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!

 

[chaggard27]

If it was overheating and now wont start I would guess that your head gasket has blown and also possibly warped the head so that is why it sounds like no compression. I would say tear off the head and have it checked. That was probably your overheating problem as well. I imagine it was smoking as well right?

 

[2GFWDbeast]

If it was overheating and now wont start I would guess that your head gasket has blown and also possibly warped the head so that is why it sounds like no compression. I would say tear off the head and have it checked. That was probably your overheating problem as well. I imagine it was smoking as well right?

i had a severally warped, and blown head gasket and broken piston ring oil everywhere and my car still drove fine. Unless his cylinder's are full of coolant. That like total devastation.

 

[Russman1986]

Same here

 

[rush2252]

If you allow your car to overheat that severely shame on you.

If the car wont start and sound like no compression then chances are it doesnt have compression and is likely a blown HG or cracked head.

 

[93blacktsi]

check compression i got money on blown headgasket.i bet one of cyl are full of coolant.

 

[apedog]

there was no smoke at all. would it be the crankshaft sensor or something?

 

[chaggard27]

i had a severally warped, and blown head gasket and broken piston ring oil everywhere and my car still drove fine. Unless his cylinder's are full of coolant. That like total devastation.

Then you must have had your head bolts over torqued because I replaced a head gasket for a guy who swore the head was still good, torqued the headbolts to spec and an hour later he called me saying it blew the head gasket again...and it was due to his warped head. Not saying they are over tightened it could just be the DSM gremlins didnt know where your car was and you got lucky.

 

[96talon_njj]

so i tried to burp the coolant system and i did but the problem is still there. im not sure what else it could be

 

[swnkylaxplyr]

I have a random overheating problem. It doesn't happen every day, but will sometimes happen 2 days in a row, stop for a day or 2, and then happen again. The problem can best be described as erratic, partial overheating. When it does happen, this scenario will happen, almost exactly:

I have a 25-minute ride to work, 18 miles of the ride are on the highway. My car will be fine up until I get to a toll booth 16 miles up the highway. After I pull away from the booth my gauge will usually raise a little bit but will cool down. I'll pull off my exit but usually have to stop and wait to merge into traffic. As I'm doing that my heat will raise to about 3/4 while stopped but cool down once I start moving. Then I have to go up a pretty long hill with a light at the top. Halfway up and up until the light my gauge will once again raise up to 3/4. The gauge will then literally plummet to normal operating temps as I put the clutch in to stop for the light. At the light, the heat will usually literally fluctuate up and down while i'm stopped. After I leave the light, my gauge usually goes to normal, until I pull into work and park. If I let the car idle there, the gauge will then normally rise.

A little background info: Around Christmas, I was overheating due to the line going to my oil filter housing leaking. Unfortunately, I discovered that I was leaking(not the leak) halfway from NH to NJ for Christmas. So I put Bar's Leak in and it stopped it. I fixed the line once down in NJ, but the gauge started fluctuating on my way up. It never went above 3/4. This would happen like once a week until 4 weeks ago I discovered my water pump had gone. Did water pump and timing belt and it still does this. I also smell coolant at times.

Any ideas? Coolant is full, water pump is new, hoses are fine.

 

[1 FAST TSI]

do a good rad flush..the stock gauge is in accurate...are your fans kicking on and off when your stopped?
i have an autometer gauge. hwy driving its at 190...city can get up to 230f.
i will manual kick my fans on and it will go to 210f.
i think its normal for what your car is doing(if fan are working correct)..and untill you get all that leak stop out..you realy can't get a good diagnosis.
also check for coolant loss

 

[swnkylaxplyr]

do a good rad flush..the stock gauge is in accurate...are your fans kicking on and off when your stopped?
i have an autometer gauge. hwy driving its at 190...city can get up to 230f.
i will manual kick my fans on and it will go to 210f.
i think its normal for what your car is doing(if fan are working correct)..and untill you get all that leak stop out..you realy can't get a good diagnosis.
also check for coolant loss

My fan does kick on, and the reason I'm wondering what (if anything) is wrong is because my temp gauge wouldn't go above halfway before my original problem. Could it be my temp sensor?

 

[92AWDHX40]

Check fans, head gasket, or coolant sensor.

 

[Alan11]

Do a leak down test...!!..
Remove thermostat.(could not be opening or closing properly)..
When your temperature gauge moves up and down means you are low on coolant..
So you got some search and trial to do..!!

 

[RT-AWD]

How do you know you're actually overheating? Are you pushing coolant (filling your overflow jug)? Like was said earlier the stock gauge is inaccurate but not overly inaccurate like your describing.
I would say maybe you have air in your cooling system, try to purge the system like you normally would.
Is that Bar's leak still in the car? If so flush the system with the car running open the radiator and pour water in the thermostat neck until only water comes out of your radiator, then shut it off and let the water finish draining out. Then add in your 50/50 mix.

 

[drooseph]

thermostat... and buy a mitsu one i went throught 3 different ones from a parts store

 

[swnkylaxplyr]

How do you know you're actually overheating? Are you pushing coolant (filling your overflow jug)? Like was said earlier the stock gauge is inaccurate but not overly inaccurate like your describing.
I would say maybe you have air in your cooling system, try to purge the system like you normally would.
Is that Bar's leak still in the car? If so flush the system with the car running open the radiator and pour water in the thermostat neck until only water comes out of your radiator, then shut it off and let the water finish draining out. Then add in your 50/50 mix.

I'm only going off the the gauge, and the overflow isn't getting any extra coolant, so for all I know it isn't actually overheating. I was wondering about the air myself, but I tried burping it and the problem is still there. I haven't flushed it, so thats probably my best bet. I'm also wondering if the leak stop has partially plugged my heater core, because something I forgot to mention was that my heat basically doesn't work when its really cold and will only get really warm after driving.

 

[turbo24]

sounds like a thermostat one hose should get hot first then the other when the thermo opens if the both warm up at the same time thermo is stuck open

 

[swnkylaxplyr]

sounds like a thermostat one hose should get hot first then the other when the thermo opens if the both warm up at the same time thermo is stuck open

I've checked but I forget the results. I'll check again tomorrow.

 

[swnkylaxplyr]

The other day I had my car running on an incline with the cap off to let any possible air out. It was running fine for 15-20 minutes. I put the cap on and it immediately started overheating.

 

[SLOsClipse]

I have a 1999 mitsubishi eclipse and it slowly reaches the red marker when driving. I've replaced the thermostat and the sensor already what else should I do?

Could something as simple as a radiator cap do this or is this more than likely the water pump?

I have 97' spyder... Same problem with my thermostat slowly going to H. When I romp on it I found that it would get hot.. So I started to investigate, check for leaks (air/liquid), check belts, check thermostat, tighten bolts etc.. As I clamped down on the connector hose to the Top input/output of the radiator, it broke the pipe because of corrosion.. http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/images/smilies/smilie_smack.gif Check your hoses and everything else these guys said.. Ps I'm replacing the radiator because of this.. Wish me luck.. I'm new at this whole DSM & working on cars thing...

 

[cliffkemp]

could be a faulty cap, thermostat, or even a bad coolant temp unit that is reading high, but hard to say. If you are not losing any coolant, it sounds like your engine may need a major flush.

check your resivoir and see if you have 'mud' in the bottom of it. If you have a good bit, it is a good indication of your engine and possibly, your radiator as well.

 

[RT-AWD]

Why on an incline? Have the car level. To properly purge the system you must start the car with the cap off then wait until the car is fully warmed up and the thermostat opens (water level decreases in the neck.) Once there appears to be no more bubbles put the cap back on.
Have you changed your thermostat, ever? Probably should replace that just for peace of mind. If you are pushing coolant that means you are overheating. Spikes in the gauge (when it shoots up within 2 seconds) is air in the system.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Did you check all hoses, head gasket, thermostat, fans, relays?

 

[0r1landoDSM]

well my 1st question is how many radiator fans, should normally kick in when your car gets hot 1 or 2 fan(s)? only 1 of my fans kick in and my temp gauge goes up to about 80% i checked relay's and all relays i fine i checked fans using volt meter and the power for the plugs were fine,when i turn on my a/c both fans kick in and my temp stays a lil bit below normal and wont move at all. i plugged out the sensor below the the thermostat and plugged it back in now everything seems ok. when i leave my car idle for a while my temp gauge will only move up about 10% from the halfway point then go back down after a couple seconds with only 1 fan. before i touched anything the temp gauge would go up to about 80%... so do you guys think i have a faulty temp gauge or sensor its weird how everything is okay now after removing the sensor an putting it back in.

 

[cliffkemp]

sounds like a bad sensor. If your gauge is going up over half way and anywhere close to the 'high' mark, it is too hot. If the unit is bad, it will vary even if the temp stays the same. Both fans should be working when temperature reaches around 200.

If it gets fairly hot again, check to see if anything might be boiling out around the resevoir, if not, more than likely a bad gauge.

For good measure, I would replace the sensor and thermostat and see if that fixes the problem as well. Better for the gauge to be malfunctioning than it actually be overheating and you not realize it and mess something up permanently.