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!

 

[riceviper]

before u rip the head off do a compression test that will tell you if its your head gasket and make sure you are not losing pressure from your radiator hoses.

 

[dedlewamp]

So, before you replaced your radiator, your car was had no issues?

Did you ever overheat the car, or run it excessively hot before you replaced the radiator?

Finally, do you have a front mount, or anything else that would be obstructing the flow of air to the radiator?

Start by replacing the easy stuff first, like the thermostat and radiator cap, and the fluid perhaps. Let us know about your setup, then I'll be able to offer you some more advice! You can also look into rewiring your fans, so you can control them via a switch.

 

[toybreaker]

Hey, I missed whether you bought a new or used radiator. Please inform.

In any event, it's quite likely the thermostat got toasted when the radiator hose blew off the other day. What you are describing is not a traditional failure of the t-stat, but it's possible that the t-stat was ruinated by that mis-adventure.

Please approach this problem one step at a time. Heroic measures may be required in the end, but let's start easy and cheap, and work our way towards hard and expensive!!!

We'll get you back up and running here shortly,...let's just be a more carefull about the diagnosis before we tear anything major apart...

 

[StarCraftLover]

Similiar question...

My friend car is overheating also, and were not sure as to what the problem is.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mitsu RacerX]

Ok peeps I'm fixing to go out to torque the head down. And no my car was fine before all of this. I replaced the water pump and my dad drove it to Kansas and it ran fine. I replaced the radiator cap and all of the problems started. My crank pulley started throwing belts so I had to replace my pulley. After replacing the pulley the car started it downward spiral. Yes it got hot almost red lined it. So I might have warped the head. I'm also going to check to see if I have coolant in my cylinders. If i do it will mean I warped the head. I do not hac FMIC yet, I wanna do all my motor work first, if I do have to take the head off I'm going to replace the header and turbo all at once. I'll just have to drive my Saturn until it can hit the streets again. Oh yeah the person I bought the car from took the Tstat out so I'm running without it. He said its was getting hot at idle(red lights) he also had the fans wired to a switch to turn the on and off. So who knows how this is going to work out. adn before you yell at me I know its bad to run without a Tstat. I should have replaced it I just forgot. I'll fill ya peeps in later on whats happening....BE BACK LATER with info.

(Sway)

 

[Mitsu RacerX]

No water on any of the cyclinders.

 

[toybreaker]

Hey,
Suprisingly enough running without a t-stat can cause some wierd stuff. I've seen a couple cars come into shops with overheating issues. When we go to replace the t-stat there's nobody home..

There's a lot of reasons people take the t-stat out. One of them is a clogged radiator. Was there any stop leak looking brown slop in the radiator when you drained the old one? What did the old coolant look like? It's actually quite possible that simply flushing out the system and installing a new factory thermostat and purging all the air from the system will get things happy again.

Did you buy a new or used radiator? Please inform.

 

[94whitetalizle]

Hi, i am new to these forums and i would like to say hi to everyone. i have a 94 white talon non turbo 5 speed, well my question is this i just got the car from a friend that drove the car while the car while it was over heating now i just got the car and im going to fix it. i was wondering if i would need to change the head or just change the head gasket? the engine turns but doesnt start. thanks

 

[napkinthief]

I was driving along at around 30 mph, came to a red light and stopped. It turned green, I press the gas just slightly, maybe 20% down, I hear a small pop and I thought I ran over a bottle or something, I accelerate back up to 30-35, and I look in my rear view there is white smoke everywhere. I pull over, pop the hood, smoke is coming out everywhere, the hood is covered in antifreeze and the upper radiator hose came off. I grab a wrench and get it back on, but have no water or antifreeze in my car. I turn the car on and try to make it 4 blocks to the local autozone, and by about 2 blocks, the car was just under the max heat on the stock sensor. I let it sit, then put it in N and rolled down to autozone. Got some antifreeze in it and its running fine. There is a small problem though, when it running empty, it sounded like there was a rattling coming from the engine, the rpms would die down to around 200 and the oil light would come on when I came to a stop. Is it just because the car was running without coolant or is there something else wrong?

 

[AnkurJ0217]

Sounds like a blown head gasket

 

[DSMcrazy3]

Sounds like a blown head gasket

What are you talking about? That can be a cause of overheating, but he said he filled it up and it's running fine.

If it's running fine now, I wouldn't really worry about anything. Rent a compression tester and run a test real quick just to clairify nothing is really wrong.

Hopefully you got a new Upper radiator hose though, don't want that to happen again. It would definitely prolong the turbo'ing.

 

[VelocitàPaola]

If it's running fine now, I wouldn't really worry about anything. Rent a compression tester and run a test real quick just to clairify nothing is really wrong.

I agree. Test your compression and decide for yourself whether or not any serious damage occured. If it seems to be running fine now, I'd bet that you're in the clear though.

 

[DiamondStarCar]

Now that you filled it back up with coolant, do you notice a steady leak from the timing belt side of the engine? I've never owned the n/t version, but I believe water pump failures all do the same thing...that is, after it over heats, the O-ring on the waterpump exit deteriorates, then the rattling comes soon after. The rattles is indicative of water pump bearing failure. You WOULD know with in a couple days of driving...the problem gets worse and worse. Also, you said it made the rattling only when the car was out of coolant? If that is the case, I doubt it is the waterpump. Look under the car after driving and WATCH that coolant guage.

Now, the reason AnkurJ0217 said it could be the headgasket, was because he stated he saw white smoke in the rearview mirror...if it was coming out of the exhaust...the headgasket is a good possibility...however since he was accelerating, it could have just come from the steam that came out of the radiator hose. The oil light might have come on because of the low idle, resulting from the water pump going out (belt driven).

--Chris

 

[napkinthief]

Ok I just did some driving on it. Just a bunch of 0-25-0 runs, about 25 of em. One time, the car just stalled when I stopped. There is no leaks that I know of, but we will find out tommorrow morning when I look under my car. When I got into my driveway, I let it sit for about 10 minutes just idling to see if the temp went up or if anything happened. Seemed perfectly normal to me. As of right now, I think its a 60 - 40 water - coolant mix. I am going to flush the radiator because it was just nasty gunky in there when I leaked out the old coolant. Looked like orange juice with pulp. I will get the comp test done asap, I bought a gauge and checked my compression before I even started the turbo it came 160 156 155 159 so it was good. Just gotta find that little thing now in my room of mess.

 

[DSMcrazy3]

I am going to flush the radiator because it was just nasty gunky in there when I leaked out the old coolant. Looked like orange juice with pulp..

Not good....

It wasn't smoking or anything at all correct? When you were letting it sit to warm up you should have looked underneath. Since the coolant was circulating through the system then.

 

[94whitetalizle]

does any know how to help me?

 

[gurmanator]

are you sure its the head?which test have you performed to determine its the head?it could be a head gasket or a cracked head but the car should start reguardless.you might have a combanation of two problems.

 

[Mitsu RacerX]

Well peeps the heads warped. One question should I pull the whole motor or let the shop just pull the head. I would save money if I did it myself. What ya peeps think I should do.

Has anybody pulled the motor themselves? I want to know how hard it to to do it. I have the tools and the time. I just need ## guys advice.

 

[DiamondStarCar]

Yeah man, flush that crap out of there. Also replace that radiator hose if it's all worn out so this fiasco doesn't happen again. I dont know what it is, but i've replaced the upper radiator hose 3 times now on my moms 4 cyl. galant. The lower rad. hose is now got the green crust too...

Anyway, if you drove it home with no check engine and didnt feel a huge loss of power, i'm sure it's not your head gasket...honestly dude you would know. But, compression tests never hurt. Good luck!

 

[gottalovenewage]

take the head to a machine shop and have them check for cracks. if it doesnt have any cracks have them mill it down to sit right with the block, aluminum head + lots and lots of heat = warpage............gotta love it. while the heads off turn the crank and see if it got waterlogged.

 

[Ultimatedsm]

Hey guys just as the title says. Yesturday when I finally took my car out for a drive, the car ran great, no over heating problems, fan comes on when it should. However, the outside temps were lower. Today it was hotter outside, the car was perfectly fine in the city low speeds 50MPH and under. However, once I hit the highway, I start seeing the coolant gauge very slowly rising. I was going around 65MPH and after 10 minutes of driving, the needle has reached 3/4 of the gauge. So I slowed down and pulled over, I checked my coolant for overflowing and it was just half way in the reservor. The fans at that time when I was idling was turning on and the coolant gauge when down to the middle.

Alright so I took off again doing 50 mph 10 more minutes later the coolant gauge went slightly higher then usual but never reached the 3/4 point exactly. SO the question is, why does my car almost overheat while driving on the highway and not overheat around the city. The upper radiator hose was pretty hard and tight and hot so the waterpump is working. The coolant in the overflow bottle wasn't boiling. I do have a huge FMIC (26X12x3) and I am planning to cutt the 95 bumper more so it can get better flow. I do have an external oil cooler inbetween the FMIC and radiator because it wouldn't go anywhere else. The lower radiator hose has a slight kink it.

I have a 6 bolt 90 motor with an external oil cooler (stock). The lower 1G radiator hose was slightly too long but I got it on with a very slight kink on the bottom of the radiator. The radiator cap doesn't leak any coolant so I don't think its that and the termostat is not that old, replaced it 8 months ago. I took off the oil cap to find any milky substance and done. I took out my dip stick and checked for coolant and anything that smells like coolant and nope. I checked the heat and its hot and there wasn't any coolant smell in the car so heater core is fine as well.

1. Original radiator
2. Original radiator cap (doesn't leak though)


I do have an aluminum racing radiator that I am going to install. My AC fan doesn't work only my main radiator fan works. Any ideas what can cause highway speed almost overheating problems? I think its more of a flow issues because at highway speeds the radiator should cool down the coolant fine. I am also going to tighten my alternator belt because it squeeks when the weather is cold. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[underpressure25]

Do you still have the ac in? If you do you probably have too much crap blocking your radiator for it to properly cool.
Good Luck

 

[91Bomb]

Maybe it's the kink in that hose. I'd take it off and clip enough off the end so as to fix that situation. Have you checked the coolant level after the cars been sitting for a few hrs?

 

[Ultimatedsm]

Well I noticed the 2g 95-96 bumper doesn't have a lot of opening. My FMIC is 26 long, by 12 high by 3 wide. I am only exposing 6 high 26 long and 3 wide. So I am loosing about 6 inches because of the bumper. In addition, there is extra radiator space on the top as well. I am going to cut the lower rad hose to fit, how hard is it to remove the AC stuff? I still do have the AC in the car but doesn't work.

Thinks I am going to do:

1. Check coolant level.
2. Install Aluminum radiator.
3. Cutt extra bumper to at least 9 inches high.
4. Coolant flush and fill.
5. New radiator Cap.
6. Depending on how hard this is, remove the AC stuff.

I think that should take care of it.

 

[Ultimatedsm]

Here is a pic of my intercooler, maybe thats why my car is overheating .