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!

 

[98gstshadow]

please some help?

 

[98gstshadow]

hey guys sorry about the bump didnt know the rules, I've read them sorry again....

 

[CorrupTTalon]

if you know that your car is leaking coolant then why arent you pinpointing where is leaking? because that is obviously your problem..

and the more you overheat that engine the more prone you are to blowing your HeadGasket... i believe the stock is felt not metal which means its much more unreliable as a metal layered gasket. and the higher boost your running the better the chances

you burp the coolant by squeezing the coolant hoses running from the radiator to the block... mostly the bottom one.. it wont hurt to start the car affter you have topped off the coolant and let it run without the coolant cap on and let the coolant circulate and pour more in as the air escapes.. thats the most efficient way to "burp" your coolant system

 

[DSM90AWD]

A compression test is definitely in order.

FYI.. if the HG is blown then continuing to drive the car will only make things worse.

 

[BOOSTING_GST]

Well this actually just happened to me about two weeks ago when my gsx was down. I took my galant out and it overheated also pulled over it was out of antifreez lucky i had a jug of water in my trunk so i put it in after it cooled down. The next day when i was leaving work my idiot lite started to flicker WTF so i pulled over checked the oil well didnt have any oil eather so i bought a 5 quart thing of oil. well my car was just spitting it out. well it turned out is was one of the seals on the block. Dont actually remember which one but its behind the timing belt cover on the bottom. So that is my 02 cents. Check it out might be the same might not. good luck...

 

[98gstshadow]

cool thanks alot, I have treied pinpointing where it is leaking but I cant find anywhere, It usually doesnt leak then all of the sudden a vvery suddle drip appears and I cant locate its origin.

 

[CorrupTTalon]

well its not leaking untill the car is running and moving and under high pressure... so after driving it around when its all hot park it and leave it running and stick your head under the car and anywhere and everywhere to find the source.

but if you said on the passenger side then its not your water pump and the tranny is on the other side so i dont know whats leaking. make sure its not oil but coolant rather.

 

[Im In Flipmode]

well i talked to my friend that is pretty well educated, he said check the turbo because it might have blown... my car does have 140,000 on it. he said the oil line from the turbo could have lost it and so on... anyone hear anything to that extent?

 

[CorrupTTalon]

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

two easy ways to check your HG.

check oil and coolant for signs of them mixing.

pull coolant cap off and let the car idle. you will notice air bubbles if the HG is gone.

when you opened your hood and there was oil all over was your dipstick popped out? where did the oil come from? did you even inspect? what kind of oil was it? quick way to find out if it was trans, motor, powersteering, or brake is to smell it, if its gasy then its motor oil. next thing to check for is the color. you need to inspect where it came from.

driving it while its overheated is way bad and can cause major internal damage like a warped head..etc..

also check your turbo by pulling your intake off the turbos intake housing. you will notice oil inside the intake and turbo housing. thats bad. usually the exhaust side of the turbo is the first to go so if youre smoking then your turbo is burning oil. thats how you tell if the exhaust side is bad without pulling the exhaust off. as far as the oil feed line spitting oil, thats obviously figured out by letting the car idle and inspecting under the hood......

 

[jonseclipsegs]

Driving along when my temp shot up past "H" and hot as it could go. I pulled off the highwy offramp and came to a stop. As I stopped white smoke poored out from under my hood. Popped the hood and all the thermostat housing etc. that attach to the engine was charred. I burned up all the antifreeze in the system and no fluid will flow through the engine at all now. Im thinking the water pump is blown because no fluid is being pumped through the engine(also the heat would work in the car while previosly driving---no circulating water through engine). Question is...what am I looking at damage wise? Warped/Cracked head or maybe got lucky and no internal damage.

 

[BISHILVR]

Do a compression test first, if it got that hot i would say a warped head is a definate. Also you probably have a warped block and ruined piston rings and possibly cracked pistons.

 

[98gstshadow]

Ok I've looked and tried to pinpoint the location but I cant because its dripping on the control arm and I cant see where its coming from, Should I just replace all tubes coming to and from the radiator???

 

[Im In Flipmode]

Yes. I inspected, it was definatly motor oil. The dipstick wasnt popped. I couldnt find where the oil came from, but i checked my spark plugs to see if they were wet, and not one of them were. Also, i checked my coolant and stuff, there was no mixture of oil in anything. So i take the intake pipes off of my turbo and i see oil. not alot, but there was defiantly oil. So does that mean if i take the exhaust side off that there is oil over there? I need a new turbo? i can get a 16g from my friend for 300 dollars. I'm pretty sure my turbo is what went bad, it than put oil all through my motor because it went through my piping. What do you think? Thanks for the info so far. I'm taking out my turbo tonight to see the rest. What are the signs that say your turbo is bad? THANKS,
Woody

 

[CorrupTTalon]

you put your fingers in there and wiggle the compressor. if it has play especialy a considerable amount of play then yes it is your turbo. make sure to check the piping after the turbo too. like the intercooler pipe, TB..etc..

 

[98gstshadow]

ok I figured out that my fan on the left side, facing the engine, passenger side is not turning on at all,

Update, I cant drive my car for more than 10 miuns with out the temp guage hitting red, Now its not leaking anymore, I am clueless, can 1 fan not working cause me entire engine to overheat? shouldnt that have something to do with my radiator or piping? PLease help my car is going no where and im using the beater WITH NO AC!!! and i live in texas and its like 98 degrees now PLEASE IM BEGGING U DSM GURUS!!!!

 

[CorrupTTalon]

first off, STOP driving your car.

everytime you get that gauge to red your ruining your engine.. in so many ways.





one fan not coming on wont overheat your engine. your water pump could be failing your thermostat could not be opening.. you could have a small bar leak in your radiator.

i believe if your stat isnt opening then youl get a lot of fluid in your overflow tank


you need to let it idle and keep inspecting under neath for leaks... open the hood and jack it up enough for you to get under and turn it on.. dont know what else to tell ya untill you find a leak or start replace those two things

 

[Loxias]

Ok, since you haven't told anyone what you have and haven't done I'm going to outline a full procedure to figure out why your car is overheating. As CorrupTTalon said, stop driving the car until you have this figured out. If you don't you'll be replacing more than a waterpump or thermostat. I promise. You mentioned after the fact that you changed the coolant. If you didn't flush the system you should do that before doing the following, just to be thorough.

1) Got buy at least 4 gallons of distilled water. Better make that 8.
2) Pull the lower radiator hose and check for cracks or holes. A replacement is about 10 bucks, whether you chose to spend this money is up to you and how well that hose looks.
3) Put it back on and make sure you tighten the clamps down. You get a leak on this hose (especially at the bottom) and you'll start losing water fast.
4) Fill the system with the first gallon of distilled water. It'll take a gallon and a half to two gallons to fill the entire system. We'll put the rest in momentarily.
5) Put the radiator cap back on and start the car. After you crank it get back out and take the cap back off. I guess technically you could leave it off, but for some reason I like putting it on.

Now is where we'll be able to test some things. After the car warms up the thermostat should open up.

6) Start filling the system with the water. You should have to do this a few times as the system 'burps' releasing the air trapped in the system.

If the thermostat doesn't open then bingo, you've found your problem. If it does open you should see the water starting to flow through the system. Finish filling the system. If not, then you've got a problem with your waterpump. If everything looks good, take it for a drive around the neighborhood. Don't get out on the road where you'll be boosting like crazy or where it'll be too far to walk back home. Ideally, take a couple of gallons of water with you so you'll be able to refill if it does start overheating. Now, I didn't check where you live so if you need to drain some water and add some coolant (assuming everything is fine now) or just add some Water Wetter.

Once again, don't drive the car around until you do more troubleshooting than just looking for a leak. If you don't you'll just be looking at getting a new headgasket.

 

[Im In Flipmode]

well today i looked at the turbo and the piping there was a little oil sitting in there, but it was just the usual lubricant. So its not the turbo.... I took the exhaust manifold off, no oil there. I even turned the car on to see if oil would be spit and nope, they all fired normal.. So does that mean no piston damage? We can't find the oil leak anywhere. ANY IDEAS?
Thanks,
MAtt

 

[y2slic]

Driving along when my temp shot up past "H" and hot as it could go. I pulled off the highwy offramp and came to a stop. As I stopped white smoke poored out from under my hood. Popped the hood and all the thermostat housing etc. that attach to the engine was charred. I burned up all the antifreeze in the system and no fluid will flow through the engine at all now. Im thinking the water pump is blown because no fluid is being pumped through the engine(also the heat would work in the car while previosly driving---no circulating water through engine). Question is...what am I looking at damage wise? Warped/Cracked head or maybe got lucky and no internal damage.

ooh...that sux bro, definitely a warped head at the least, white smoke in a dsm...no no..

 

[jcranfill]

Water pump was replaced last summer, new hoses, took the thermostat out for testing purposes (its still out), flushed, backflushed, yada yada yada...

Car still wants to overheat. When the temp guage gets to 3/4, I can shut it down and feel the radiator. Its more or less ambient temp on most of it. Shouldnt it be hotter than h*ll? Or at least warmer than the front bumper??

I've flushed the heck out of it several times. Are the OEM style radiators still available without hitting a boneyard, or is a fancy aftermarket one in order?

 

[jcranfill]

I just answered my own question about availability of OEM style, they are plentiful...

But, I still need to know if it should actually be warmer than it is...

 

[Loxias]

Does the top radiator hose get hot?
Does the heater blow hot or cold?
Can you see water flowing through when you remove the radiator cap?
Do the fans kick on when the temp rises?
What kind of coolant/water mixture are you using?
Does it overheat while idling, when driving, or both?
Any recent modifications?

 

[oldman]

Have you check the cooling fans?

 

[98gstshadow]

ok I went and got a new thermostat but when I have my cap off and the car is running I can see the water flowing, does that mean its not the problem?

 

[Loxias]

Sounds like it to me. Looks like your water pump is at least moving some water as well. Did you do everything I mentioned above or just check your thermostat?