system even though I have a huge FMIC, daily drive the car in stop and go traffic and have never had an overheating issue????

Are you sure you are 100% sure about what you are talking about??

 

[Coopens]

You need to find where the leak is coming from. Then we can go from there.

The general area it's coming from is just above the oil filter, other than that I really don't have a way to pinpoint the leak. As stated above after the whole steam episode it appeared as if coolant had spewed out of the radiator cap at a decent enough pressure to leave splatter marks around it and to leave enough fluid to have it be dripping off of the air intake pipes and such.

 

[Texas gst]

It will rise some because air will be pushing out. I'm just trying to help the OP with his problem going from what I know and I have done. He can take everyones opinion "mine, yours, or whoever" and do with it what he wants. That's why we are here, just trying to help.

 

[dsmtun3r98gst]

That I agree with you Texas gst .

 

[johnmarines]

The general area it's coming from is just above the oil filter, other than that I really don't have a way to pinpoint the leak.

Jack the car up and have someone add water while your under the car and find the leak, if its coming out as fast as your saying then it shouldnt be hard to locate. If you dont want to get dirty trying to find it the take it to a local shop and have them find it. The bottom line is you NEED to find it. All the guesses in this thread is usless untill you find the 1st problem..ie... whats leaking and why. Then we can go from there to correct it and any other possible problems that may arise.

 

[mezzio]

Are the stock turbos water cooled?

If not, a freeze plug might have popped or cracked... I can't think of anything over that way... unless it's leaking from the head, another thing might be the radiator drain plug... it's just a plastic plug, wouldn't be hard to break it. The lower radiator hose runs under the upper doesn't it? I should know this since I just went through my entire cooling system, .

WTF really?? All he needs to do is turn on the car when its cool with the cap off, turn on the heater on max and that should get the water to circulate around the coolant passages are the whole car; that should get whatever air bubbles he has in the system out.

Some of you guys ideas are just plain crazy



there is no way you can actually have the car idling without the cap for 30 minutes before making a big mess you know. It doesn't really take a long time for the coolant to start spilling out once its gotten warm enough with the cap off.

The idea of raising the front end is because the air will want to rise, if theres any air trapped in the heater core or something, it will want to go up, if the radiator fill is physically higher than where the air is at, it should in theory go to the area to escape.

with the cap off, the system isn't building any pressure, so it's just going to flow through everything as it should, the coolant/water doesn't magically grow when it's hot, you may get some splash back from air or engine vibrations, but it's not just gonna start spilling out like mad.

 

[dsmtun3r98gst]

Yes oil and water cooled. Dude just jack up the car, get under and check from where the leak is coming!. Otherwise this thread isn't going anywhere other than just people throwing a wild guess as to what it might be.

 

[mezzio]

Anyone in denver to go and verify this, .

edit:

btw, nice rims dsmtun3r

 

[dsmtun3r98gst]

Are the stock turbos water cooled?

If not, a freeze plug might have popped or cracked... I can't think of anything over that way... unless it's leaking from the head, another thing might be the radiator drain plug... it's just a plastic plug, wouldn't be hard to break it. The lower radiator hose runs under the upper doesn't it? I should know this since I just went through my entire cooling system, .



The idea of raising the front end is because the air will want to rise, if theres any air trapped in the heater core or something, it will want to go up, if the radiator fill is physically higher than where the air is at, it should in theory go to the area to escape.

with the cap off, the system isn't building any pressure, so it's just going to flow through everything as it should, the coolant/water doesn't magically grow when it's hot, you may get some splash back from air or engine vibrations, but it's not just gonna start spilling out like mad.

Ughhh.... Ok go to the kitchen boil up some water and tell me that water will not start rising up, it doesn't grown but it boils, Oviously the radiator cap is there to help keep the water from boiling and when its not capped off obviously it will boil. And no there really is no point in jacking up the car since the radiator cap is pretty much already at the highest point of the cooling system

But anyway im not gonna sit here argueing about this so im just dropping it. Just keep us updated if you find the problem and from where it came from.

Anyone in denver to go and verify this, .

edit:

btw, nice rims dsmtun3r

Thanks

 

[Coopens]

It's the hose next to the alternator...

 

[mezzio]

replace it then and be on your way hoses are cheap

 

[ChillinGST]

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to get some opionions from you and see what you think. My GST has just over 80k and I'm getting random overheating on the highway. Most all parts of the coolant system have been replaced (rad, rad cap, t-stat, waterpump, and both coolant sensors).

It seems that when i'm on the highway(or maintain higher rpm's), the temp will climb above normal but not to dangerous levels. Once this happens it will stay there until i take it out of gear or get off the highway. When i take it out of gear the temp drops within seconds to the middle of the gauge, where it normally sits. Then, while coasting on the highway, ill put it back in gear and it will immediately pop back up to where it was previously.

The car seems to run fine, but the only thing left that i can think of is my headgasket is slowing blowing out on me. Would that be possbile with only 80k and running 14psi for last 20k? If it is the headgasket can i re-torque my stock head bolts to get me by or should i just bite the bullet now and redo the head gasket with some arp's?

Thanks for you input.

-Ryan

 

[yepes281]

Have you flushed out your system with a radiator flush? Is there coolant in your oil?