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!

 

[CCR17Darcy]

I think this is a good opportunity to tell your wife that you need a whole lot of bolt-ons. I mean, if you're overheating, make the argument that you need a bigger exhaust, or better upper and lower IC piping. You know.... come to think of it.... you can tell her just about anything. But to solve the actual problem? I'd do what the other guys said. Check the thermostat and what not. If the fans work with the A/C on, then I'd assume (i know...) that the fans are being told when to turn on for heat. But again, get more toys out of it too.


Just remembered, I have a 97 Lumina, and had a broken water pump. I would lose all the water out of my radiator in no time. Try this. Fill up the radiator with water, to the absolute top, and turn the car on. If a lot of water starts falling out, then it's the water pump. At least on the Lumina that seemed to work. Changed out the part, and no more problems.

 

[Burnett03]

glad i'm not married... i can buy whatever i want without justifying it to someone

 

[fastalon82]

If you are extremely low on coolant your fans will not turn on. The coolant level has to be higher than the sensor. As far as figuring out what it is, first, replace your thermostat and clean out your radiator and make sure the fans come on. If that doesnt help, make sure you dont have chocolate colored oil (headgasket). Either way, the needle should never be past half way. I live in st.louis and we 100 degree heat often and the needle never goes past halfway. It sounds to me like youve been unaware of an ongoing problem.

 

[fastalon82]

If you are extremely low on coolant your fans will not turn on. The coolant level has to be higher than the sensor. As far as figuring out what it is, first, replace your thermostat and clean out your radiator and make sure the fans come on. If that doesnt help, make sure you dont have chocolate colored oil (headgasket). Either way, the needle should never be past half way. I live in st.louis and we 100 degree heat often and the needle never goes past halfway. It sounds to me like youve been unaware of an ongoing problem.

 

[fastalon82]

If you are extremely low on coolant your fans will not turn on. The coolant level has to be higher than the sensor. As far as figuring out what it is, first, replace your thermostat and clean out your radiator and make sure the fans come on. If that doesnt help, make sure you dont have chocolate colored oil (headgasket). Either way, the needle should never be past half way. I live in st.louis and we 100 degree heat often and the needle never goes past halfway. It sounds to me like youve been unaware of an ongoing problem.

 

[BGizzlePatrick]

hehe i already have the 6bolt at home and am waiting to get the stroker kit in the mail the next couple of days so I might just keep refilling the water and let it do whatever it wants. Hey at least that day it overheated so badly that even the clutchline got so hot the pedal started sticking to the floor..... but one good thing, the oil musta gotten so hot that it cleaned up my lifters pretty darn nice cause i havent had any lifter noise since that

 

[250rmike]

i don't think anyone has said it yet I'm kinda tired but if no one has I'm kinda supprised. have you checked your thermostat yet? if its not working then it wont open up to flow the system.
also did you make sure to bleed you system when you refilled it. go get the funnel looking to from a auto parts store. it goes where the radiator cap goes you run the car with antifreeze in it. this will let all the air bubble comes to the top of the radiator. if you just run the car its a pressurized system so the air just gets caught.

 

[Goodguy162000]

Glad to hear it... question for anybody else that might be able to help... is it really possible to go through that much coolant in a short period of time. For example, I'm in Utah, which isn't quite as hot as AZ but I go through coolant rather quickly. Like, I can go through about 5 cups worth in a week. Is this normal?

 

[talondude4]

Did you check for leaks? Check the spark plugs for any signs of leaking into the cylinders? What color is the smoke of you exhaust,if it does smoke?

look for anti-freeze thats been dried up, it kinda looks like moss on a old tree. Drive the car and then check for leaks immediately after. Reason for this is my pick up truck leaks at the water pump now and then, but it doesn't leak bad.(thats on my to-do list hmm along with everything else).

 

[6 bolt TSi]

1. I would make sure that you don't have any coolant in your oil as well. Pop the oil cap off and inspect for 'cloudiness'.

2. I would suggest that you perform a compression test if it has overheated multiple times. You may have warped your head if it was operating with that little, or no coolant in it.

I hope this helps! Cheers.

 

[ddavisaf]

Replacing the radiator cap and thermostat are first on the list when overheating. If you're going through coolant then you're either burning it somewhere (bad) or losing it somewhere (bad). Run the compression test like stated above. If compression tests good then search your radiator hoses for leaks. Even tiny little pin holes will cause problems.

 

[chrisfrye]

Well i haven't gotten around to doing a compression test as i couldn't identify the lead wire on the ignition power transistor, as the great haynes manual fails to mention where it's located. Ill look it up and do it when i get home. I did a test before it started to overheat and it was 165 all across, and the engine is freshly rebuilt with I'm assuming a new headgasket. But i'm sure none of that matters.
However, i did buy a new fluidyne direct fit radiator and threw that in with some good coolant claiming to raise the boiling point up to 40degrees. I made several trips, made a 30 miles trip without stopping. Once i did i noticed that water was boiling back into my overflow bottle, but barely comming out of the overflow draintube(lost maybe a quarter to half a gallon, but it really didn't look like it was comming out of the overflow that hard). It's yet to overheat, but if i ride it long enough with loosing coolant it will again i'm sure.
I did already replaced the radiator cap at the start of my problems with a 16psi cap the guy recommeded at advanced auto. also replaced the thermostat, the thermostat does open as the upper pipe gets real hot. Still when i fill up the coolant in the radiator cap i see a lot of air bubbling out of it, everytime.
I'm not sure what you refer to as bleeding the coolant system.. I burbped both my radiator pipes. I'm not sure what else to do. I'll do that compression test tonight and hope for the best.
Thanks guys, if you have anymore thoughts please let me know.


With Peace,
Christian Frye

 

[chrisfrye]

one more note i just thought of, which is a recent devlopment over the weekend. The radiator cap i have has a pressure release tab on the top(yeah i know the salesman got my 5 bucks). First off the plastic around the tab broke off easily enough(cheap) but it still functions. When i pull it up to release the pressure, water spurts out from underneath the cap at the thermo housing. It used to just flow all the pressure back to the overflow but now sometimes it'll blow water out from it.. The rubber on the cap looks good, clean. The springs even. I dont know if thats usual or if maybe i have a screwed up cap. It's only a month old, and has less than 200 miles on it i'm sure.

 

[johnk]

For compression testing your not worried about spark it's fuel. To stop the fuel just disconnect the MPI fuse on the + battery terminal. It's the blue relay. If you can't figure it out just unplug the fuel injectors.

 

[femmeDSM]

Generally speaking, the radiator caps that you buy at Autozone (with the plastic tabs) are not that great. I would recommend an OEM cap....any Mitsu dealership will have one (where I got mine), or I'm sure you could order one from your local parts store.

Are you hearing any belt noise? Could signify the water pump (which is about the only thing you haven't replaced so far, haha). I would be surprised if it's a headgasket, honestly....
With this much coolant loss, your HG would have to be seriously f--ed to eat all of that coolant.

I feel your pain, man. My old GS-T (RIP) had a crazy cooling system problem, and would overheat like clockwork after about 8 miles or so. Somehow, the car managed to crack three (yes, three) thermostats in half before I finally found a good one (no idea why -- just suddenly fixed itself one day )

Still....
Do the compression test, and see what you get. If you're getting any belt noise, check the water pump. If you didn't change it last time you change your belts, it's about time to replace it anyway

Good luck. I've torn apart my whole cooling system before....It's not fun.

 

[94Jettameowpsst]

Replace the radiator cap.

Dont mean to bring back an old thread, but if you're running w/ no thermostat (temporary to find the problem) will the rad cap still play a role?
Secondly, at idle when you fill your coolant to the appropriate level, and it doesnt foam out or bubble out, does that rule out the headgasket?
Lastly, when i start my car it squeals real bad for about 30 seconds to a minute. Could the water pump be on its way out and if so would it evaporate the coolant as it passes through it from a hot worn out bearing?

 

[yokotabrat]

Yes the radiator cap will still make a difference. The thermostat only controls when (what temperature) coolant is circulated to the radiator. The radiator cap raises the boiling point of the coolant because it allows a set amount of pressure to build in the system.

The squealing could be a belt that's loose or slipping. I'd verify that first. If you want to isolate the water pump being bad, pull the belt and test at idle. Also try rotating the water pump pulley when the belt is off and see if it doesn't rotate freely.

Hope this helps.

 

[armandovivoni]

same problem i have.

water reserve is always full.
water disapears
compresion on cylinders is perfect
did a pressure test to the cooling system and checked ok
cap is new
got no termostat
fans are working fine

only thing that wasn't right. with out the rad. cap I accelerated the car and water will spill with pressure.

going with that even thought the compression on every cylinder is good. I took the head off only to find out head gasket is good.

surface of the head and block are good. combustion chamber were the 4 valves seat is perfect. no cracks.

only thing that comes to mind is water passages inside the head might be cracked.

 

[ddavisaf]

Well, first thing's first. Put the thermostat back in.
Then you might want to check your water pump.
A cracked head is also a definite possibility.

 

[talontsi01]

I had the same exact problem. I overheated once, then replaced the head with a new hg and a new tb job. After that, it still overheated...EVENTUALLY. I noticed there was dripping (coolant) on the drivers side of the engine. I would check that out and see if there is anything. It ultimately ended up being my waterpump. I think it was pumping coolant still, but not up to par. After replacing the water pump, problem solved.

 

[94Jettameowpsst]

Well, i've ruled out the rad cap. Im still losing coolant some how and its not burning/leaking. Im suspecting that its the water pump but idk yet, havent done a compression test to rule out the hg. I did notice on one occasion that there were little black amoeba like shapes in my thermostat housing when i was putting coolant in it. Im confused as to why the hg would be bad since the head and block were both decked and there's roughly only 2k miles on the hg.

 

[94Jettameowpsst]

Well i did a comp test and my results thus far: goes in order from 4,3,2,1: 164, 164, 148, 159 So im assuming its the head gasket. I noticed when my buddy revved it up today there was just a hint of white smoke out the exaust. But heres the other thing. On the thermostat housing, whats the plug that actually screws in and has 2 wires out of it, its to the left of the rad cap if you're looking at it. Cause thos 2 wires arent hooked up (broke the clip). Secondly, i checked the head studs again considering its a new motor and i actually had to turn quite a few of em, gonna say about half. I retorque'd them all to 72 ftlbs and for some odd reason, yet im not complaining, im not losing any coolant at all and the car has yet to overheat WTF

 

[dashtz69]

I was driving home today from school and when I got off the interstate, I was stopped at a red light. I went to turn right, but when I did something just didn't feel right. It felt like I let the clutch out too quickly, but that wasn't what happened. I was driving over a bridge and a weird rattling noise was coming echoing off the walls. I stopped at the next red light and saw some white smoke, I looked down at the temp. gauge and it was all the way to the top. I pulled over and popped the hood. There was oil on the left side of the engine bay, on top of the transmission, and the coolant was boiling in the overflow tank. I called my Dad and he brought up some oil and coolant, and we refilled everything. It took a little more than two quarts of oil, so I lost quite a bit but I didn't run it dry. He said to start it, and when I did it was clicking kinda badly, I was thinking "Not good." But as it idled for a few seconds the tick slowly subsided. My Dad wanted me to drive it home (less than a mile). I was reluctant but he insisted, so I kept a close eye on the temp. gauge. It went pretty high, but not as high as it was earlier. I parked and it has been sitting outside for about an hour now. It didn't lose any more oil on the way home, and it seemed to run fine except for the heat. The coolant is going to need refilled again. There didn't appear to be any coolant in the oil or vice versa, and I haven't checked the spark plugs yet, but is there anything else I should check. I don't need it for a day or two, so hopefully I can get this worked out. Could it just be the thermostat? I wouldn't be so worried if it wasn't for the oil. Please help!! Thanks

 

[ddavisaf]

Where was the oil leaking out from? Valve cover, head where?
Coolant: Change your thermostat, change your radiator cap, make sure your hoses aren't leaking from anywhere, and make sure your fan is coming on during idle.

Before you get to far into anything run a compression test. First thing you need to do. Run A Compression Test.

 

[dashtz69]

I could not tell where the oil was leaking from. Only appeared to be on the left side of the engine bay though, but I can't tell for sure.

THe fan did come on during idle, and we are going to change the thermostat tonight. Then I will try to run the compression test, but that won't be done until tomorrow. Thanks for the help, and any more suggestions are welcome.