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!

 

[psychlow]

When the water pump was replaced, was it replaced with a plastic one by chance?

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=180967

 

[Staytuned]

This can happen anytime. I am spending the extra 50 bucks and getting the metal impeller on the next pump.

I am just so glad that the compression test went well and the HG and head seemed to withstand the high temps.

 

[paul s]

Easy fix Steve, just be glad its not the H/G..

 

[Staytuned]

Easy fix Steve, just be glad its not the H/G..

Hehehe yours better not be next. *knocks on wood*

 

[97 Talon Kid]

Try these 2 things if you havent already

1. burp the radiator
2. replace radiatorcap

If any of that helps let me know

 

[Defiant]

Replace (or, bother with testing) the temp sensor.

 

[psychlow]

Oh, forgot to mention, check/replace the thermostat.

 

[Tsi_User]

When the water pump was replaced, was it replaced with a plastic one by chance?

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=180967

nope, the water pump was replaced with a metal one, I put it in myself

how hard is it to check the temp sensors and the thermostat?

 

[DaDeuceIsLoose]

Thermo is maybe a $10 dollar, 15 minute change. its in the housing right below the radiator cap. Also have you gotten a new radiator cap? My car was doing something similar to this and it was fixed after I replaced the radiator cap, thermostat, & "burped" the coolant system.

 

[DaDeuceIsLoose]

Overheating Quickly

There's the link to my thread about it. I am in a 2g but I don't see any differences except perhaps the angle of the thermostat? (Correct me if I am wrong)

 

[98FWDSM]

ok, 98 GST, mods are in the profile...i have a fluidyne radiator and two slim line fans that i put on August of last year and after i put it all in my car would overheat on a hot day, it would overheat just sitting still. i checked out my fans and i had them sucking air instead of blowing it, so i changed that around and it only was overheating a tiny bit. Well, over the winter i never had any more problems with it but since it is starting to warm back up it is doing the same thing....a couple weeks ago after running it hard for about 5 minutes the temperature gauge rose to almost the top of that little thermometer thing. But, just today I was doing 80 down the highway and after about 20 miles of riding at this speed it started to steadily raise up, within 5 miles(still doing 80) the temperature gauge went from its normal position up to the top of the thermometer piece. I pulled over and put it in park and it was still rising!!! I just turned the car off and sat for about 10 minutes with the car off but the fans blowing on the engine and it was fine. I am thinking that maybe i rewired the fans incorrectly?? i wired them so that they will both be on at the same time. I also replaced my thermostat in August too...i replaced it with a 180 degree one....was this not the right one??? Someone please help!!!

after doing some more research, do you think that my water pump is going out on me slowly?? it does have 124K miles on it...the only reason i would think that it wouldnt be this is because over the whole winter it was fine.

 

[98autogstspyder]

I read your profile and I see you have a t28. That turbo bolts up just like the stock t25 does so I don't believe you have an issue with space in your engine bay.

So my question is, why did you replace the stock fans with slimline ones if you dont have a clearance issue with the turbo. Slimline does not mean better flowing. It just means that the fan housing is thinner and is a better fit. It sounds to me that your issue is directly related to the fans. Put the factory fans back in and see what that does. I can almost promise you that is your problem.

2 instances with a slim fan causing me to overheat:
-In my 98 gst automatic, the idiot shop working on my car told me that the stock fans would not fit because the j-pipe coming off of my 16g was hitting them. So they charged me more money and took them out. This install was in the winter time, so i saw no problems until about april that next year. Bam, I started to overheat one day. I took it to a dsm specialist, told me to put the factory fan back in. I forced that fan back in and made it fit. I had no problems since.

- In my '92 talon awd, the car came with a slim fan and no a/c fan. When I first got it, I changed the radiator fluid and put in watter wetter. I overheated the next day. I changed the fan out to the factory fan and have not overheated since I made that change.

If your going to change something on your car, make sure that you replace it with a better part and only if you need to change it. Otherwise if it aint broke, don't fix it.

The reason your overheating is this. Your fans are too small or are not pushing enough cfm to cool the radiator. The coolant inside the system gets too hott and begins to expand. It boils over into the overflow tank. The overflow tank gets full and the coolant flows out onto the street. So you end up overheating because you have lost all of your coolant onto the street. Although it is strange that you overheated after being on the highway... I would think you would be getting enough air. But anyway, put the original fans on and I am pretty sure that will solve your problem. Sorry for the long post, but I really want to try and convince you to switch out your fans. Good luck, if this doesnt fix it , let me know.




I think the stock fans flow about 1250 cfm.

 

[98FWDSM]

ok, i was "scammed" and told that these slimline fans flow better....the only reason that i replaced everything was because the radiator was leaking and i figured i would upgrade to a fluidyne, at the same time i figured i would get fans too....so do you think that the fluidyne radiator is some problem also or no??

 

[Denji]

perhaps its your thermostat.. i know it seems to be directly related to the new cooling components.. but check the basics first i think.

 

[paul s]

I'm running the Fluidyne rad and FlexAlite fans with big I/C and the car runs just fine. The aftermarker fans do flow more air and the Fluidyne does cool better then OEM. Check your coolant/water ratio, bleed the system and check your headgasket.. At highway speeds your fans don't usually come on. make sure the fans are wired properly..

 

[Crawl]

Ok pretty mcuh anytime i drive the car I get home pop the hood and my Prop rod is burning hot, the metal frame in front of the radiator is burning hot, etc... I have a 1995 GSX, this is without running AC , just seems abnormally hot in the engine bay, or are these cars just that hot?

 

[Crawl]

Just an update, I also my thermostat appears to be working , going to do a coolant flush this weekend and see if It gets any cooler, still would appreciate any comments if anyone else thinks im just paranoid or whatever

 

[onepimpclipse]

What does your temp gauge read in the car? Does it seem to be functioning properly?

 

[Nanan]

Are the fans turning on? Is the radiator hot or is it colder then you would expect? Does your oil look milky?

Need this info before a diagnosis can be made.


It could be:

Bad temp sensor so fans not turning on or the fans are burnt out.

Either air bubbles in the cooling system or a burnt out water pump.

Or it could be a blown head gasket.

 

[badas93tsi]

O.K. I took the head back off and put new stainless steel o-rings in and a new gasket, it seemed to have fixed my problem. I had it dyno-tuned and they ran the piss out of it; it ran fine. I took it to the track, and I ran the piss out of it; it ran fine. I drove it to work the other day and the dumb ass thing did the same exact thing it was doing. Would I be better off ditching the o-rings and using a mls gasket? I am f-ing lost. Somebody please give me some ideas. damn mitsubishi

 

[Crawl]

temp sensor SEEMS to be ok, but im 100% sure, it seems to stay at about half way at all times, going to watch the fans this week and see if they are kickin on and im going to flush the coolant asap just to make sure

 

[Froyd79]

Fan fuses? I had to chase a nasty electrical gremlin that was a burnt out plug that was sometimes getting current other times not. Also are you running any water wetter or anything? How new is your Rad cap. I ran the dyno 10 times and drove for 4 hours and had a nasty fan fuse keep blowing because of shorted wires. . Did you change the waterpump I had one crap out on me after 500 miles.

 

[badas93tsi]

yeah, my cap is new, the pump is new, and the fans work fine. thats why im so stumped???

 

[98autogstspyder]

The aftermarker fans do flow more air ..

not necessarily.....

replace with the stock fans and see what happens. If you still overheat then look else where.....

 

[240kid]

I have one 12" flexalite fan and it blows plenty of air. You could try running without a thermostat. I am guessing you have a fmic since you have greddy piping but who knows. fmic's always block alot of air getting to the radiator and can cause it to get hot due to lack of air. And your liscense plate in the front isnt helping airflow through there! your fluidline radiator should keep the temps alot lower than the stock radiator ever could. The weird thing about your overheating problem is that you overheated on the highway. When you are doing 80mph there should be plenty of air moving in there to cool things down so it could be your water pump going. Is the upper rad hose squishy or hard when the car is running?