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!

 

[1993TalonTsiAWD]

One more thing you can check is too see if the coolent system holds pressure. barrow or buy a coolent system pressure tester. If you have any leaks anywhere it can cause the water or coolent to boil faster. The reason the system is pressurized in the first place is to raise the boiling point. Since our cars run a little hot anyways (192-213) if the system isn't pressureized the coolent will boil at 212 or so. Just a thought, but it probly is a head gasket or water pump, what t-stat did you replace it with 180-195...what, and are you losing coolent??? One place to check is the heater core, but thats a long shot. Just throwing out some ideas. Also if it did overheat quite a bit you not only blow a head gasket, but also damage the rings which could be very bad, even worse on a fi (forced induction) aplication car.

Derek

PS your fans should kick on at 203-206...somtimes even 209 when sitting still at idle

 

[Pro3racer]

Would it still be the water pump, even if i get heat for about 2 minutes(and the car runs fine, at the right temp too).

 

[punishercb]

I've noticed that when i drive for a while the temp guage goes to about here.......

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Is that overheating? (sorry about the crappy graphics, it's the best I can do.)l

 

[BMWHATR]

you said your fan don't turn on right? but when you turn on the ac and booth fans come on dos the tem go down or not?

 

[BMWHATR]

I've noticed that when i drive for a while the temp guage goes to about here.......

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Is that overheating? (sorry about the crappy graphics, it's the best I can do.)l

It should go to the middle and if it goes more then yes your overheating

 

[evolvingGS-t]

Well it depends on your line. If your hot end is at the top of the page, then you're getting a little warm. If your hot end is the bottom of your sketch then you should be okay.

HOT END ???
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HOT END???

 

[dawgedeclipse]

Wow, umm well in that case It still might be but I am not sure. It can be worn inside of the housing. The no heat is usually due to a pump not pushing any fluid through the system, hence no heated coolant to the heater core. The smell could be just from the engine compartment, Ive had hoses come undone and I could smell the coolant.

 

[Pro3racer]

My radiator hoses also warm up, so i know that there is fluid flowing through them, its very confusing. I found heater hose is hard to bend in a clean loop, so i'm buying a nice U-turn hose, to close the heater out of the system, its going to real suck in 20 degree weather, but oh well. Any more ideas??

 

[punishercb]

sorry, the top is hot and the bottom is cold.

I got the car recently so I don't know if it's always been like that but I thought I'd ask all you guys and see if yours does it too.

 

[Natedaman_99]

Like it was said before the normal temp is pretty much dead center on the temp gauge so yes if you above that you are running hot.

 

[Defiant]

Or you may simply have a dying temperature sender.

 

[DrunkPenguin]

did you or the previous owner put in indiglo guages or anything? the needle could just be in the wrong position. if your overheating you will usually hear the radiator bubbling. take it for a good hard drive and check for that. also check to see if your using any water from your reserve.



john

 

[punishercb]

No, the previous owner kept the car comletely stock. So what could be a cause of the car overheating? I'm thinking that it might be a bad thermostat but any other ideas?

 

[DrunkPenguin]

a thermostat will do it. take the thermostat out and run it for a couple days. if your car starts running cold get a new one, they are pretty inexpensive.


john

 

[punishercb]

cool, thanks for the info guys. Also, is it helpful to get a thermostat with a cooler temp?

 

[JonathanPhelps]

I have a 95 GST. I was driving down the road and saw my temp slowly rise so before it got too high i pulled over and inspected it. I had a very small coolant leak from the top hose. So i replaced the hose, and refilled the system. Now after i drive for about 35 minutes it starts to overheat again.

If i turn the heat inside the car on full blast it will bring the temp back down on the needle but as soon as i turn off my interior heater it takes about 3 minutes till the car is overheating again.

I checked the top hose for heat to make sure the thermostat is letting coolant flow. It is. i also checked the water pump for bad bearings and it also appears to be fine, with no shaft play, and no leakage from the leep hole. Currently in my mind i've narrowed it down to either a bad radiator, or the system still doesn't have all the air out of it.

Any Suggestions?

 

[POlarSource]

THIS SAME PROBLEM I AM HAVING!! My water pump was changed 1000 miles ago. Seeing as this was posted in December... Is it fixed? What fixed it?

I have a head and a hg waiting to be put on... I just have to find the time.

I can only drive around town... I can't drive very far or it overheats. Please help!

 

[DSM90AWD]

I assume your radiator fan is coming on?
If your cooling systme is in order and still overheating I would not rule out a failing Head Gasket.

BTW.. any mods to your car? I ask as your vehicle profile doesn't list any.

 

[T9S1i]

no this was not posted in december... it should be fixed next week... today i filled the coolant up and let teh car idle for like an hour... no over heating and the fan did work... didnt notice it working before but it works now... anyways pressurizing the system is a very good idea... ill hafta do that when before i get the head and everything done... im going to do the head gasket and water pump job with a timing belt and everything and hopefully that will fix it... the rad is not clogged but i was waiting for the thermostat to open and it never did while at idle... maybe it didnt need to b/c my temps were looking good (at about the E in temp on a 1g) im not gonna drive the car until i take it to get the work done but its going to be a somewhat long drive so im taking a few gallons of water with me just in case it overheats on the way ... but anyways im gonna change the gasket because it did overheat a few times and im hoping the head isnt too warped out of spec and that the gasket didnt blow from the overheating if it was the water pump... i guess ill figure it out after i get the work done... ill post when i get my car back and say if its fixede or not...

 

[kchaazz]

okay, i put in a brand new water pump and thermostat, plus new coolant and water today because my old pump died on me and the car was creeping towards the red, but not quite. the pump is brand new, not a reman, i mixed coolant and water roughly 50/50, made sure she had enough water and everything, no leaks, etc. now, my guage reads a little past the middle, but is supposed to be roughly just to the left of the middle of the guage, right? my car has a new hg, no smoke, 150 psi across last time i checked, and no oil in coolant or coolant in oil either. whats the deal? the thermostat i put in is the same temp as stock. also, my radiator fan is kicking on as well.

also, i have the mmcd logger and it reads in degrees celcius and my car creeps to 108c when the guage is a little past the middle and 93c when its in the middle or slightly to the left of middle.


thanks, charles.

 

[98spydert]

Did you use a factory Mitsu thermostat? I had a Napa thermostat that just plain didn't open. Just an idea.

 

[DSMjrv]

i replaced the thermostat and the headgasket because a mechanic and several dsm members told me that it was blown... and the thermostat is like 6 bucks so i did that too... well its still getting hot... i drove it for like 15 minutes and it got to about 3/4 on the heat guage... and while the temp rises from normal temp to the 3/4 it fluctuates a little back and forth about every 30 seconds...

then when i pulll over and open the hood, the resevour is boiling and the dump thing spits out water.... not alot of water, but its still spitting it out

 

[sjgYFZ200]

Could be alot of things, it helps if you were more descriptive. Have you done a compression test? I would hope you did before other people told you your headgasket was bad...Do it again, and take a peek at your oil and coolant. The coolant should of course be lime green with no impurities. If it has any oil in it, or a brownish color, thats oil which means the HG didnt seal. If the oil looks milky, thats coolant mixed with the oil. Between those three things it will be alot easier to diagnose your problem. Good luck

 

[BUCK]

Straight up Temp Gauge is where the Thermostat opens - 3/4 is not necessarily Overheating - BUT - I'd check Base Timing first - When was Water Pump last changed? - When was the Radiator last Backflushed? (very easy to pull - 2 hose clamps - 4 Bolts - 2 Elect Connectors).

i replaced the thermostat and the headgasket because a mechanic and several dsm members told me that it was blown... and the thermostat is like 6 bucks so i did that too... well its still getting hot... i drove it for like 15 minutes and it got to about 3/4 on the heat guage... and while the temp rises from normal temp to the 3/4 it fluctuates a little back and forth about every 30 seconds...

then when i pulll over and open the hood, the resevour is boiling and the dump thing spits out water.... not alot of water, but its still spitting it out

 

[GSXanimal]

you could try flushing your coolant system .