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!

 

[kristmen]

O yes, I forgot to mention I ordered real mitsubishi hoses from the dealer and I also installed a new thermastat and new radiator cap after the over heating problems started thinking maybe it would fix it.

Also, I dont know what else to do but I've ran the car for almost 30 minutes with the radiator cap off and kept adding water so I assume any air bubbles are gone.

I'm lost.

 

[ITSME4G63]

water pump? Just a suggestion, maybe run the car at standstill without the thermoestat and see what happens

 

[thisdsm]

flush your radiator really good, it may be clogged up. Or your thermosensor could be f***ed, your gonna have to check that out again, it could give you fautly readings on your stock temp gauge. O and thanks, I'm gonna have to drop by the dealer ship to order some hoses as well.

 

[Defiant]

O yes, I forgot to mention I ordered real mitsubishi hoses from the dealer and I also installed a new thermastat and new radiator cap after the over heating problems started thinking maybe it would fix it.

Ah, we always get more story if we wait a day.

Odd that thermostat wasn't mentioned in the first post .

First, try putting your old radiator cap back on. If that doesn't help, try another thermostat. It's actually the first suspect, but the cap's a bit less work to try your luck with.

 

[kristmen]

Yes but Defiant the problem was there BEFORE the tstat and radiator cap was replaced. I only changed them because it was overheating. Changing them did not correct the problem.

I threw the old ones out btw.

Ok let me start over with what all happaned and I'll explain everything.

There are some small house that go to the water neck. For the throttle body and turbo cooler lines.

The hoses started to leak so i replaced them. I replaced the 2 front one that go for the turbo cooler.

When doing this, I broke a wire on the plug to the sensor in the UPPER half of the tstat housing. Everyone I spoke to said its for the A/C so i didnt bother fixing it right away. Car was over heating so I asked on dsmtuners, everyone said its not for A/C.. So I asked in the #DSM channel and they say it is for the A/C and whomever said its not needs to get a clue so we looked it up in a Hanyes manual and it confirmed its a temp sensor switch for the A/C after all and not needed because I dont have A/C.

Anyway i fixed this wire just because it was the only thing I didnt do yet. Didnt help.

Car still over heats at a stand still so i got a new tstat and radiator cap, replaced those and it still over heats. This also didnt help.

Here is a pic of the sensor I was talking about btw. I think you saw it before in the other post when I asked what it was.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[jmdombr]

I have a 99 Eclipse GST with only 46K on it, i was stuck in traffic yesterday and it was pretty hot, like around 88. (hot for chicago, ok)
I bought the car like 3-4 months ago and im not sure whats been done yet
Well the temp needle started to go up, i freaked out jumped out of traffic and drove down a side street, as soon as i started driving the needle went down to normal again.
It did this all the way home, so i went to Midas, and they checked it out and all my levels were ok, they reccommended a flush of course, but the mechanic there said that wouldnt help. So he unplugged the cap and sent me on my way.
Is that normal? It never hit the red zone, but got close i could also smell it, the fan was on full force the whole time.....

ive read through other posts but my car is stock?

Should i take it to the dealership? Or maybe just see if it happens again? maybe a air bubble?

thanks!!

 

[DevilSperm]

start with changing the thermostat, maybe its stuck closed

 

[jmdombr]

Well, i opened my Radiator cap when it was cool. There was some gunk around the ring, also my coolant is yellowish brown? Is that normal?
I do remember when i went to Sears for new tires they told me my radiator fluid need to be changed, but they reccommend everything to you know matter if you had a brand new car, so i always am like no, just tires please.

 

[DevilSperm]

the brownish color comes from rust, and thats usually a sign that it was low at one time...id replace the thermostat since its a cheap thing to start with....if that doesnt work, go ahead and flush it out and put in new coolant

 

[rsr93]

Well, i opened my Radiator cap when it was cool. There was some gunk around the ring, also my coolant is yellowish brown? Is that normal?
I do remember when i went to Sears for new tires they told me my radiator fluid need to be changed, but they reccommend everything to you know matter if you had a brand new car, so i always am like no, just tires please.

it is always smart to get your car fully serviced when you buy a used vehical. you should change everything out from the spark plugs, fluids, Timing Belt , well all belts, brakes, ect ect ect..... if a good service record of the car was documented you will not need to change some items and know which of these items need to be changed. if not i would get all the regular maintance shit done so you can start fresh and know where you stand from the get go. this is my opinon and what i always do.

yes get it flushed and a new t-stat as devilsperm suggested. i forget what fluid is yellow(prestone maybe)........ but the brown rust part is not good get it changed.

 

[bhop]

My '95 GST overheated in the Nevada desert last year, (luckily we'd just left Vegas, so there was still some civilization around) it's mostly stock too. I think the reasons were a couple things. 1, at the time, I hadn't flushed the radiator in a long while, and 2, it was over 100° out there. I think if i'd taken better care of the radiator, it would've been ok. I'm sure there are many people here with more repair experience than me, but from my own overheating experience, my suggestion is to flush that thing out.

As a side note, recently my car was crashed into in the front and the whole cooling system's been replaced, so I'm hoping I won't have that problem anymore.

 

[eclipse0508]

my car did the same thing..............i finally came to be a bad headgasket

 

[LeJeune123]

For a whole week I went about changing everything in the cooling system like the: Radiator, hoses, cap, and I had just changed the thermostat but it kept getting hot no matter what. I finally broke down and got a new FAILSAFE thermostat from O'Reily Auto Parts. It works fine now I just wish I would have known that before I changed the $200 radiator. I would just change the thermostat and flush that thing before you ruin something else with all that rust. Remember when you flush to use a good radiator cleaner and some Prestone cooling system restore.

 

[insaniti]

after spending the week at my older bro's working on the front suspension and putting in a new alternator, I drove the car home. a 2 hr drive. bout 30 miles into it I overheat and lose all my antifreeze. jack the car up on the highway and it seems to be coming from the lower radiator hose. do a quick patch job that would get me home, let it cool, add some more coolant and Im on my way...

another 30 miles and the same thing happens. it holds its temp solid for about 30 miles then shoots up, and once again, losing coolant...this time I notice its coming from the overflow not the lower radiator hose.

this is really odd as I can drive that far before something happens. I figured it might be a block in the radiator, but that would cause it to over heat sooner wouldn't it? maybe an air bubble?

how would I go about diagnosing what is causing the problem, and how would I fix it if its an air bubble and not a blockage?

edit** the car has a new upper radiator hose and a new bypass hose (?? not sure this is what that was, down by the oil filter, a small hose about 3-4" long and 1/2" in dia), also has a new 180 degree thermostat. I was told the lower radiator hose was replaced but it wasn't so that will be done shortly but seems to be in good order and not the cause of this odd problem.

 

[Aikouka]

after spending the week at my older bro's working on the front suspension and putting in a new alternator, I drove the car home. a 2 hr drive. bout 30 miles into it I overheat and lose all my antifreeze. jack the car up on the highway and it seems to be coming from the lower radiator hose. do a quick patch job that would get me home, let it cool, add some more coolant and Im on my way...

another 30 miles and the same thing happens. it holds its temp solid for about 30 miles then shoots up, and once again, losing coolant...this time I notice its coming from the overflow not the lower radiator hose.

this is really odd as I can drive that far before something happens. I figured it might be a block in the radiator, but that would cause it to over heat sooner wouldn't it? maybe an air bubble?

how would I go about diagnosing what is causing the problem, and how would I fix it if its an air bubble and not a blockage?

edit** the car has a new upper radiator hose and a new bypass hose (?? not sure this is what that was, down by the oil filter, a small hose about 3-4" long and 1/2" in dia), also has a new 180 degree thermostat. I was told the lower radiator hose was replaced but it wasn't so that will be done shortly but seems to be in good order and not the cause of this odd problem.

Do you mean the one coolant line for the water-to-oil cooler? I had a bad leak at there one time, definitely uncool. I also had a bad leak at the rubber hose for the coolant send line ... also uncool.

Sounds like it might have been your thermostat. To find out if it was your thermostat, put your old one in a pot of hot water (pretty much boiling) and the thermostat should open up when it's put into the water.

 

[insaniti]

the new thermostat was put in before this problem occurred...so this is happening with the NEW thermostat in place

 

[girlieracr4g63]

Hows the rad. cap? Are your fans working/

 

[insaniti]

yes the fans are working, replaced the motors recently. radiator cap is working correctly as well. as for the condition of the radiator itself, Im not 100% sure of its condition. I've drained it a couple times (once for the thermostat, once for the upper rad hose, and once when it overheated on the trip in this thread) and it seemed to be "flowing" fine...

when the fans were off the cosmetics of the radiator looked fine, no major gouges, just usual wear and tare on a 13 yr old radiator (Im finding out that Im the first person to change anything on this car, including the brakes and rotors)...

 

[kingoftheroses]

97 GS

Ok I DID do a search and looked through them all... not what I'm looking for...

Problem: Car overheats
When: Idle

- There is a pinhole leak in the radiator: Would this cause the car to overheat?
- There is plenty of coolant in the car
- The fans are running at full
- If the car is sitting, the temp comes down when I bring it up to 2,000 RPM (not moving mind you... I know that air moving over the radiator would bring the temp down)

This just started yesterday.

What's my problem? Please help... Thanks in advance.

 

[TD05HTalon]

when my thermostat was stuck the car would overheat at idle but once it was moving the airflow would keep it cool enough. also check your water pump belt - if it's loose or slipping at idle it pump may not be getting turned enough at idle rpm's.

 

[insaniti]

*bump for update:

today I took the radiator out. flushed it out and it was clear, very slight traces of sand/dirt but nothing major. put a new lower radiator hose on (must say MUCH easier with the radiator out), filled it back up with coolant, and it seems to be fine...however, I only drove it for a few miles, not like the 30 miles that I had driven on the road trip where it overheated twice (once every 30 miles).

maybe a fluke? or maybe an air lock that I got rid of? I dunno...Im pretty baffled

 

[DSM_AWD_TSi]

My car is overheated yesterday, I removed the thermostat couple weeks ago. It ran fine for a while. But it overheated yesterday again. I checked the fan is working. So I think I need a higher performance radiator and high flow radiator fan. What radiator and fans should I go with? Thanks.

 

[Shifty]

Have you checked your waterpump? Stock radiator goes a long ways for keeping it cool.

 

[nutshot]

Did you remove or replace the thermostat? Slight difference there and you do need one.

 

[DSM_AWD_TSi]

I just removed the thermostat. I know the car will not warm up as fast with it, but it shouldn't cause overheating. I felt the radiator hose and there's water circulating, could it still be a water pump problem? Thanks for the help.