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!

 

[DaveT]

First off, you might want to check to see if you have any air in the cooling system. Run the car at idle with the radiator cap off. This will allow any air to escape out of the system. When the air comes out, fill the fluid back up. Do this until no more air comes out. I usually do this for about 45min.

There is a way to make the fans run while the car is off. I have attached a quick drawing that I did with a circuit showing how to do it. There is a thermo switch at the bottom of the radiator. This will be the ON/OFF switch for the fan. You need to figure out which wire is the ground wire for the thermo switch and which is the positive (I think it is pin 3 of the Radiator Fan/Thermo Switch harness, Pin 1 is the positive). Then connect the thermo switch as follows per the diagram. You pretty much rewire the cooling system.

This is for one fan also (but is easily done for 2). I have not done this to my car with the cooling fans (I have a different setup) but I have done it to my auto tranny cooling fan which runs after the car is off.

Any questions or comments please let me know. This should work with the thermo switch (I was not entirely sure what the specs on the thermo switch were).

This is also for a 1G but should work for a 2G, just need to figure out the wiring.

DaveT
92GSX

 

[Defiant]

so i'm conserned about when summer arives, doesn't anyone know what to do?

Stop thinking about it- cars all over the planet do this when turned off. They survive from Thunder Bay to Las Vegas. They're engineered to.

 

[oldman]

The temperature sensor on the radiator could be bad.

 

[v8s_are_slow]

well i have two 12 inch fans on now and nothing has changed. one is a pusher, the other a puller. tonight as i was almost home and driving slowly, the temp on my logger got up to 217. the fans are on full time too. so long as the car's on, the fans are on. and the temp can go up or down a few degrees on the highway (194-206).....depending on if i'm getting into the gas or not. could the sensor on the rediator be doing that?

 

[jott5555]

WTF is your problem list to people who know what their talking about or stop comming to tuners..

Your cars normal operating temp is usually between 190 and 212 some run at 220. YOUR FINE!!!! if you that freaking worried buy a fluding radiator, put 2 2400cmf fan's on it wiht some redline watter wetter and MOVE ON!!!

 

[v8s_are_slow]

WTF is your problem list to people who know what their talking about or stop comming to tuners..

Your cars normal operating temp is usually between 190 and 212 some run at 220. YOUR FINE!!!! if you that freaking worried buy a fluding radiator, put 2 2400cmf fan's on it wiht some redline watter wetter and MOVE ON!!!

why don't ya stfu with the attitude dumbass. if you read at the top i think i mentioned that my car gets hotter than that. i was only mentioning what it did on my way home. it's still getting hotter than that though. i swear, you people with the attitudes need to get a swift kick in the ass. just don't bother posting if ya have to be a d**k about it. anyway, i have a fluidyne, and i have 2 fans. and it's still getting hot. so stfu and be a d**k elsewhere!!!

 

[oldman]

well i have two 12 inch fans on now and nothing has changed. one is a pusher, the other a puller. tonight as i was almost home and driving slowly, the temp on my logger got up to 217. the fans are on full time too. so long as the car's on, the fans are on. and the temp can go up or down a few degrees on the highway (194-206).....depending on if i'm getting into the gas or not. could the sensor on the rediator be doing that?

I was told by most DSM shops that both fans should be drawing air into the engine bay when I did my fmic, maybe that could be your problem.

 

[DaveT]

v8s_are_slow

You mentioned that you have 2 fans, 1 pusher (in front of the rad) and 1 puller (behind the radiator). Where are they located, like the first setup or the second? It is not good if one pusher fan is directly in front of a puller fan because you can't guarantee they flow exactly the same amount of air.

DaveT
92GSX

 

[v8s_are_slow]

v8s_are_slow

You mentioned that you have 2 fans, 1 pusher (in front of the rad) and 1 puller (behind the radiator). Where are they located, like the first setup or the second? It is not good if one pusher fan is directly in front of a puller fan because you can't guarantee they flow exactly the same amount of air.

DaveT
92GSX

mine is like the setup on the right and both fans stay on constantly. i'll maybe buy another thermostat today though and see if that helps. i have a huge dejontool fmic so of course that's gonna block some air. if i have to i'll cut some holes in my bumper to allow more airflow. just kind of afraid of making it looked hacked.

 

[DaveT]

Have you burped the cooling system to get out any air that might be trapped in the system? This is what I did to my bumper to allow a little more airflow to the A/C and radiator. You have a talon front but you might be able to do something similar.

DaveT
92GSX

 

[v8s_are_slow]

okay i had bought a 160 thermostat. installed it today and that did the trick. doesn't get hot AT ALL!!!! temps though are running anywhere from 158 to 187 at the most. on the highway into town today it was at about 165. driving around town it got to the 187 mark sitting in traffic. coming home tonight in the cool air it was at 158.

when shutting it down for a minute and getting back in, the highest it got was 201. so i'm happy now cause now there's no worries about overheating.

but my only question about this, is there any ill effects from running really cold like i am? cause i don't know of any. i reset my ecu today cause i recently installed some FPcam2's and trying to tune it out. well my trims are taking FOREVER to move now. wondering if the colder temps is what's effecting it or not. what do ya'll think?

anyway, i guess the real test will be the florida heat when summertime comes around.

p.s. i've been reading up a lil bit. i guess the ecu dumps extra fuel if it runs too cold. but i mean if i'm trying to tune the car and pull the fuel out with my maft, what's the difference? guessing maybe my trims are taking forever to change though cause of this? i see lots of people running 180 stats, but i'm in florida and when summertime hits i just don't want any problems.

 

[92tsifwd]

Ya, I have a 1992 Talon TSI. My car has been running hot lately and Ive loged my coolant temp at 251 deg f. When this is hapening I noticed the radiater fan was not on at all. It will not turn on exept when the ac is on. I am not getting any cels on. I dont think it is the coolant temp sencor. Unless the ecu and fan get there readings from seperate sencors. There are two sencors on the thermostat housing and there is the sender for the coolant guage. Which sencor is for the rad fan? And what is the other for? Please let me know guys what you thinkcould be causing this.

 

[Defiant]

okay i had bought a 160 thermostat.

Take that out right now, and put the factory spec thermostat back in. The DSM wants a certain heat level, and at 160 you're never getting out of closed-loop.
A thermostat does not cool an engine, it only keeps it at operating temperature. 160 is far too low.

 

[v8s_are_slow]

yeah, guess i'll try a 180 but keep the 160 laying around incase it gets too hot during the summer. but at least i know what'll solve the overheating problem now. guess this is why my trims aren't moving.

 

[jott5555]

the engine has to run at a certian tempeture so it can properly detionate all the fuel i beleive there is some risk involved when running too cold.

 

[92tsifwd]

Anybody? Somebody has to know about this.

 

[DaveT]

You can try a few things.
1) Do your fans turn on when you turn the AC on. Pushing the AC button when the car is running should turn both fans on.
2) Check the fan relays. They might be bad.
3) Check the temp sensor at the bottom of the radiator, under the passenger fan (main fan). There should be a way to test it to see if it works properly, but you would have to remove it.

See what you can find out.

DaveT
92GSX

 

[spendone]

Plus also check the fuse on the fuse pack on the positive terminal. I know I kept blowing fuses once b/c my fan motor was shot even though it still kicked on when it was directly fed power.

 

[92tsifwd]

ok, thanks I will try that and get back to you.

 

[djXternal]

ok i kno its kinda vague, but i just wanna get as many opinions as possible...

ok so today i was driving and everything was running normal, but when i got home and was messing with a few stereo things, 5min after getting home... i was overheated...

steam pouring out and everything, the radiator fluid was boiling over

before all this there was only a minor sqeek like a belt of bearing, but afterwords it was gone, then a lil later... a much louder sqeek was coming out of my left side (looking from the front of the car) of the engine bay...

i was thinking possibly water pump, but i really dont kno

i need help

 

[rjgeier]

Check your belts to make sure they are all there. Sounds like they are loose or missing.

 

[92tsifwd]

I swaped my rad fan and the sencor in the bottom of the radiater and it works fine. Thanks

 

[frosh29]

I had no heat as my car was overheating today as well....dont know what the deal is with that. please help us!

 

[90 Mike gsT]

ok i went through this exact same thing with my 93 laser 1.8. When i got the car running it would overcool, so i took off the thermostat housing and found NO THERMOSAT AT ALL!!! I put one in, and the car started to "overheat" but it actualy wasnt overheating, the sensor would go all the way pinned to the point your engine would be soup and i heard nothing and the car ran fine. I put a new thermostat in, nothing, same problem, put a new thermostat sending unit, same thing, still overheating. I found that it was water in my coolant was getting hot, and turning to steam, and making the sensor go whacko. So go to napa and get a coolant tester, there like 3 dollars and find out if you have mostly coolant or mostly water. If its mostly water, dump it all and put coolant in, and i put in an additive that made my engine run cooler. Untill it seized because of a real bad rear main seal going, but if that isnt the case its the ecu. Make sure you check all your sensors, and conections.

hope that helps

 

[frosh29]

Ok, my car overheats. It overheats on the highway after being fine for a while. I think i am losing coolant somewhere.

Is it possible that the two mechanics that i took my car to in the past few days would not see a leak?

Is it possible that i am loosing so much coolant through the head gasket that my car runs low on coolant, eventually overheating?

Is there a greater amount of coolant being burned as the engine is working harder (highway) opposed to driving around town?

I really think that im losing coolant somewhere, as even after i drive it a little, the coolant level drops.

My fans work, my thermo works, and my car runs fine when it has coolant. After a while though, the car temp jumps then falls. Then it jumps again, then falls. Eventually it clombs to the red. It has exhibited this behavior a bunch of times. Now I overheated it to the point of more severe damage, but would like to know what the initial cause of overheating is.

Now, i think my headgasket is really FU#ked up, as there are bubbles in my coolant. Possible head warpage. I dont know...any help will be great. Thanks.

Losing. 1 "o".