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!

 

[Defiant]

Bad fan switch on the thermostat housing.

 

[LoW96Rs03]

Is that a suggestion or is that something that your pretty sure about? Also is that something I could fix on my own?

 

[TheTSiGuy]

I knew my radiator was on its last leg recently. So i went ahead and started looking around for a replacement and/ or a new one.

Well, last night on the way home from work, the temp. needle shot up out of nowhere. It was pegged in the red for a while. Even when i eased up on it an pulled it over. My drive from work to home is 25 miles. It had been pegged to the red zone for quite a bit.

Any ideas if damage could occur? dont want to melt the head or anything.

 

[RoasT BeeF]

Well yes the head is aluminum and could have warped. Did the radiator blow?

 

[1badtsi]

check the color of your oil, if its milky, youre in deep shit

 

[EclipseTrbo420A]

My car over heated out of nowhere this summer i blew a coolant hose when i squeezed the rad tube coolant shot out of the left side of the engine bay so i had the tube repaired and every thing was fine but i didnt drive at all when it was overheating thats a big mistake and aslo whats the milky oil mean ? because i checked my dipstick and there was a super small amout of white stuff ?

 

[builtTSi]

Milky oil could mean coolant (antifreeze) in your oil. caused by either a blown head gasket or a cracked head. Also you can have the vice versa, you can have brownish spots of oil floating in you coolant. I had my Talon pegged on hot when my head gasket went. Luckily it didn't warp the head and it gave me the wonderful opportunity of rebuilding my engine.

 

[Ballin' GS]

Ya I'm having this same problem with my GS, any other suggestions?

 

[talons95]

i wish someone could answer this question.

 

[TheTSiGuy]

Ok,

Got my new radiator in.

fans are ok. fuse was ok. Checked oil, and its all good. No blown head gasket or anything bad.

However, i have one question...

my temp needle still stays in the middle. but it leans towards the hot side a weeeee bit. like maybe 1.5 needle width.

is this anything to fear? should i check my thermostat anyways?

 

[BUCK]

You are supposed to pull over - leave it running & immediately find water so you can cool it down slowly - I'd at least change the oil - & get ready for a Head gasket job - ETC...

 

[TheTSiGuy]

Its not overheating bad. Its like sometimes the needle leans a bit to the right and then back to the middle again. Its not like it was before when it was pegging towards the hot side in a hurry.

Just wanted to know if it leaning a wee bit towards the hot side was a huge deal or not.

 

[BUCK]

Might want to change Thermostat - it may have been wounded during the Hi Temp run...

 

[TheTSiGuy]

That could be a good thing. its so cheap and easy, might as well anyways. Thanks for the tip!

 

[SpreadEagle]

Hi Again Everyone..
I recently purchased a new car...
91 Plymouth Laser N/T
Auto
2.0 DOHC.

and it has a slight problem...
I Have tried everything to diagnose this problem...
I have Replaced the lower radiator hose, Upper Radiator hose, Thermostat (195').
New gasket (Thermostat housing).
New Anti-freeze and water, etc... Also New Radiator Cap, Overflow jug, all cooling hoses, etc.
and once the car gets warmed up, it gets too warmed up!
The water in the overflow jug starts boiling, and at really high RPM's it blows water out of the motor...

But THAT's Not the Weird thing yet....
It can sit running for hours on end and NEVER Overheat!!!
You Can Rev it to around 6 grand, and it does nothing... but as soon as you put it in gear, it starts it's same routine all over again...

PLEASE HELP!!!
What could this be...
Any input would be greatly appreaciated...

Thanks!!!

 

[gsx_tuner]

Here are some things you should check. Make sure the water is circulating. When looking at the water, with the cap off, see if it is swirling around in there. If it is, then you might want to check your thermostat cap. If it doesn't have a good seal, then you will need a new one. Also you might want to check it at a shop, and pressurize the system. If all else fails, you might be looking at the worst scenario, a blown head gasket, or warped head.

 

[Eliminat0r]

why yall keep saying water say coolant damnit, also did you burp the system when you filled up the cooling system. burping it gets the air out. check your oil see if it looks and feels milky or has a greenish color to it. ALso check if your blowing alot of whit smoke out of your car when its fully warmed up, and get a compression test done. if it reads below spec you should get to the head and see if it looks warped, if not it will be your gasket which only costs about 40 bux but Satan charges alot to do it. i suggest doing it yourself, just make sure you have all the tools you need, and also make sure you get new head bolts and torque em to spec also make sure to coat the bolts with an anti-seize compund, to prevent locking.

 

[unlikely hero]

Just an average how much would it be for a shop to replace the headgasket, its hard to replace on without a heated garage in North Dakota.
=Jason-

 

[Boosted19]

elimanator, why do you say burp? it is called bleeding dangit! ;-) j/k just having fun with yah!
mabye you coud have a cracked block, and when you put load on it, you lose coolant... or the headgasket... i wish you luck!!!

 

[mitsutuner]

Does your electric rad fan come on? It's controlled by 1 of the temp sensors on your thermostat housing, there are 3 temp sensors there on my AWD turbo, yours might be different, but look closely & see that they are making good connection--you probably had them off to change the thermostat, which btw, if the thermostat is installed bass-akwards it will cause overheating.

 

[SpreadEagle]

hi, thanks for comments... no it overheated before I put the new thermostat in it... it had no thermostat in it when I bought it.... It runs and drives fine... it seems like if it was the head gasket or anything cracked, that it would do it in park at 6000 rpms... it does nothing, runs fine when it is sitting still... and I unplugged the A/c compressor plug, so I can run Both Fans while it is running... and it helps, but not much... it's like it's pressurizing the coolant system because it is pushing all of the water out through the water bottle, and it then turns to steam because it is WAY overheated... but it won't do it sitting still.... Weird...

 

[RedV]

My car(1g Tsi) has been acting very odd lately and it's driving me insane. I don't like to not understand why something is happening. That being said...

My car just mysteriously 'drinks' coolant every few days..so much to the point that I can't drive the car for more than 60 miles without having to add a lot of water. The weirdest thing is that my temp gauge used to sit at about the 1/4 mark constant. Now it warms up and will sit at the 1/2 point; straight up and down. As the motor drinks the water, and I make a turn(either direction), I can actually see my temp gauge move to the warm side and then eventually settle. As the water goes even farther down, the 'settling' of the gauge will take longer and longer until it eventually won't settle and start to overheat.

I have compression of around 168 on all 4 cylinders, cannot see any leaks anywhere, thermostat definitely works, fans come on correctly, and the motor doesn't smoke. This is baffling me and if anyone can offer any help I would love them for life.

Thanks for the space.

Alex

 

[DSMeclipse4G63]

pressure test the collant system full of water(so you dont waste coolant) get it to about 12-14psi and check for leaks. It may show you something you couldnt see before.
Andrew

 

[RedV]

Might sound dumb, but how will I know when it gets to 12-14psi? I'll give that a shot tomorrow. Thanks.

Alex

 

[BIGGSIE]

You use a special tool that has a radiator cap fitting, a hand pump and a psi guage. You can probably get one at the local parts store.