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!

 

[jpmxrider489]

Is there a link that shows how to do it? Also I did a wet test and shows.

140 125 115 140

 

[brandonclum]

Those numbers look very low I would say head gasket for sure. Also its not that hard and its cheap to do when in doubt replace it man. I would also say leak down test. are you blowing out any white smoke through the exhaust? and check the thermostat gasket I sometimes have a hard time getting them to seal.

 

[92AWDHX40]

any book will show how grab a manual.

 

[DirtyJerzeyDsm1]

Hi o just fully built my car 2.3l stroker 6466 so on. Looking to make 800+. I had to go half rad for fitment issue. I just started to try and base tune the car and it starts to overheat. Took thermstat out still starting to over heat. Water pump is new head gasket is new. Would I just be over heating because there is no air flow since the car is just idling and radiator is almost completely blocked by the intercooler? If so I'm looking to run a electric water pump so the water is always flow more then the stock one is. I'm stumped someone give me some ideas

 

[DirtyJerzeyDsm1]

Hi i just fully built my car 2.3l stroker 6466 so on. Looking to make 800+. I had to go half rad for fitment issue. I just started to try and base tune the car and it starts to overheat. Took thermstat out still starting to over heat. Water pump is new head gasket is new. Would I just be over heating because there is no air flow since the car is just idling and radiator is almost completely blocked by the intercooler? If so I'm looking to run a electric water pump so the water is always flow more then the stock one is. I'm stumped someone give me some ideas

 

[jpmxrider489]

Ill get a leak down tester early this week. And Ill get back the results. But Im thinking a bad thermostat. How do you test that?

 

[WES_393]

Do you have a fan on the radiator? If so, what kind?

 

[Breezio69]

The only way you could be missing coolant from a thermostat is if the housing itself is clearly leaking all down the motor... if your going to commit to pulling and testing the thermostat you may as well not waste the time and just replace it with a new unit.

That being said, the thermostat still won't account for coolant pulling a Houdini.

A couple more places to check. I lost coolant ONLY when the motor was hot at these two points. The return line from heater core on the fire wall. A bad hose clamp on the outlet for the heater core on the thermostat. I would look at the car all day, running, cold, hot, upside down.... couldn't find the leak till one day I just stuck my hand under the thermostat and it came back up with hot coolant on it.

The reason I knew in my case it wasn't a hg, was I was replacing a very specific amount of coolant down to the ounce. Every time I filled it it was like 6-8 oz or something close to that... enough to fill the upper hose/therm housing and that was it.

Your compression numbers do seem low though, I wouldn't rule out a hg in your case...

 

[2GbGSXbeast]

How old is the coolant? If it's been in there longer than 2 years or 30k miles, it is very possible that could be your problem. When coolant gets old, bad, or contaminated it can cause overheating and will get consumed much easier. If there are no leaks, externally or internally then I would bet it's just bad coolant.

To test the thermostat, place it in near boiling water. If it opens, it is good.

 

[toddrs93]

I would go back to a full size radiator. Typically on high hp applications where we are giving up that space for the turbo we cut the lower supports out and weld in a new piece of flat or angle iron further forward and make our own lower radiator supports to relocate the radiator further forward.

 

[boost97gst]

Hi o just fully built my car 2.3l stroker 6466 so on. Looking to make 800+. I had to go half rad for fitment issue. I just started to try and base tune the car and it starts to overheat. Took thermstat out still starting to over heat. Water pump is new head gasket is new. Would I just be over heating because there is no air flow since the car is just idling and radiator is almost completely blocked by the intercooler? If so I'm looking to run a electric water pump so the water is always flow more then the stock one is. I'm stumped someone give me some ideas[/QUOT

Can i ask what manifold you have/hot side of that 6466? Im just curious which mani pushes that turbo out that far. And if its that performance-minded of an application you most certainly dont have your ac condenser. Why couldnt you do like the above post said and move a full size rad further forward? It might be the best option for you

edit: Id like to see your mod list. You should fill out your profile, sounds like a bad ass build you got there. Thats a killer turbo

 

[jpmxrider489]

I'm very sure there are no leaks externally. Its like it is evaporating. I wont pull the thermostat if that isn't the problem. Could I just have the rad cap off while it gets hot to see if it opens? Ill do a leak down test to see if that shows anything. Could it be a clogged rad? Even if the fan don't come on will that be a reason for it to disappear? I just don't know where it could go if its not in my coolant. Also the coolant is perfect because I put new coolant in every time I do this test because I lose it all anyway.

 

[2slow4now]

I had a crack in the exhaust port in my head. Nothing showed up on the cylinder side. At idle it allowed coolant to dribble down inside the exhaust and then go for a drive what was in the exhaust would steam off while exhaust pressure would push the coolant out the overflow. I could tell a small amount was getting into one cylinder by looking at the spark plugs. I ended up finding it by taking the exhaust manifold off and finding some white from the coolant burning in that exhaust port. The crack was on the divider in between the valves.

A bad rad cap could allow coolant to go to the bottle while hot but not allow coolant to come back when it cools down. Then your system is low even though the reservoir is full.

Plugged radiator. Maybe. If it is getting hot and pushing coolant out the reservoir overflow.

 

[DirtyJerzeyDsm1]

I'm running a JM fab top mount t4 divided with a 1.0 ar turbo as massive. Also running jmfab front mount which is massive. The main trouble I was having was fitting the hot side intercooler piping past my custom down pipe. The in no room for it so I cut out the front2 supports and madea tubular front to make more room. I didn't want to go long route intercooler piping so I had to go half rad.

And yes I have a mishimoto fan pushing with a 3 bar mishimoto Honda rad

 

[ZDA1728]

My main issue is that I am overheating after high speed highway runs.

 

[GRAVEDIGGER]

My main issue is that I am overheating after high speed highway runs.

Well, there you go... That's your problem right there... High speed highway runs

 

[ZDA1728]

I know I know... but it still shouldn't happen.

 

[jpmxrider489]

So I let it idle for a long time so I can see it over heat. So the issue is its over heating. The left fan isn't workin at all. So I did notice that the overflow bottle was half full then when it overheated it was all the way full. That from letting pressure out? Also my guess is that when drivin it just pulled out all the coolant in the bottle?

 

[kenuwine4g63]

Headgasket. I read it and was like yeap, headgasket. I've done too many

 

[jpmxrider489]

How do I confirm that without pulling the head?

The coolant overflow was full as I said above but now its half full and I take the rad cap off and don't see coolant. Ill do a leak down test a little later and get back the results.

The fan is a problem cause it didn't turn on but is that the only issue? I think there's more to it than just a bad fan.

 

[horizontalkev]

Water pump possibly? Do you ever smell antifreeze?

 

[dkalfop]

Ya I have a few ideas for you. The problem with the FMIC is that it screws with the air flow through the rad as you have noticed. Marco at Magnus usually blocks off around the intercooler so the flow of air only can flow through the intercooler straight into the rad. This is what he does, but even though he installed and built my FMIC he is a busy man so as most of us can't wait and I do have some skill I build a scoop (which is a plastic air dam) which I bolted under the bottom rad support around 8cm by 100cm that directs air from the bottom of the car up and thorough the rad. My problem was fixed but I also used a additive to the rad fluid that works amazing called water wetter by redline. I think you should put your thermostat back in because its important to the programming and sensors that its there with it missing the computer might think there is a problem. I also installed a fluidyne rad which before I built the air dam still had little air movement in the engine compartment. This year I added two flex fans to keep the more air moving. Let me know what you think.

 

[jpmxrider489]

No I dont smell coolant. But just got done with my leak down test. I saw bubbles on the rad cap and heard air at the dipstick. on all cylinders except 4. Heres the numbers.

20 21 18 13.

So whats my next step? Is that a symptom of a bad head gasket? Could my rad be bad? Whats my next steps?

 

[horizontalkev]

Those 20 & 21% numbers are a little worrisome but I'm not entirely sure how to make a conclusion on what's going on with your motor based on where you hear air at.. But air coming from the dip stick would likely indicate air slipping past the Rings but I'm sure to a degree that's normal especially for our cars being turbocharged, however those percentages aren't that great either.. As for air bubbles coming from your cooling cap I do not know what to make of that other than a bad head gasket but I'm not sure exactly. Have you noticed any white smoke from exhaust?

your next step I'd say to get an exhaust tester from autozone that you hooked up to your radiator that detects the presence of exhaust in your coolant while the motors running

 

[AngelOfPassion]

Anecdote:

A bad rad cap could allow coolant to go to the bottle while hot but not allow coolant to come back when it cools down. Then your system is low even though the reservoir is full.

Thanks, I didn't know that. That might explain why my car never pulls coolant from the overflow tank even though it gets low over time. Just wanted to let you know that you might have fixed something for me haha.

Anyways, continue: