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!

 

[LaserRST]

There is a pipe behind the turbo that carrys coolant. My bet as pressure grew when the car lost its coolant there may have been a blown gasket some where. I would take a weekend to check this out. Overheatiing in this car is no good for all the parts. Especially the turbo.

 

[MAKOOKAM]

Had the same problem. Was going nuts trying to figure out where I was losing coolant. It was the radiator cap. The seal was cracked and the pressure was being vented into the reserve and boiling off. 3 dollar fix that could have really trashed my engine.

 

[Kinetik_tsi]

Well, I dunno why it happened. It happened after I ran the Talon hard from a stop to about 60mph. Then after that the engine started hiting the red mark on the temp. gauge. I bearly made it home. Now when i drive it, it heats up quick. I checked the obvious, water coolant, engine oil(which seems kinda thin). After it cools down, it idles fine, and doesn't heat up. Need some diagnosis. Thanx.

 

[echo]

is your thermostat broken? check that out.

 

[turboholic]

-Have you check the thermostat.

 

[Kinetik_tsi]

No I haven't, but I will. Any chances it could be anything worse? Other suggestions? It never did this until I ran it hard. I just bought the car a couple weeks ago.

 

[mcerria]

Check the thermostat (as previouisly mentioned) and also check to see that your upper and lower radiator hoses aren't shot.....If they are really
squishy when you squeeze them they may be caving under the high pressure.

 

[laserblue]

I've had my Laser for 6 months... and shortly after I got it, I noticed the temp gauge rapidly maxing... then back to normal... up and down.. then normal for a day. It was the thermostat. Take it out for a few days and see how the temp gauge acts.... Or just change it. If there is still overheating, the water isn't flowing [of course]. Water pump??? Blockage??? You'd need to check out why.. But ninety-nine times out of a hundred--- it's the thermostat. Be cool!!

 

[Kinetik_tsi]

I'll check out the thermo. and get back to ya.

 

[Kinetik_tsi]

I found the problem. One of the water hoses is leaking. I didn't notice til now. Thats most likely the problem. thanx anyways.

 

[VaBch98GS]

to be safe i would still check the thermostat if i was you. i had the same problem with my old 89 305 camaro. changed the upper and lower hoses cause they were mushy and leaking. got on the interstate going to a friends house and the temp was fine. didn't check on it for about 20 minutes when the car started losing acceleration and no matter how hard i mashed the gas only the rpm's would go up and no acceleration. finally the engine just shut off while i was in the far lane and i had to shoot across 4 other lanes to pull off. well with the engine off i lost all electrical power(naturally) including steering and power brakes. well i get into the shoulder doing about 50 when i see a state trooper in front of me with someone pulled over. i had to turn the hell out of the wheel to avoid hitting him and bounced all over the place in the grass as i blew passed him. car finally stopped but only after making my buddy in the passenger seat spill his bear all over himself and the interior.(that was the first and last time i let anyone drink beer while i was driving) anyways the cop drives up and asked what was going on, and i told him what happened. i'm just glad he didn't take a looksy in the car like they usually do around here, he just called roadside assistance and left. turned out to be the thermostat that went, but only after cracking the block frying the pistons and burning up just about everything in the engine. needless to say i didn't bother getting a new engine, just sold the thing to a junkyard for 500 bucks. not bad considering i paid 1500 for it three years earlier, i think i got my moneysworth out of it. besides, once i was in the market for another car, i got to go back to a 98 eclipse GS again, just like my first car(parked the first one on the front end of a dump truck 4 months after i bought it in 98) sorry to get so off track telling you all this, i am just bored as $#!% right now and got nothing better to do! check the thermostat too, so you don't get stuck blabbering like me sometime in the future cause you are bored.

 

[Kinetik_tsi]

That's a sticky situation u got ur self into. Thanx for the advice, I guess it wouldn't hurt to check.

 

[Dieselboy]

Well, waterpump (Im sure) went out on the freeway the other day. Car overheated (pretty bad smells. Like hot/burning coolant, couldnt smell burning oil though). Pulled car over on the side of freeway (still running) and immediately shut it off. Let it cool off for about 30min, replaced water (which took a long time due to the steam and spewing from the warmth of the motor). Let sit for about another hour to cool, replaced water again. Car wont start now. Turns over but seems to be having trouble doing so. What is this most likely? Worst case scenario.

 

[4g63mightymax]

i would say your worst case scenario would be a blown head gasket, and a warped head. if the head is warped, i would recommend a different one, because even after u plane the head and make it straight, it still isnt right after it has been overheated..........
just my .02
hope i helped.....
jeremy

 

[Dieselboy]

Yeah, thats what alot of people are telling me. If its just the head, I guess Im not too worried. How much am I looking at for a new head and gasket? Should I get another 1G head, or invest in a 2G head? Any diff?

 

[4g63mightymax]

It all depends on if you can do any of it yourself or not, and if you want to shop around. When I bought my 4g63t engine to put it my truck, it had a broken timing belt and all the valves were bent. I spent a total of about $150 in valves, got all the head work for free, and the head gasket came in a complete engine gasket kit from mitsubishi, which was $250...... so if you know some people and can do it all yourself, it is pretty cheap. however, if u cannot do it yourself and dont have any friends in the business, I would bet you could get a nice head for $600ish, and the head gasket for $50-250, depending if you buy just the gasket or a whole kit. The labor is what would put you in debt. I would say the average shop would charge $800 in labor......
good luck, and if I was you, I would shop around as much as possible, call all the junkyards around, and look on ebay.
hope i helped
jeremy

 

[wicked93GS]

Heh, my luck just isnt any good, I just bought a 93 Eclipse GS, its in great shape, or so I thought, runs wonderfully, until it decided to overheat, now years ago I had an escort and it had a mysterious overheating problem too, I guess it comes of having an aluminum head and cast iron block, anyway, the escort was totalled before I could ever fix it. My eclipse overheated today, I've heard that if it does that you just might as well chuck the motor and buy a new one, I dont know, I'd like advice, should I rebuild it? or just replace it,(and if replace it, do any of you guys have a good running turbo motor(with ECU) for sale at a reasonable price? he he, might as well upgrade right?) anyway, thanks

 

[Run-GSX]

One over-heat spell is not gonna kill it.
Not unless you drove it for a while and it was hot.

Unless you were in the red side for longer than 10 minutes or so.

I ran my '92 GSX in the red-zone for 10 minutes and never had any problems.
These little motors are pretty tough.

Are you blowing white smoke out the tailpipe??
If you're not , then I wouldn't worry.

Just find out what caused the over-heat .

A friend-a-mines93just did that too , turned out the 'stat was bad , broken , in fact.

 

[wicked93GS]

I know it wasnt in the red zone for more than a minute or two, but I just got it, I think it might blow a bit of smoke when first started up, but then again, it might have just been the cold, I'll check the thermostat tomorrow, it is where the upper radiator hose connects right? sorry, just got the car and dont know the layout well enough yet, the engine is due to be replaced anyway I think with 135k miles, but I just want the thing running for awhile till I can get the funds

 

[Run-GSX]

Er?

135K isn't too bad. I got 112K on the Galant , runs fine.
And had 118K on the old Eclipse.
You'll get a little smoke on startup if you need stem-seals , or if theres gas in the cylinders.

A blown gasket would be smoking WHITE all the time , unless the system has no water in it

 

[wicked93GS]

no, theres no white smoke all the time, and I never ran it in the red for more than a couple minutes, who knows what the guy before me did though, but it sounds like I dont have to panic yet, heh, that starts later, thanks =)

 

[Run-GSX]

yeh.....give it time

pretty soon you'll be working on it more than driving it .

the conversion rate goes something like this......

H= hours involved in repair
D= hours driven


Hx10=D1

And increase H by 5 every time you get a goooood boost out of it

 

[wicked93GS]

well I replaced the thermostat and the upper radiator hose while I was at it, and it didnt help, when I run it the lower radiator hose heats up, but the upper one doesnt, neither does the radiator for that matter, and the fans didnt kick on, but I didnt run it up much past the halway point on the gauge, do you think it could be the radiator? if so what should I look for? or maybe the waterpump? again, what should I look for if it is? maybe I should just bit the bullet and replace both

 

[Run-GSX]

I've got no experience with bad DSM cooling systems , unfortunatley.

Seems to be the one part of the car thats fairly bulletproof , with the 'stat being the weakest link.

Maybe some blockage in the head or the radiator.......

 

[wicked93GS]

well, an update, I just put a new radiator in, and it seemed to help(almost a quarter of the old radiator's fins had crumpled out), now it takes about 5 minutes longer to overheat and I think it must either be the water pump or the head gasket, I also put in a new lower radiator hose while I was at it, before I tackle either the water pump or the head gasket, I'm wondering, is it going to be worth it? I'm afraid that its the head gasket and that the head is warped, I mean theres a place online that will get me a used NT motor from Japan with 30k miles on and deliver it to my door for 900, should I just replace the motor? or do any of you have a good NT engine for sale for less than that?