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!

 

[power=dsm]

you might want to preform a leak down test before you pull the head. this will let you know where you are loosing compression from ie head, rings, ect

 

[1993eclipseGS]

The problem is the overheating, coolant bubbling, cold air etc etc.. The car runs STRONG, this is the probem I am trying to figure out.

 

[power=dsm]

K your car is over heating right! There are only a few possibilities for this. You already replaced your rad cap, thermostat and you precede with an engine flush. So you can eliminate those factors.
You said your coolant is flowing out the reservoir and is bowling over...... WTF makes you wonder??? Check your water pump, how old is it how may miles? Put usually the water pumps will leak when they start to go bad.

So now with all other factors eliminated your gonna have to start to wonder, head gasket. You said if you turn the car on and remove the rad car, coolant will shoot out of it right? that is because their is pressure from the combustion chamber getting into the closed system.

Now bring you car to auto zone have them pressure test your cooling system and you'll see your problem. After you've done this get back to us k!
( by the way make sure your rad is in good condition and not clogged with crap!)

 

[Old Mitsu Tech]

If your heater is running cold and the engine is running hot then I would suspicion a circulation problem. I would let the engine cool, top it off and let it warm up. If you get low on coolant usually the first thing you lose is the heater as it's the farthest thing from the engine. I have had and can show the picture of a water pump with the vanes worn completely off of it. Unless one of my guys threw it away. It came off a Ford but the theory is still the same. No heater and getting hot. Now, I would also look at the radiator just to be sure. You may have to take it to a reputable radiator repair shop to have it certified as "not the problem" If this pans out then you can look at the flow problem by removing the heater hoses on a cold engine and observing if you are getting flow. If it's flowing ok then maybe just maybe the water pump is not the problem. The problem may be a compression leak into cooling passages which will air lock the coolant, heat the engine and also consume the coolant through the combustion chamber and send it out the tail pipe. You can also buy a hydrocarbon checker at a tool dealer and check for hydrocarbons in your coolant. It's a blue liquid that turns yellow in the presence of hydrocarbons. Very useful to determine if head gasket or head problems exist. Get one as they are not all that expensive. They are cheaply made and go bad after a while but I use them when I'm going nuts like you are. Let me know BTW, if coolant is getting into the combustion chamber you can look at your pistons with a bore scope. Very clean new looking pistons are coolant leaks. Black pistons are normal.

 

[Amazin' Wasian]

Ok here's what happened I was racing on the highway last night and I looked at my temp gauge and it was almost all the way to the right....so I pulled over and as I pulled over my engine was missfiring really bad, so i pulled the plugs and and the plug in cylinder # 4 was burt really bad it actually burnt the whole electrode off and half of the other part on the tip... Anyways I got my car back home and I replaced all my spark plugs and it still sputters really bad at start up but when I drive for about 5 minutes or so it seems to not sputter at all. Does any one have a clue how I could fix this?

(The reason my engine over heated is because my intercooler was heatsoaked, still have my sidemount)
Well thanks in advance,
Nick

 

[DSM90AWD]

the plug in cylinder # 4 was burt really bad it actually burnt the whole electrode off and half of the other part on the tip...

I'd first do a basic compression test to make sure you didn't fry a valve/hole a piston/blow the HG as sounds like you were knocking pretty good by the description of the plug.

Hopefully the plug pieces exited the combustion chamber (i.e. not still in there creating "hotspots") without harming the turbine blades

 

[Amazin' Wasian]

I'd first do a basic compression test to make sure you didn't fry a valve/hole a piston/blow the HG as sounds like you were knocking pretty good by the description of the plug.

Hopefully the plug pieces exited the combustion chamber (i.e. not still in there creating "hotspots") without harming the turbine blades

Thanks for the reply....... I drove my car to work today and it seems to drive like normal but when I'm at idle it lopes and sounds kinda like I have cams, but the idle stays solid at 1000 rpms and doesn't move at all. Also there's no smoke comming out of my exhaust at all. Ill do a compression test on my next day off and let every one know how it went.

 

[Catbox_95]

From the plug, sounds like you were knocking, and highway speeds under load are hell on an engine. Same thing happened to me, except for the overheating part, and it turned out I had burned a hole in a valve due to a dirty old injector causing a cylinder to run lean. A compression check will find this.

 

[blcknspo0ln]

I've never heard of an engine overheating due to heatsoak

eitherway, if you were overheating, just do the usual. Drain and flush the coolant system a couple of times with a garden hose, new 170* T-stat, new coolant (I like 80/30) + some water wetter.

Most people don't realize how essential a good flush is once in a while

 

[TurboKID69]

I dont kno much about the coolant system but heres what im noticing. My car overheats after warming up to normal temp the when driving the gauge shoots to the top. I loose coolant imediatly. I believe my thermostats out, i dont know where its located and where to get one. My heat doesnt blow warm its cold. Unless i rev the car up at high rpms. I dont kno whats going on and need help. could this be a radiator hose or thermostat or what .. Get back to me thanks..

 

[blackGSX2g]

Some solutions starting from easiest/cheapest to more expensive/complicated:

1. Replace thermostat, radiator cap, and flush cooling system. When you are filling the system back up, make sure you get all the air bubbles out. Then start it up and watch to see that the coolant is flowing. If its not, then it could be your water pump.

2. Run a compression test on all 4 cylinders to see if your loosing compression past your headgasket

3. Pick up an adaptor from Sears that will allow you to pressurize your cooling system so you can listen for any pinhole leaks.

4. Chances are if you can't fix it with any of those solutions, your problem is most likely your headgasket. I had the same thing happen to me, and I saw the gasket was blown out between #3 cylinder and the nearby water jacket.


EDIT: Are you losing coolant out of your overflow?

 

[bane3d]

As for where is it? http://members.shaw.ca/dsm.1000q/Engineprimer/2G/tstat.htm In fact, read the whole site. It's helped me out tremendously to the point of people pointing at somethign on their car and I have an idea of what it is now and what it does.

 

[1993eclipseGS]

Just found out the headgasket was blown apart pretty bad and coolant was shooting everywhere... It should be up and running really soon now

 

[Amazin' Wasian]

Just wondering if overheating can cause my o2 sensor to go out? Every one is telling me that I'm running really rich when they drive behind me.

 

[killakev805]

There is the possibility that your egt's were really high and you burned up the o2 sensor, pull it out and check it. But I would still do a compression check, with that much detonation happening you could have burned a valve.

 

[rowlex]

I've never heard of an engine overheating due to heatsoak

You can just check the o2 sensor with your logger. Log front O2.

..or did you turn the boost up without the proper tuning tools

 

[napkinthief]

i have the same problem, except car overheats if its sitting for 10-15 minutes at idle, the coolant will boil and all come out the overflow. Ive resorted to using straight water until I can get it fixed. I have a new radiator in there so its not that. Temp will go down and go down fast if I rev to 4-5000 , then slowly go back to high temp. I think its something with bleeding the radiator, but Ive done it and had a mech. do it and its still happening.

 

[spyder97gs]

The way you are describing the loping and cam sound, it sounds like you've blown a HG. I know this from prior experience in a Buick Century

 

[Ervin_S]

I had the same problem on my previous car when I replaced the headgasket. Turns out that I forgot to reconnect a pipe and it was leaking coolant. Check if you've reconnected all pipes correctly.

 

[wolf20043]

Good tech article, and as he says"if none of these fix it then it cant be fixed"
http://dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=200575
Mike

 

[1993eclipseGS]

My coolant was evaporating and bubbling out the overflow, I lost heat, And the car kept over heating. Turned out mine was the headgasket. I have a post on it actually, If you search for ''boiling coolant'' or other keywords.

 

[TurboKID69]

Thanks for the advice. I believe its the headgasket because thats what most people are saying.

 

[Deanob]

Sounds like your getting a lot of pressure into the coolant system causing it to be pushe dout. Might be the headgasket!

 

[drzenitram]

Get the topic pun? Good.

1999 Eclipse GS

Okay, anyways, here's my problem. My car overheats, seemingly about every two weeks. At first my radiator cap was leaking fluid, replaced it and added fluid and it was fine. Then it overheated again two weeks later and had low fluid, so I replaced the (bad)thermostat and added more fluid. Today it was low on fluid and overheating again. I added more fluid, it didn't help. I just put fluid into the overflow and now it seems to be running fine.

However, I'm irritated. I don't SEE any leaking, and I want to know where the fluid can be going and why filling up the overflow would keep my car from overheating.

Help :x

 

[wolf20043]

Get the topic pun? Good.

1999 Eclipse GS

Okay, anyways, here's my problem. My car overheats, seemingly about every two weeks. At first my radiator cap was leaking fluid, replaced it and added fluid and it was fine. Then it overheated again two weeks later and had low fluid, so I replaced the (bad)thermostat and added more fluid. Today it was low on fluid and overheating again. I added more fluid, it didn't help. I just put fluid into the overflow and now it seems to be running fine.

However, I'm irritated. I don't SEE any leaking, and I want to know where the fluid can be going and why filling up the overflow would keep my car from overheating.

Help :x

http://dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=200575
Try all of that and see if it helps.
Mike