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!

 

[Doug99RS]

With a turbo car your compression numbers will not be like the non-turbo. Non-turbo numbers are mostly 180 or better. If I'm not mistaken the turbo numbers should be around 165-170. The higher compression numbers you've got may be due to carbon build up on the pistons and cylinder head. I recomend using some Mopar Combustion Chamber cleaner before you do any more work related to compression numbers.
Doug

 

[eclipseracer137]

My car overheats sitting at red lights,but when i start going it cools back down. what should i do?

 

[1LE]

Check to see if the fans are coming on.

 

[eclipseracer137]

alright, i'm checking the fans. I'll get back and tell if that was it

 

[riceburner]

my car did the same thing i just changed the anti-freeze and thermstat and everything went back to normal

 

[crankbender]

Yes that is commonly a sign of low coolant or a thermostat that isn't opening correctly. Just replace the thermostat if it isn't new and the coolant is currently full. If the coolant is low try refilling it and see if it leaks out .

 

[rip]

i have a few questions first do new stock replacement water pumps have the plastic fins. second i have flushed my coolant system a few times already and taken out my rad and flushed that and i replaced the coolant censor (the one that has one tab for the gauge) from autozone not stock and have a new cap(autozone) and it hasent over heated any more but it just started to get nice here in PA and my coolant is low but it didnt overheat () overflow still full? oh yea and new thermastat (stock). i did notice that my upper hose gets really pressurize when its hot. my heater never puts out heat ethier. can anyone explain? thanks

 

[mykfwdtalon]

i know it sounds stupid but did you purge the cooling system to try and eliminate any air bubles under the thermo preventing it from opening? dont forget this when you put the cooling system inline. do it either with a special vacuum thingy(it uses blow by presure then reverses the pressure to take out air and suck in coolant) or take the thermo off and poor coolant into block.

 

[rip]

yes i did purge the air but thamks i forgot to post that.

 

[nathanstl]

Ok, I've had a few overheating problems in the last month, but I never let it go over the top normal mark and it never blew out of the overflow, but has boiled several times. I found out I was leaking coolant out of the upper radiator spot where the hose connects and I was refilling with too much water so it was freezing and causing it to get close to the red mark on the temp gauge then it would suddenly fall. I eventually replaced the radiator with a metal one and it seemed to fix the problem however, now that its getting up in the 60's around here the car is again overheating. It goes up to just passed the P on the temp gauge, which I guess is still in the normal range but a lot hotter than it used to run. Ok now the next thing, it only does this when the vehicle is under load(going up a hill or up shifting to early), when going down a hill for a while with the engine not under load it will go back to right in the middle of the two normal marks. I've been turning the heat on when it gets passed the p and that helps a little. I have no steam or white smoke out the exhaust, my oil is not milky looking and I'm not losing coolant. The thermostat is opening, but I don't know how to check if its opening at the right degree. Is this dangerous to run near the top normal mark? Also my fans are working too. I know I probably have maybe a 70/30 mix with more antifreeze then water. I just need any suggestions. Thanks in advance!


Nathan

 

[Oreopride18]

Exact same problem I'm dealing with right now.

I'm about to leave and try another T-stat; I have a feeling Napa gave me the wrong one and I can *here* the T-stat under heavy pressure if I pull over and the car has warmed up. Sounds almost like a bubbling noise that comes from the T-stat housing.

I'll get back to this today or tomorrow and let you know how it works out.

 

[boostedawdtsi]

Just replace the thermostat, its real cheap and easy to do. I bought mine from autozone, they had two diff ones. one was a high temp setting (the thermostat would open at a higher temp) and a lower temp one. i bought the lower tempone. I would not drive the car if it is overheating. I was told. i do not know if it is true but the temp guage can't read the temp if there is no coolant or water in the motor. overheating can cause serious damage. it's happened to me before.. costs alot of money to repair extreme heat damage.

 

[Doug99RS]

An air pocket is the first thing that comes to mind.

After that I would want to know what pressure the new cap is rated at. Is it the same pressure as what you took off? If not, your cap may allow coolant to flow in to the resevior (normal) but not back in to the resevior.

Did you remove the heater hose lines and flush out the heater core SEPERATE from the rest of the cooling system?
Doug

 

[eclipseracer137]

thanks for all your help. I fixin to go to the parts store. i'll get back and see if it was that or not

 

[rgirard413]

check the radiator too. if a lot of teh fins on it are rusted and in bad shape, taht could do it too, did it to mine, i replaced everything in teh car related to the coolant and even the headgasket, to find out i just needed to replace the radiator

 

[GSXanimal]

Engine under load and heating up, check for detonation

 

[Defiant]

Get a new cap.

 

[rip]

the cap i put on is a 13psi cap from autozone which i believe is the same psi that was on it. no i didnt get to flush the heater core seprate. im woundering if that damn autozone cap is doing it? what is the deal with those greddy cap that are 18psi what would that do for u?

 

[Eliminat0r]

did you do a pressure test on the system if theres air in there or a leak it wont hold pressure.

 

[rip]

no but i am i have a friend that has a tester so ill let u know but now it hasnt lost any for two days now? ive the cap on and off a few times now so i dont know.

 

[mykfwdtalon]

13 psi is right for stock pressure. its almost a sure bet you have a leak or air buble all up in there, i managed to fix mine by putting coolant in the reverse way(the way it flows) and it took care of my overheating and pressure probs. sounds like you need to just take a day off and look the enitre engine over three or four times
-myk_

 

[BabyAlan]

sup people,

I got the same problem like your guys. My car was running smooth for a while. Last month, I didn't know what's going on. The water temp. meter went sky high. So I stopped in the middle of no where on a highway. It sucked...White steam came out. It's the coolant. Gosh. I thought there was just a broken hose. However after my friend hauled my car to a shop, they claimed my car had serious problem (bad water pump, cracked head...). It costed me over 1k to fix it. Now I got my car back. I found that the problem is not fixed. The water temp. is reaching the red line.

I suspect one of my fans is dead. Would that be the cause? If so, I'd be very mad that the shop didn't notice what's wrong with my car.

Thanks guys!

 

[mastaBO]

i just got ma water pump and head gasket replaced. The temp needle is still moving up and down for some reason. Iam going to try to replace the thermostat to see if itll fix the problem.

 

[Redmachine]

You could have air in your system. I have had three cars do that aftera water pump, radiator hose and heater hose repair/replaccement. You can get some kind of vacume that attaches to the radiator fill or run the car with the cap off air blows out. or Put the hose in the radiator fill (w/o the thremostat) push all the water through till no more air but then you have the not enough cooland thing I went with premixed stuff, bounced the bumper till the air blew out filled it up blew it out until the temp started to drop.

 

[mastaBO]

sorry, i dont quite understand it. You mean, run the car without the radiator cap? and wait a few min and put it back on?