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!

 

[harith444]

FIXED!!! Bottom coolant sensor, the one that triggers the fan, right underneath it, turned out to be bad and solved the issue. Good luck to all of you with the same problem, hope this helped. Take care.

 

[harith444]

Thank you toybreaker for all of your help! Just in case you were curios, it's a year old swap, about 50-60 thousand miles.

 

[harith444]

Have you checked your ignition timing?

Let us know...

 

[SaiyanFury]

OK this has been an ongoing thing for a while. I have been attempting to figure out why I have been overheating. I have done every cooling enhancing thing known to me, I'm using a low temp thermostat, as well as running Water wetter. After initial startup, my car runs very cool for a little while, but inevitably starts to run hot after a bit. I tried everything, and seeked much advice. I know my car is running lean. After talking to Andy Moraitis, I learned that running lean can raise cylinder temps. And that running rich can cool said temps. This seems to be my case.

I moved to Florida from Canada in mid 2006. When I was driving down, my car was running warm the whole way down, and when I got farther south, Tennessee, it began running really hot. Suffice to say, it was an adventure driving down here to Florida. Driving through Georgia later at night, I hit a raccoon, which caused me to have a big boost leak. After I hit the raccoon, my car ran nice and cool as I expected it would with the cooling extras I had done. I am now running rich, and my car runs bloody cool, albeit I have not fixed the boost leak. Apparently, my running lean has caused me to run hot and I didn't know it. I'm no mechanic, and talking to Andy has taught me that running lean can raise exhaust gas temps, which in turn, can cause me to run hot. Running rich as I am, can cool cylinder temps. I am thinking this is my problem. I seek opinions. Anybody care to volunteer an opinion? Should I get a fuel controller to control the lean problem? I await answers

 

[freshlane]

Running lean raises temps and running rich lowers temps. Are your fans comming on?

 

[yokotabrat]

I don't really see anything in your profile that would indicate you should be running really lean, provided you are running low boost on the 16g and don't have some other general fuel related maintenance problems.

That being said, have you done other cooling system mods besides the lower temp thermostat and water wetter? The lower temp thermostat won't lower temps if you have a problem with overheating, unless your thermostat wasn't opening in the first place. Here is a list of things to check:

Radiator cap, if it hasn't been replaced recently its a good idea to do it now. The higher pressure will increase the boiling point of the water. Plus, they're cheap.
Fluid - make sure you have a proper mix, flush the fluid if it hasn't been done in the last couple of years
Radiator - lots of things to check here. Are you getting adequate airflow through the radiator? Do you still have AC? The fins on the condenser are probably bent and you might see some improvement by straightening the fins (it's a lot of work though). Also, check between the radiator and condenser. Sometimes you get a lot of crap between them that can obstruct airflow. Also, are all the plastic panels below and around the radiator in place? They help direct airflow to the radiator. Finally, how old is the radiator? It could potentially be clogged reducing its efficiency.

On my cars, by going through these things one by one, I've been able to fix overheating problems that have plagued me. Hope this helps.

 

[romeen]

Good advice^^^^. A good system flush might be a good idea. Maybe a problem with the water pump? How is the car running otherwise?

 

[TURBOONLY99]

When i drive my car it overheats. When it overheats it not much maybe just a little over half. Now when i get on the highway it might go 3/4 the way up. Then it will go down.
I checked my fans the one that is on the transmission is running full blast. The other one that is infront of the motor only turns on a little bit for like 30 secs then shuts off. I do have the defrost on too. Now could that be the turbo because it does bog when i floor it. Then smoke comes out of the exgaust.

 

[absolute_DSM]

What color is the smoke? Check your seals on your turbo. Pull off the intake piping and check for oil plus shaft play. That may explain the smoke.

Flush your radiator and check for any leaves or debris thats in front of your radiator. That sounds like your problem.

Also do you have the stock heat shields on? Without them, it causes added heat in the engine bay, maybe causing a slight overheating at idle or low speed, high boost.

 

[luv2rallye]

FYI (assuming you have factory fans and wiring): On your '99 when you have defrost on (defrost position and blower on), the A/C should turn on (to remove moisture in defrost air - A/C light does not come on however) which should turn on both fans. Since your condensor fan (drivers side one) is going off, I suspect you have a faulty relay (condensor fan relay hi). The other condensor relay (condensor fan relay lo) may also be bad if the fan does not operate while the A/C compressor is engaged. While engaged it turns this one on (perhaps compressor is cycling every 30 sec).

 

[gimpybrad]

Driving home last night I glance down and realize that my coolant temp gauge is in the danger zone, by the time I make it to the next exit it is pegged to the top.

When I park and turn off the engine I noticed that the coolant overflow bottle was full to the top and spilling coolant to the ground.

It appears as if teh car isn't drawing coolant from the overflow, but rather just pushing it out, is there a way to test this? What else could it be?

 

[talonracn49]

When the car overheats, the fluid (coolant) expands and gets pushed into the overflow tank.

Could be a lot of things. Stuck thermostat would be about the cheapest. Tell us a little about the car and what you have done to it.

 

[v2ner]

Make sure the radiator cap seals (rubber underneath cap) are good too.

 

[chicagoavenger]

Try this let me know if it helps http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=200575.

 

[gimpybrad]

Wow thats a lot of info in that link, I wonder why i couldn't find that earlier. Thanks avenger, I will start going through those and see if it fixes the problem.

 

[chicagoavenger]

no prob I figured all your q's could be answered in there because most people start asking the same q's so that tech article should sum it all up.

 

[gimpybrad]

I have suspected that my Harmonic dampener has been going bad, can that really case an overheating problem? How does that work?

 

[wvturbo2]

That makes the thermo open up. If that falls apart like mine did you're car will overheat and power steering will go out and it will stop powering your alt.

 

[talonracn49]

It will allow the engine to not turn the accessories as quickly, even though the engine is running.

 

[Locke]

water pump is driven by an acc. belt on the 4g63.

 

[wvturbo2]

acc. belt it powered by the Crank pulley. If it breaks all that stuff will go out.

 

[xosaintox]

97 GST
mildly moded

I saw and read a thread similar but not as exat as mine. Hears the deal, It was crazy cold out this morning. I started my drive to work and about half way there I notice that the heaters not working. Ok, usually means that coolants not flowing, but I really wasn't paying too much attention. I don't remember the temp gauge being high but i do remember the oil pressure not being very high but it takes a sec to come up usually. So it starts to lose power (made a turning sound I couldn't tell what it was from inside) and i pull over and it dies and starts blowing white smoke. I figure coolant. I take off the radiator cap off and nothing. I can see it on the road behind me and splashed on the inside of the passenger side of the engine bay. Well, I get it towed after siting 18 degree weather and latter try to start it(wanting to cry) and it turns over to my surprise(not knocking) but doesn't start. I give it some time and start it while giving it a little gas(starts but i can hear something ticking, then i shut it off). My friend thinks its the lifters peeking. He suggest that it may need a oil pump but hes guessing. we open the oil cap and he looks for moving oil while i start it agin. He said it didn't seem to be moving oil. I'm just hoping that changing the oil pump will get rid of the peeking and I'll just need to fix the coolant leak wherever that may be and the engine will be alright. I wouldn't think a blown moter would be able to run so good as it did when I started it. What do you guys think.

 

[Locke]

Check the water pump for shaft play. Bad bearing here can cause horrible knocking sounds as the impeller whacks things. Also will cause overheating, which could result in a blown hose.

BTW: Anytime your heater suddenly goes cold, stop driving.

 

[Whiplash]

Lately my car has started to overheat. The needle goes to a little less then 3/4 on the stock gauge. The thing about it is that it only does it when Im in 5th gear, on the highway going 110KMH(70MPH). If I let go of the throttle while on an off ramp I can see the needle drop slightly. Then it drops to almost half (a little over) for normal city driving. It cools when its sitting. I dont see anything blocking the radiator. And its approx. -10F outside right now, so I think driving at highway speeds it should be able to keep cool...

Is it maybe something to do with the alternator/water pump. Reason I ask is because also lately when I put the car into neutral sometimes the RPMs drop to about 200 for a split second and the warning lights and everything comes on like the car is about to stall, but it never does. Maybe this is somehow effecting the water pump and it isnt able to keep up for some reason?

Any ideas?

Thanks guys.

 

[GSXspeeddemon]

it could be a bad thermostat.