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!

 

[oldman]

itsa new i got one 12in aftermarket fan on there with a adjustable thermostat. i have it set at 185 for the fan to turn on. i was thinking of putting another fan in there.

One 12" fan is probably not enough. I'm currently running a 12" and a 9" fan both hooked up to the original passinger side harness so they'll both come on at the same time. Also as mentioned above, most aftermarket fans are bi-directional (push and pull), make sure you wired it correctly so it's pulling air towards the engine.

 

[tyler094]

Are you sure the thermostat is installed correctly? I had that problem once and it was because installed the thermostat upside down. Also try taking the thermostat out and see what happens.

 

[EvilAWD]

you know the same thing has happened to me and i have no clue what it is.

 

[93_GSX_AWD]

i was thinking of adding another 10in fan to run duals. the thermostat is in there the right way i am running a 185. i was thinking of putting a 195 back in there. but not sure if it will make a differnce. at a last resort i am going to put a new waterpump in there. so problem just messes with my mind. my rx7 is easier to figure out. would it make a differnce if i put in a all metal stock one instead of the half metal half plastic one i had in there?

 

[BenHenthorn]

Well after all of this, I figured it out. It turns out the new fans on my radiator were made to blow air into the radiator instead of pull from it . So I switched the wires around and it worked like magic. No more overheating, and when it does start to get a little warm, the fans come on and cool it right off. Thank you all for yor support.

 

[Kprime911]

hey

i was driving home from work today and then my temp gauge started to go up a bit so i get ready to pull to the side to check it out then all of a sudden smoke started coming out from under the hood. once i pulled over i found out my lower radiator hose basically exploded at the end thats attached to the engine. once i got it home i replaced the lower radiator hose and radiator cap and took it out again for another drive. i didnt even drive a mile and my temp gauge quickly goes up past halfway point. i checked the hood again and it seems like the coolant isnt going into the radiator. also the end of lower radiator hose thats attached to the engine was very hot but the other side was cold and my upper radiator hose was cold too. i was thinking maybe water pump or thermostat but i wasnt sure i was hoping somebody here could help me.

thanks

 

[zrk666]

almost same thing happened to me one night coming home from work.

the temp guage went up and steam started to come out of the radiator overfill bottle. i pulled over and got water in it and seemed to do fine on the way home. i replaced the thermostat and radiator hoses just to be sure. havent had any problems so far. i did start carying at least 1 galon of water.

i would change the thermostat and then if still acts up change the water pump.

see if you dont have a blown head gasket it might have blown. when my car did that it got 1/2 to 3/4 of the way hot and didnt blow. i have seen it happen on a 93 2.0 gs turboed.

 

[silvercoupe97]

Cool, I'm glad you got that fixed bud. I can't believe your DSM guy didn't catch that, oh well.

 

[Prez]

Well after all of this, I figured it out. It turns out the new fans on my radiator were made to blow air into the radiator instead of pull from it . So I switched the wires around and it worked like magic. No more overheating, and when it does start to get a little warm, the fans come on and cool it right off. Thank you all for yor support.

Somebody asked you this in the thread towards the beginning and you said they were right.

Now it's not right????? Maybe you should really check next time and save yourself alot of hassel.

 

[ColdAudio]

Be careful when swapping the wires around to blow the other way, unless the fans were specifically designed for this, you are likely to blow the radiator fan fuse, I've done that plenty of times before I figured out why and just moved the fan to the other side of the radiator. That also makes the engine bay nice and clean

EvilAWD, if you are still following up on this, I came across the same problem. I have a 91 Talon TSI AWD and the radiator fan fuse from the factory is a 30A one with 2 metal prongs coming out of the bottom that bolt in to a power source. It doesn't actually plug into anything. You can find replacements that fit that at the local auto shop. For the normal plug-in type box fuses I had to go to the dealership to get one that fit, the universal ones weren't wide enough. Some other fuses that are the plug-in type without the prongs are the MPI and IGN fuses if they need something to look them up by.

 

[Kprime911]

is it possible that my radiator could be clogged up somehow? because my upper radiator hose is cold and so is my lower radiator hose except for the one end that attaches to the engine.

 

[Defiant]

Sounds a lot like a thermostat failure. Replace the radiator cap at the same time.

 

[2gJoshgsx]

Usually when you drawn the antifreeze or even when a line blows, you will have air pockets now in your coolant system. When you put antifreeze back in your car it might overheat alittle until those air pockets go away. Check your radiator again and over flow jug it might be alittle lower now.

 

[huafist]

Like Defiant said, replace the thermostat and the radiator cap. Before you put the cap on, reach down, grab the lower radiator hose, and squeeze it a few times to help "burp" the system. I typically start the vehicle with the cap off and let it reach operating temp before I shut it down, put the cap on it, and call it done.
If you're still overheating at this point, something sinister is in the works.

 

[Kprime911]

alright ill let you guys know if that fixed the problem. thanks i appreciate your help.

 

[Kprime911]

do you guys think its ok if i j-b weld my thermostat housing back together? because a piece of the thermostat housing broke when i was tightening the bolts. all the junkyards nearby are closed and i got to work tomorrow also so i cant get to a junkyard. stupid chilton manual said to tighten it with 12-14 lbs of torque and it broke when i only put it at 8.

 

[huafist]

do you guys think its ok if i j-b weld my thermostat housing back together? because a piece of the thermostat housing broke when i was tightening the bolts. all the junkyards nearby are closed and i got to work tomorrow also so i cant get to a junkyard. stupid chilton manual said to tighten it with 12-14 lbs of torque and it broke when i only put it at 8.

You can try, but it's gonna be damn hard to make it not leak. Good luck.

 

[aadperformance]

When changing the coolant or adding more you should try parking your car on a slight incline and turn the heater on full blast then turn your car on and let it run to make sure you don't get air bubbles, keeping the cap off at the same time to add more water if necessary is also a feesable option that works. also did you check the operation of your thermostat in a pot of boiling water when you had it out?

 

[Defiant]

Usually when you drawn the antifreeze or even when a line blows, you will have air pockets now in your coolant system. When you put antifreeze back in your car it might overheat alittle until those air pockets go away. Check your radiator again and over flow jug it might be alittle lower now.

DSMs don't seem to have air-retention issues. The burping with the lower hose should take care of it.

 

[Defiant]

do you guys think its ok if i j-b weld my thermostat housing back together?

It won't likely hold.

 

[Defiant]

When changing the coolant or adding more you should try parking your car on a slight incline and turn the heater on full blast then turn your car on and let it run to make sure you don't get air bubbles,

Not much point on a DSM. Unlike many foreign cars, the domestic DSM has no heater valve- the heater core is full-time full-flow, the temperature controlled by air doors.

 

[chrisfrye]

This problem is very weird, and i've exhausted all of my options, and a couple mechanic friends of mine. It started a week ago on a 5 mile ride home from the store when my tempurature gauge started climbing above normal(which has never gone above the middle line on a stock gauge), I got home before it redlined but it was definitely boiling out of my overflow. Also noticed my fans stopped working. I took off my a/c belt as i never use it and would use my a/c button to run both of my fans. I had no known problems before then besides a leak in an oil feed and return line on my turbo.

Well i started guess and check basicaly. Replaced the thermostat, radiator fan thermo switch, thermo sending unit, radiator cap off the back. Took my turbo off replaced all of my crush washers and gaskets on it. No leaks from it anywhere, with the exception of an exhaust manifold bolt which is missing because i have to tap new threads in it. I took my radiator out so i could flush it backwards and straight up. Put the radiator back in and filled it with some coolant i found at napa claiming it will cool 28 degrees cooler, blah blah blah it's not anti-freeze though supposidly. then I flushed my system. filled it back up and ran it for a while and noticed that a small leak appeared from underneath the fins on my radiator where it meets the bottom plastic pipe. even though i was reluctent,a friend of mine threw some ground black pepper in my radiator and ran it for about 15 minutes and sure enough it stopped the leak. I also noticed that there was a small leak from a coolant line running from underneath the thermo housing where the clamp was broken(could not screw it in?) I put a couple heavy duty zipties and some rtv to hold it in and it doesnt leak and theres no pressure loss through it that i can tell.(was a temporary fix as the pipe would be extremely hard to get to to replace without tearing the turbo off again). Also my overflow cap had a crack in it,where the line from the themrostat housing runs. I put some rtv over the crack and put the pipe back on with a good clamp and it doesnt leak or loose pressure.

That was the start. Since then my car runs below the half way mark for about 10 miles, then all the sudden it will gradualy start to overheat over about 5 minutes til redline. IT's weird that it's almost clockwork when it overheats now(about 10-15miles). I have both my fans running full time also. When it overheats i notice that i am very low on coolant, even counting in that it is boiling out the overflow. It seems like i might be building up weird pressure in my system. Before it overheats, or sometimes before it even gets to the middle mark on the gauge, it starts boiling and going into the overflow! I also notice now that when i fill up my coolant it bubbles a lot inside the thermostat housing.

One of my theories is that somehow its boiling into the overflow without overheating and i'm loosing enough coolant eventually causing it to overheat. Other observations are that there isn't no oil in my water, no water in my oil, and can't smell anti-freeze out of my exhaust nor see it. My waterpump pulleys are not loose, there is no weird noise comming from it, and it is not leaking from the back of it..

I don't know what the hell to do. I know this was long but i tried to include all relevant information i could. I'm really not sure what to do at this point. I'm real hesitant to take it to a shop because i don't like being screwed over by the yuppies out here. I have all the parts to do my waterpump change but I haven't done my timing before so i'm not looking forward to a full days job, to change a waterpump which i dont believe is the problem. And i dont think its the headgasket. But i'm here for your guy's great advice and experience, as i'm at the end of idea's. Thanks for the help!

 

[Geno]

im having the same problems but not as bad as you. i can go about 20-30miles. it started when california started to heat up. so i dont know what to do.... i had a leak down done. compression is good but a trust worthy tech said "chad you have some exaust going into your coolant.

geno: damnit.

 

[chrisfrye]

yeah that's no good. Check your oil and water to see if their mixing, and check your exhaust for smell and smoke. Those are how i know to check for a blown headgasket. I'm not sure if thats going on with me. I also noticed that once mine starts overheating my transmission plays a part in it, going into overdrive with boost causes it to overheat faster, but if i take it down a gear it drops a quarter on my tempture gauge almost instantaniously then will climb back up gradually. I don't know..

 

[Nanan]

Well now that you have covered the obvious you need to look at the not so obvious things such as a bad water pump or a blown headgasket. You said the cooling system is building pressure so the water pump is likely still ok. This leaves the headgasket which will cause the overheat symptom and loss of coolant. In our cars its not a far strech to have HG blow and not cause other symptoms such as coolant in the oil, there are a few cooling lines that are close to the cyl in our head/deck.