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!

 

[nisreo]

Ok so the other day i was on the highway and everything was fine. engine temp was at halfway and steady. Well my main serpentine belt snapped (one running to alternator). I replaced it today and everything seemed to be fine. The motor started overheating and i noticed the low coolant light. I get some coolant and pour it in. Well i drive about a mile back to my house and halfway there I see the temp guage is touching the red. As im pulling over i hear a pop and white smoke starts pouring from my engine bay. I found out that the top radiatio hose popped off and sprayed coolant all over the place. I reattatched the hole and tightened the clamp. I let it cool and drive it back to the house. By the time i got there it was hot again.

The coolant in the tank was also almost gone. After I let the motor cool I opened the can above the thermostat and put some coolant in there to make sure the thermostat was opening. It was. I refilled the coolant and let the car idle. It got pretty warm, but when i hit the gas the temp went down to about half. then started rising again. When it got to above normal I shut off the car and popped the hood. When i squeeze the top rad hose it was stiff, like it was filled with fluid and under pressure. I have no idea whats wrong. Any ideas?

please help, thanks guys.

 

[nisreo]

by the way, i do have the white smoke problem. But i had this problem before the engine started overheating. Thanks

 

[dannytuned]

sounds to me like a blown head gasket... check the oil for traces of coolant, do a cyl. leakdown test with the coolant fill cap off listen for bubbles. pressure test the cooling system. check your o2 sensor for crusty white build-up(burned up coolant). do all this after verifying no external leaks.

 

[nisreo]

i think the headgasket is leaking. Before I bought the car, the previous owner got it replaced but he doesnt think the person did it right, thats why im getting the white smoke. But the car still ran fine like that.
After I shut the car off there are bubbles coming from the fill tank.

 

[dannytuned]

then it definitely needs one

 

[nisreo]

why all of a sudden after replacing a belt would it starte overheating?

 

[dannytuned]

dunno, but the gasket should have been done as soon as it started blowing white smoke. coolant in the combustion chamber is a good way to break,bend,or twist a rod. but let me know if you do i have a 6-bolt n/t block & crank to sell you

 

[nisreo]

well i just took it out for a ride and its running fine, I think the top hose was clogged.. I didnt know a blown headgasket did more than cause white smoke. im going to do that as soon as possible. Thanks for all the help.

 

[vinh766]

i had the exact same problem on my GS. it was blowing out white smoke for a while, and then it started to overheat whenever i would drive for more then like 5 minutes, my coolant was going down also, and my coolant resovior bubbles when i turn off my car. it turns out that my headgasket was toast. i replaced my HG and everything turned out fine. you should consider ur HG.

 

[teg21]

its not your water pump or else you would overheat in 2 mins driving anywhere city or highway. I would guess a warped or cracked head.

 

[stuffy1256]

my car is taking a dive. I dont know whats wrong (obviously) so i need some help. The car does not overheat unless under boost, but as soon as i get off the gas, it starts to cool down almost instantly. So i think my radiator/fans and everything is working ok but i dont know what would cause this. Bad intercooler maybe?

Oil is leaking all over. I cant seem to find where it's leaking at but i know it's all over the top of my tranny. Leaking possibly because of overheating?

There is a nasty rattling sound. I dont know where its coming from because im keeping my car off until i can figure out why it's overheating. sound from heated car?

i dont know if they could all be caused by something or they are completly different problems. Any help or ideas will be much appreciated.

Oh, i am getting a CEL. one is speed sensor but i got that replaced a long time ago and it's still popping up. And also i got a "manuf. air/fuel meter" I thought it was the 02 sensor so i changed that but its still popping up. i could be wrong though. Anyone know what this means?

*edit* the mechanic said there is getting oil into my turbo and he thinks its gonna go in a little bit. Just thought i would through that in just in case

 

[Umaro]

Alright, when I turn on my car it idle's at 2Krpm for about 3 mins before it drops down.

Anyways, if I take the car around the block, like a elss then 5 min drive then park there is smoke or whatever coming from usually underneeth the rad cap.

I've only taking the car out 3 times, the 2nd time was the first time it happened and I was driving the car pretty hard and their looked like a bit of water on the rad cap, so I decided to take it around the block again today to see if it did it again and well I didnt drive it ahrd or anything but the smoke/evaporated water was still coming from that general area and maybe a bit in the general direction of the turbo or under there somewhere but I Didtn see any water on the cap this time.

My question is, I read about 15 pages of searched threads and figured out it could be a stuck therm or fan's not working.

Though what I didnt see in the 15 pages ofp osts was how to check to see if the therm is stuck.

So any help would be cool, or other comments about the overheating would be nice.

 

[AwdEi]

When the car is warm, grab the upper radiator hose; if its hot, the thermostat opened.

 

[stuffy1256]

just replaced thermostat. seemed to help a little but when i was bringing it back in, started to smoke and overheat. Smoke coming from turbo area and oil leaking from same place.

 

[Oreopride18]

To make a long story short (it's posted on here somewhere) my car overheated in traffic in a real bad way. Apparently I can't idle for 20 minutes straight with a 34" FMIC; who'd have thought it.

Anyway, I blow my thermostat into two pieces and the thermostat HOUSING cracks. I replace both pieces, refill with coolant, and burp the system. Here is the rundown:

Good T-stat housing
New thermostat
new gasket
new coolant
T-stat opens because Radiator pipes get hot
I'll loko agina tomorrow in better light but as far as I see there is no leaking coolant

So I take the car out for a drive tonight and, to my suprise, it runs farely well. One problem though:

The heat goes to the middle and just stays there. Everyone with a DSM knows your ideal heat is to be on the lower side of the boat. If it goes to the middle that means there is something wrong but it hasn't become prevailant yet. Anytrhing past that means it's about to get red hot.

So I run the car and the temp gauge basically just ticks between the center and about 2mm backwards.

Any ideas? I'm 131k miles and I'm starting to fear that I warped my head. There is no white smoke, no drivability problems, and besides the temp being slightly higher the car runs fine. As of now I suspect my O2 sensor has taken it but I doubt that would cause the car to overheat....

 

[Defiant]

Both my cars run in the middle. You probably cooked your sender.

 

[Oreopride18]

Thanks for the prompt response, Deviant.

I'm hoping it's something along the lines of that. I'm going to put the AFPR on today and I guess monday I'll take it to my local mechanic to have them do a cylinder compression check just to see whats up. If it's anything major then I guess I'll let you guys know.

 

[BUCK]

Originally posted by Oreopride18
Thanks for the prompt response, DEVIANT...

TALK ABOUT YOUR FREUDIAN SLIPS!!!!!!!!!

 

[Oreopride18]

I always thought it was Deviant. Oh well....

On another note I took it for a drive after burping the system just now and, sure enough, it does the same thing. I think it just bothers me because everything in the cooling system besides the radiator pipe/radiator are new, there is no coolant leaking anywhere, there is sufficient amounts in the system, and the car is running fine. It just runs a few mm hotter than I've ever seen it before.

I'm starting to suspect they gave me the wrong thermostat. I might go try an OEM straight from Mitsu and see if that will do the trick...

 

[gaddis]

spshocker61 can you describe in more detail what it looked like when you thought the water was circulating, but actually wasn't? I have the same overheating problem that you described an can't figure it out..

I thought it was the headgasketafter trying the simple things, but I installed the mitsu mls with ARPs to 70 ft-lbs still overheated, removed the head, checked for warpage and torqued to 87ft-lbs and I'm still overheating. The first time I decked the head (very slightly warped) and checked the block which was fine, and polished it up to 2000 grit. Compression was 180-180-175-165.
So I'm starting to think not headgasket.

I can tell if the water pump is actually circulating just by removing the end of the top rad hose and judging by the amount that comes out if water is just falling out of the head or if it is actually being drawn out of the radiator and pumped through the system, right? Or what is the best way?

As it stands, when I try to bleed the coolant system water slowly starts to bubble and turns violent to the point it's like a geyser, and topping it off just makes it more violent.

I've replaced all the simple stuff except the radiator, which I cleaned by flowing a garden howe through it, and it didn't seem restricted, and the water pump cause it only had 30k on it and I was planning on doing it along with balance shafts in a month or so. If it's not the water pump or headgasket sealing problem, is the only other possiblility a cracked head/block? Has anyone cracked their engine and succesfully repaired it with that liquid glass sealant?

I'm starting to get desperate. I can't take the rental Cavalier any longer.

 

[crankbender]

pull the thermostat and start hte car...water should shout outta that like a boy on prom nite.

 

[spshocker61]

Well....you said you've checked simple, so that takes care of thermo i assume. Your best option is like Crankbender said. Just remove the thermo, put it back together (without thermo in housing), then remove the top rad hose (right where it goes into top of rad) and start up ur car. Like he said, it should really gush water....not just flow. And i would hold the hose at an upward angle so that when the car is off there is no water comin out. Then once it starts it should start flowin. And if it's only a little bit...then i would try to see if it looks like there is air coming through with the coolant....aka, do you have a compresion leak somewhere. If that all looks good, then lemme know....im not quite sure where to tell you to go next.

One thing to consider....I dont know if you did the water pump or not....or whether you ever saw the one that went into it when it was replaced. BUT if you never saw it...it's possible that it has plastic fins (mine did....go figure). But if it was a NEW replacement part then I would be highly surprised if it WASN'T metal fins. But mind was plastic....the wheel and fins cracked right off where it was bolted to the pulley shaft....that's called shitty engineering, .

Well man...good luck! I surely know how frustrating this can be _especially_ when you thought you had it fixed

Nate

PS- Listen to the guys on here....you would be surprised how often they are right...and i dont necesarily refer to myself in that....but surely everyone else, .

 

[gaddis]

Water id not come out at all. No water pump it seems. Yes, I do remember buying a waterpump with plastic fins at autozone after I first got the car, cause it overheated after a few months of ownership. I bought a new waterpump with METAL impellars and am changing it right now. I'm going to do a compression test with all the plugs removed just to make sure I don't have a compression leak, but I highly doubt that since I was so meticulous putting on the HG. I'll update after I get the compression #'s and see what the old water pump looks like.

 

[BUCK]

Better pull the Radiator & backflush the hell out of it - That plastic Impeller is "somewhere".

Originally posted by BUCK
There are case of guys who lose W/P Impellers - radiators clog - & the Timing?... You've got to eliminate the silly shit before you buy a Head.

 

[gaddis]

I found the root of all my grief for the last two weeks. The plastic impeller detatched from the drive shaft but is still connected, just doesn't turn with the the shaft. Buck, I had already backflushed the entire coolant system from the heater core hose because I was worried about plastic chunks clogging the new pump.

I'll try to post a pic if I have time.

Problem solved.

However, I did do a compression test with all the plugs removed and I came up with
180-180-157-165 which is worrying since when I checked compression when I thought the head gasket wasn't sealing I came up with
185-180-175-165 but this was done with one spark plug removed at a time. Since I've brought the engine up to temp a few times since the head was installed, it's time to retorque the ARPs and see if the #'s go up. Otherwise do you guys think my head is going to leak? What should I do?