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!

 

[wkg96rs]

so my 96 n/t was overheating just at idle. now it's doing it all the time. replaced thermostat and seals, replaced all hoses, drained all coolant added new coolant. ive noticed my overflow tank stays at the top full line constantly. whether the cars been off for an hour, running for an hour, etc. my fans are working fine too... the hoses are getting hot and i can feel the coolant inside of them... problem is, i cant tell if the coolant is moving at all... i think i have a bad water pump? any suggestions? it has to be the pump or the radiator im assuming (hoping)?

 

[sjgYFZ200]

Yes sounds like a waterpump.

 

[98FWDSM]

Ok, I replaced the slimline fans with the stockers and flushed the radiator. I drove the car really hard for about 5-10 miles with no problems. I took the car back home and cleaned it, and then went on the highway again. After about 15 mins of averaging 80mph, the temp gauge slowly began creeping above the norm level. I got off the highway, pissed off I yanked the grill and the license plate out from the air dam, and then kept driving. Everything has been perfect since. It still doesn't make sense to me though because I have had that license plate there for over a year with the stock radiator and stock fans and I had never had a problem with overheating. But since the day I changed to the Fluidyne radiator, I have had nothing but problems on hot days. Does this make sense to anyone??

 

[98gstshadow]

Ok my car seems to overheat when I am in the city driving normally, when I get on the highway things are fine, the temp guage never gets over half, I have a fmic, and when it ggets hot I put it on defrost with the heater on and it cools down, Also I noticed a dripping of some liquid looked like radiator fluid coming from behind the passanger wheel, Any thoughts people thanks alot.!!!

 

[Bigglesworth87]

Can you please fill out your proflie so that we can better assist you on your problems?? Thanks, It really is appreciated.

 

[98gstshadow]

U mean like my mods? Sorry im new here, My mods include big16g turbo, spearco fmic, intake apexi down pipe, apexi cat back, guages etc.. mbc at 15psi, auto, apexi twin chamber bov,

 

[4BangerV8Killer]

you blew your head gasket. take off your radiator cap while running and you should see bubbles or oil and check your oil and see if there is water in it. what happend is there is a small brige in your HG from the coolent to the cylinder and your buildin pressure in the coolant and its dumping it out form your resevoir. thus you overheat from not having any coolant or water. i just fixed that problem for me like 2 days ago. NEW HEADGASKET. try a compression test idk

 

[FWD98GST]

try this.. I had the same problem when I first put in my FMIC... I got a better fan.. I got the 13" spal fan from RRE... and then I changed my thermostat... and I flushed out my cooling system.. but if the problem consisted, which it did for me, I replaced my radiator to a fluidine and replaced my water pump.. and all is fixed...

Make sure to burp the system.. No air should be in the coolant system at all, or else you going to overflow!!

I had the same problem.. when your driving the temps are cools, but when your ilded or stopped.. your temp gauge would go up... meaning that there is no air going in your motor at all, causing it to rise up..

Hope this helps...

Ion Longid

 

[gurrmanator]

if its dripping behinde the passanger wheel it could be your heater core....there might be fluid on your passanger floor also if that is the case.

 

[98gstshadow]

hey 98gs-t what do u mean burp the system how do U do that?? these problems started happening when I changed the coolant in my radiator....?

 

[femmeDSM]

I agree w/ gurrmanator....Heater Core is a likely culprit. Check your fluid levels. Cars do not consume coolant under normal operating conditions. If you're low, there's a leak somewhere in the system (if it's coming out inside the cabin near the passenger side, that's def. the heater core).
If for whatever reason it's not the H.Core......Then I would guess Head Gasket, like a couple of other posters.
Any smoke coming from the tail pipe?
If it's the Head Gasket, you'll also be able to detect coolant in yr oil (or poss oil in the coolant).
This is a crappy problem to have......Dealt w/ this with a couple of my cars (DSM and non DSM)....
Good luck.

 

[Defiant]

I suspect your water pump has lost its plastic vanes.

 

[FWD98GST]

you just have to take out any air that is trapped in your cooling system... you can do this by opening up the radiator cap and and the same time have your car idle and watch the bubbles pop out... do this until you see about all no bubbles... but first try to fill it up to the rim to the top and watch from there...

hope that helps...

ion

 

[vault415]

I have DSMLink and decided to log the coolant temperature after my CEL started flickering while driving down the highway at about 75. To my suprise, it said that my coolant was 230 degrees! Since then, I have read many posts on overheating, and I've done the following:

1. Changed the thermostat (the old one opened just fine in hot water)
2. Removed the radiator and flushed/backflushed it so, I'm quite confident that it is not clogged.
3. Cleaned the A/C condenser in front of the radiator just in case it was blocking airflow
4. Watched coolant flowing through the upper radiator hose, so the water pump is working. Also, it's a metal water pump, rather than plastic, and only 15,000 miles old.
5. Ran the car without a thermostat for a few minutes.
6. Ensured fans were turning on. Both A/C and radiator fan came on around 210 degrees.

I first thought there might be a problem when I opened the hood and the upper radiator hose was very hot, but the bottom hose was cold, or ambient temperature. I would think that it would be at least luke warm if things are flowing correctly, but it was not. Even after doing the above steps, the bottom hose does not get warm. When I removed the bottom hose though, coolant spilled out (into a drip pan). I get TONS of heat from the heater also.

When I ran it with no thermostat, the bottom hose became warm. (Indicating that coolant was flowing properly through the entire system)

So, I would think that 230 is too high because the ECU pulls timing after just 206, and I get to 210 just idling in my driveway.

How hot is too hot? What temp is going to get you into the blown head gasket range?

What other details do you guys need to know so that I can get to the bottom of this? Thank you very much.

 

[wantarace95GSX]

your hg might be blown

 

[urcnjoe]

your hg might be blown

I second that. Or it could be the blades on your water pump have come apart from the shaft. I believe someone on here had the same symptoms and this was the cause. If I remember correctly he said the blades were plastic. I'd search for the posting for you but that would be work for me. Best of luck to you.

 

[Burnett03]

230 is indeeed to high.. thats cylinder head warping hot, be careful.

 

[Goobdog]

My friends car is doing the exact same thing, the funny thing is the temperature hand never goes above half way.

 

[vault415]

Right, the dash gauge doesn't go any higher than half way, so I'm going to try a new ECU coolant sensor as soon as I get to the parts store to rule out the possibility of just a faulty sensor.

So, trouble shooting logic would tell me that one of the sensors is probably faulty because DSMLink is reading the ECU coolant sensor, and reads 230ish, while the dash sensor is just below halfway where it always has been (In the safe range).

The waterpump is aluminum, it's not making any kind of noises, and it seems to be pumping (water flows past the fill hole) so that'll be the last thing I tear into.

 

[98gstshadow]

ok first of all my radiator resivour or whatever they tells me the level of the fluid, That thing melted off when my car overheated last time so I got a new one and it doesnt stay on there, it will come off, I dont think that really matters but It might so imn gouing to replace it,
second my car runs fine I just recently changed the oil and there was no water or fluid of any kind I could visibly see, plus there is no oil in my fluids so I doubt it is a blown gasket, The only time I see smoke is when im gunning it, but that because Im running stock psi at the moment with stock fuel so im sure its running rich,

third there is no fluid in my passangers side so im sure the heater core isnt busted but I also am starting to smell "syrup" so im thinking I have a leak and its burning on something hot, which is making that smell,

now all these problems started happening when I changed my fluid for the first time so Im sure thats the problem but not positive, since my car overheated it might have made a leak somewhere else, ????

 

[Goobdog]

Do you have a 1g in a 2g ? Im just curious because thats what his is maybe its some kind of weird thing with that.

 

[vault415]

Nope, it's a stock 7 bolt.

 

[gseclipse93]

Ok so i bought this '92 gsx from my buddy. and when i bought it the only thing i was aware of is that it would always overheat after about 15 min of driving under boost. so im thinking is just the water pump, since he said is already put a new thermostat and new radiator in it. would anything else cause it to overheat??? any input would be much appreciated!

thanks-
josh

 

[Clipse]

Probably not the water pump. Do this

1. Make sure your radiator fan is operating. It should cycle on around 195 degrees.
2. Check cooling system for air bubbles.
3. Check the Tstat to make absolutely sure it's opening.
4. Worst case... Make sure your car doesn't have milky looking oil or coolant and/or isn't using up a lot of coolant as that could be a sign of a blown HG.

Report back after you've taken these steps

 

[Im In Flipmode]

Ok so today i was driving down the road, and my car overheated. I turned it off and let it sit for almost 20 minutes, turned it back on and it was still way overheated. I drove it about a mile or two home and it completely turned off like a block away. We pushed it the rest of the way and than let it cool. I popped the hood after a good hour of cooling and oil was splattered all over the motor. My car turned on and ran and there was no knock, but i put a quart of oil in it yesterday and its all gone today. I came to the conclusion my head gasket was blown... I was wondering what other people thought and if it is my HG and if they had any direction to point me. Please help out, i need to drive this car daily.
Thanks,
Woody