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!

 

[H4G64T]

From the looks of your picture, you have an OEM replacement radiator.

And, after 5 seconds of searching...

Mishimoto Aluminum Radiator 95-99 Dodge Neon 420a A588 | eBay

 

[LiquidX]

Are you having cooling issues? As H4 posted, it appears to be a OEM radiator or equivalent you are using. Even us turbo guys came with a plastic tanked radiator that kept us nice and cool.

 

[H4G64T]

Or this and use a flex hose...

95-99 MIT ECLIPSE TURBO MT 2 ROW/CORE ALUMINUM RADIATOR | eBay

 

[Aestabrook1]

I am having severe over heating issues and no garage I go to seems to know why. And how do I make a turbo radiator work on a non turbo car

Are you having cooling issues? As H4 posted, it appears to be a OEM radiator or equivalent you are using. Even us turbo guys came with a plastic tanked radiator that kept us nice and cool.

Neither of those would really fit right. I have a top passenger inlet. Bottom driver outlet. And mine is non turbo

 

[MoparDSM]

Probably a blown headgasket. 420As seem to love eating headgaskets.

 

[Aestabrook1]

No oil in my coolant or vice versa though

 

[Dhan]

Is your coolant topped off?
Is it the proper ratio of coolant/water?
Is your radiator cap holding pressure?
Is the system itself holding enough pressure to raise the boiling point?
Is your thermostat good?
Does it overheat while driving, at idle, or always?
Do the fan(s) kick in at idle?
Does running the a/c fan help?

Have you done a basic compression test- what are the numbers hot and cold?

Overheating isn't that difficult to troubleshoot

 

[Aestabrook1]

Ok...with bolt on mods, aem cam gears and aem adjustable cam gears can I just use a stock replacement head gasket from Autozone or would I need some kind of "performance" head gasket

Is your coolant topped off?
Is it the proper ratio of coolant/water?
Is your radiator cap holding pressure?
Is the system itself holding enough pressure to raise the boiling point?
Is your thermostat good?
Does it overheat while driving, at idle, or always?
Do the fan(s) kick in at idle?
Does running the a/c fan help?

Have you done a basic compression test- what are the numbers hot and cold?

Overheating isn't that difficult to troubleshoot

Coolant is topped
Ratio is correct system is holding pressure
Thermostat is good
fans are good
There is no ac
overheats when going below 45mph

Can I use an oem headgasket

 

[and1chewy]

water pump or thermostat? coolant temp sensor? not sure why just a radiator would cause overheating issue by itself unless it was leaking and u didnt have coolant at all. could be a clogged heater core causing a flow issue. try flushing the system.

 

[Aestabrook1]

Is your coolant topped off?
Is it the proper ratio of coolant/water?
Is your radiator cap holding pressure?
Is the system itself holding enough pressure to raise the boiling point?
Is your thermostat good?
Does it overheat while driving, at idle, or always?
Do the fan(s) kick in at idle?
Does running the a/c fan help?

Have you done a basic compression test- what are the numbers hot and cold?

Overheating isn't that difficult to troubleshoot

water pump or thermostat? coolant temp sensor? not sure why just a radiator would cause overheating issue by itself unless it was leaking and u didnt have coolant at all. could be a clogged heater core causing a flow issue. try flushing the system.

Thermostat is fine. Waterpump isn't leaking....fan in it could be dead though

 

[H4G64T]

I am having severe over heating issues and no garage I go to seems to know why. And how do I make a turbo radiator work on a non turbo car



Neither of those would really fit right. I have a top passenger inlet. Bottom driver outlet. And mine is non turbo

Sorry you have no ingenuity. I made them fit on my 97 GS, but what do I know.

 

[Aestabrook1]

Sorry you have no ingenuity. I made them fit on my 97 GS, but what do I know. Stupid newbs.

You don't have to be a #### about it. Im not very mechanically inclined and I don't want to #### up my car. If you don't have anything useful to say gtfo

 

[LiquidX]

I am having severe over heating issues and no garage I go to seems to know why. And how do I make a turbo radiator work on a non turbo car



Neither of those would really fit right. I have a top passenger inlet. Bottom driver outlet. And mine is non turbo

I also never said anything about using a turbo radiator. I merely stated that us turbo guys use a plastic tanked radiator like the one you are using.

Are you loosing coolant?

 

[and1chewy]

Thermostat is fine. Waterpump isn't leaking....fan in it could be dead though

just because the water pump isnt leaking dont mean its not bad ive seen the fins rust off then you have no coolant flow.

 

[Lofty]

Stay on topic or people will have some long needed vacations.

 

[Frickadella]

Radiators, automotive radiators, condenser, oem radiators, truck radiators

You wouldn't necessarily have oil in coolant with a blown hg. A test for combustion gases in cooling system is the way to confirm. A leak down test would do it too as the air would be leaking into the cooling system and out the filler neck.

A laser themometer would tell you if the radiator has hot spots, but I'll bet good money that if you take the radiator out of the car and flush it from the top, it'll dump a bunch of crap out - if it's the culprit that is. Replace or recore if it is. I suspect this may be the problem because you say it cools off at higher speed/rpms. It's particularly telling if you the temp drops rapidly towards normal temp just by revving the engine.

It could also be your thermostat not opening. When up to operating temp your upper radiator hose should be pressurized and you can't squeeze it. You can also test it by removing it and dropping in water, bringing to boil with a thermometer and verifying it opens at 190 or whatever.

Good luck.

 

[Aestabrook1]

Not losing coolant. I think its the pump

Radiators, automotive radiators, condenser, oem radiators, truck radiators

You wouldn't necessarily have oil in coolant with a blown hg. A test for combustion gases in cooling system is the way to confirm. A leak down test would do it too as the air would be leaking into the cooling system and out the filler neck.

A laser themometer would tell you if the radiator has hot spots, but I'll bet good money that if you take the radiator out of the car and flush it from the top, it'll dump a bunch of crap out - if it's the culprit that is. Replace or recore if it is. I suspect this may be the problem because you say it cools off at higher speed/rpms. It's particularly telling if you the temp drops rapidly towards normal temp just by revving the engine.

It could also be your thermostat not opening. When up to operating temp your upper radiator hose should be pressurized and you can't squeeze it. You can also test it by removing it and dropping in water, bringing to boil with a thermometer and verifying it opens at 190 or whatever.

Good luck.

T stat opens. Haven't flushed out rad yet

 

[and1chewy]

if you decide to do the combustion gas test frickadella was talking about the kits are pretty inexpensive if i remember correctly and even pepboys carrys them. also pretty easy to do even if you arent very mechanically inclined. I think weve all been there and noone wants to mess up their car. Diagnosing is the hard part of mechanical work in my opinion since most things you just put back together the way you take them off. you may not be able to do things as fast as a pro but youll get it done.

 

[Aestabrook1]

if you decide to do the combustion gas test frickadella was talking about the kits are pretty inexpensive if i remember correctly and even pepboys carrys them. also pretty easy to do even if you arent very mechanically inclined. I think weve all been there and noone wants to mess up their car. Diagnosing is the hard part of mechanical work in my opinion since most things you just put back together the way you take them off. you may not be able to do things as fast as a pro but youll get it done.

Thanks for not being a douche about it . Were not all mechanics . Give me a broken computer and I can diagnose and fix it in half an hour. A car though....I know the basics. Im gonna flush the radiator and clean it with a kit. Then put a new t stat, water wetter, and a 60/40 anti freeze/water mix then take a garden hose to my radiator to clean off external gunk, and see what happens.

 

[and1chewy]

cheapest route. cant go wrong with cleaning though. and lets face it waterpumps for the inexperienced on a dsm not easy at all.

 

[Frickadella]

Just so we're on the same page:

When I say flush the radiator, I don't mean throw in a chemical flush (that's how all my problems started). I mean, remove the fans, dump your coolant into a catch container, remove upper/lower hoses and remove the radiator from the car. Then run water through the top inlet with a garden hose full blast. (Wear shorts!).

 

[Aestabrook1]

Just so we're on the same page:

When I say flush the radiator, I don't mean throw in a chemical flush (that's how all my problems started). I mean, remove the fans, dump your coolant into a catch container, remove upper/lower hoses and remove the radiator from the car. Then run water through the top inlet with a garden hose full blast. (Wear shorts!).

I don't have a garden hose

 

[LiquidX]

Either purchase one to hook up to an external faucet or get an adapter to plug hook up to the sink faucet.

 

[drknorris]

It sounds like something is clogged, you might need to buy the Prestone flush to clean out your cooling system. Get it pressure tested as well.

 

[I-DSM]

You say the headgasket is good but it sounds like its pushing coolant. Fill the system completely up and run the car to operating temp with the cap off. After the fans cycle 2 or 3 times add more water to bring the coolant level to the top of the radiator cap housing. Watch closely for tiny bubbles. If you see a constant stream of tiny bubbles you have a bad head gasket.

Thats the thing even with the car completely cold water will imediately shoot out if i leave it open, it seemed strange. I preassure tested the cooling system and couldnt find a leak just some oil that spilled due to the latest overheat.

You say the headgasket is good but it sounds like its pushing coolant. Fill the system completely up and run the car to operating temp with the cap off. After the fans cycle 2 or 3 times add more water to bring the coolant level to the top of the radiator cap housing. Watch closely for tiny bubbles. If you see a constant stream of tiny bubbles you have a bad head gasket.

I did that and did see the bubles but how its the head gasket messed up since i just put a new one, also the car was previously overheating, when i took it appart i noticed that the head was im pretty good shape, pistons were like new also. I check for water on the oil and theres no mixture of any kind. Theres no white smoke neither i just drive it and when i see it going over half way on temperature gauge pull over and bam! no water in it, just a little bit.

Definitely check the waterpump very closely, mine was having exactly the same symptoms and it was leaking quite heavily from the waterpump.

Also check if all the ducting is still in place, otherwise you might have an issue getting air through the radiator in the first place.

might have the same symptoms but mine isnt leaking