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!

 

[rkn527]

i changed the cap with a greddy cap that is like 1.3 bar and i filled the system up and i let the air bubbles out and i took it out for a drive and the needle was in the middle then it raised a bit then the fan came on an it went back down. i took it out on the freeway and when i got home i noticed that it was kinda up then i out coolant in the overflow Tank and it sat in the normal position. i will take it out tomorrow and i will update you guys and thanks again fro all the help

 

[I-luv-em-all]

Were any of you guys blowing any white smoke or anything.

 

[drivemusicnow]

Were any of you guys blowing any white smoke or anything.

preform a leak down test. This will tell you if your headgasket is done.

 

[blackGSX2g]

Were any of you guys blowing any white smoke or anything.

Nope, no smoke of any kind, no mixing of fluids, and perfect compression. Only symptom of a head gasket failure was my overheating/pushing coolant problem.

Do a leakdown test or a hydrocarbon test.

 

[RacethisTSI]

^^^^^ my problems were the same as what hes saying....no mixes, good compresion, and just presurizzed collant system and over heating......good luck with it though

 

[I-luv-em-all]

Ya, im am pretty sure that's what it is. Just recently I was driving home and the temp was fine, then I gave it a bit of boost and noticed the temp starting to rise again. When I got home my hood was smoking, and I had coolant everywhere and I couldn't see that it was coming from anywhere obvious. So I started it up a few hours later and I was just reving like total crap, and very high. So I guess I have to take it to a shop, because it is -35 degrees celcius, and I don't have a garage.

 

[BoostinAWD]

Alright, here's yet another problem with my 91 fwd. Just got the alternator and shit fixed. Right after that, it started overheating. Seems like the water pump isnt working, even at temp when I open the coolent fill cap, nothing but hot air comes out. I just replaced the water pump, probably has 100 miles on it. Anyone got any other ideas that could be wrong with the car? It's really making me wonder about dsm's. This car has been nothing but a hassle, one thing after another, and yeah. My heater pumps out cold air.

 

[gr8popp]

Have you checked your radiator? My radiator had a pin size hole in it. It would use all the coolant and over heat. The other thing to check are your hoses.

 

[Old Mitsu Tech]

Well, you are working with a 15 year old car. Everything that is original has 15 years on it. Plus the fact that over its lifetime maintainance may have been an issue.

Now. Several things can cause this. First when the engine is cool, top off the coolant with a 50-50 mix. Top off the reservoir. Start and run the engine. When the coolant gets low, the first thing you will lose is your heater as it's the furthest thing from the engine. You can also have a head gasket or head that is getting compression into the coolant passages. This will pressurize the cooling system and stop the flow from getting where it needs to get. This will cause overheat. I would do a hydrocarbon test on the cooling system. The kits are available from Snap On or Mac. They will have instructions on how to test for hydrocarbons in the cooling system. Water pump could be the issue, but without seeing it, that would be a chancy call on my part. I would get some clear hose and put it in place of one of the heater hoses for test purposes. This way you can check for flow.

Do these tests and let's see the results.

Good Luck

 

[98eclipseRS]

Sounds like you have a blown head gasket. Here's a good way to test, with the car cold and off take of the radiator cap. Place your hand over the hole fairly firmly and have a friend start the car. If you feel air being pushed against your hand it usually means you have a blown headgasket. Have you check the oil fill cap for a milking "icecream" looking substance?

 

[omarzgsx]

A milky creamy substance under the oil fill cap does not mean a head gasket, it could just mean alot of condinsation. Pop the oil fill cap on a durango or any 4.7 dodge. you'll know what i am talking about. moisture can accumulate when a cold car is started and immidelty driven.

as far as the overheating problem, i know this is a fairly noive check, but see if your fan is working. if not it can cause the coolant to boil over out of the resevior. it happend to me when my thermo switch went bad. good luck keep us posted if you find out

 

[omarzgsx]

just a follow up on your overheating question, try flushing your cooling system it may have a block somewhere restricitng the flow of coolant through your motor. it happend to a buddies car, we ended up having to blow air through his heater core to dislogde a huge amount of crud. and that helped him. just another thought

 

[BoostinAWD]

Took the thermostat off, seems to be working fine now.

 

[Spyderman7]

If your belt is tight and your fans work,my bet is on the head gasket.Do a compression test and see if you have exhaust fumes in your coolant or water in your oil.

 

[JayZDMX21]

Make sure your radiator is good, might have a blown headgasket, is your fan coming on? Check all of those.

 

[omarzgsx]

I really wouldn't dive straight into a headgasket yet, if you look at his symptoms it looks as if he is not getting proper flow from his cooling system, hence no heat. My first check would be to see if your hose is getting pressurized. it should get hard after the car warms up. my guess would be a defective water pump, if the fins are plastic you may have broken a few causing poor to no circulation. or maybe your system needs to be bled, you may have a ton of air in the system causing the problem. is your car using coolant? is it smoking alot? any weird idle problems? those would constitute to a possible head gasket failure.

Try bypassing your heatercore lines and see if that will keep you from overheating. But i am leaning towards water pump.

good luck and keep us posted

 

[Defiant]

Took the thermostat off, seems to be working fine now.

Replace it with a new one, and make sure the actuator is on the correct side.

 

[BoostinAWD]

Ok guys, the car is still overheating. It might be plugged up, it gets plenty of pressure, the water pump is working great. I got my fans manually wired up to stay on all the time, I don't think my head gasket is blown, my car runs like a charm. It still screams, like something is unleashed in the motor. It was at about half the temp where its supposed to be, when I hammered it through first and second it was almost to the over heat spot. Had to shut off the car and let it sit for a little while. It might be clogged up though. Anything I can flush through the water system? My mom used to own the car and she used to run just water in it, no coolent. Maybe something got built up? help?

 

[Defiant]

My mom used to own the car and she used to run just water in it, no coolent. Maybe something got built up?

Yeah, that could do it. Prestone makes a flush kit. They used to make a flushing chemical that required neutralization afterward, but I don't know if it's still on the market.
That radiator may be past repairing.

 

[BoostinAWD]

Anything else I can use, something someone had tryed and it actually worked? Kind of out of a job without this pile of shit talon that overheats, the motor is all brand new too. Anyone wanna buy it?

 

[greytalon26]

Did you replace the thermostat? Making sure the actuator is on the right side like Defiant said?

:edit: If it's the car in your sig, then is it possible that that massive fmic is blocking enough space on the radiator to make the radiator not cool as well?

 

[BoostinAWD]

No, its just a 91 tsi fwd. Only mod is full 3 inch exhaust, Which way should the thermo actually face? My car still overheats with the thermo out.

 

[gr8popp]

When you fill the system full of fluid does it leak out anywhere? There is a tool you can use to pressurize your cooling system. It is a hand pump and pressure guage this will let you see if you have a leak in the system. If you have no leaks I would pull the radiator off since it only takes a few minutes and clean it out really good. Did you do any motor work? The other question is are you sure you installed the water pump properly. (Don't take that the wrong way)

 

[timstsi]

I had a similar problem with my 90 Talon. Turned out to be bad head gasket. With Car cold take of radiator cap and start the car. If you see the water/coolant start to boil you have a bad head gasket. The only other problem could be a bad radiator, you can flush it out a 100 times but the best option is to buy a new one. Send me an email and we could meet up and Ill be happy to take a look at it for you. I'm located in Glendale, AZ just send me an e-mail to: [email protected].

Good Luck ....

 

[BoostinAWD]

Still havent dont know what the #### is up, I just replaced everything. The headgasket is brand new, the radiator is brand new. The waterpump is working great, If my headgasket is blown im going to be pissed. That is just more work on my part. And I didn't even beat on it. Straight pile of shit, .