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Car Overheated / Overheating / Overheats [MERGED]

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NTRCOOL

Probationary Member
24
0
Apr 10, 2002
Richmond_Va.
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!
 
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I already replaced it.

Hopefully its just a matter of filling it.
 
I recently had a problem with over heating, it was a mixture of still having air in the system and a broken ground wire causing it to read inaccurate.

I would bet you still have air in the system, jack up the front end a little start the car with the radiator cap off, it will get hot you will see the coolant/water start to move or bubbles will appear and the coolant level will lower at that time add some water or coolant to the system. Repeat as needed. It took me almost an hour and 2 burp sessions to get all the air removed.

Hope this helps good luck man.
 
It probably does still have air in it.

I did burp it at work till the fans came one twice. Filled the overflow up halfway. It overheated once i got home and now the overflow is full.

Im trying to get it burped but all that seems to be happening is the water swirling. Not bubbling.
 
It probably does still have air in it.

I did burp it at work till the fans came one twice. Filled the overflow up halfway. It overheated once i got home and now the overflow is full.

Im trying to get it burped but all that seems to be happening is the water swirling. Not bubbling.

What are your temps, do you have link?
 
No link.

I did notice the temp gauge rest at halfway then it will go to 3/4 then back and keep doing that. It will eventually go all the way up and bounce back down. It was bubbling in the overflow so I know it was getting too hot. I even put the AC on that way the fans would keep cycling on and off. I kept filling it. I dont see any leaks anywhere and the pulley seems to spin free.

I dont know whats up with it. Temp goes up and down then finally goes all the way up and overheats. Does that sound like a temp sensor ? What if i just remove the thermostat completely ? Would it be ok?
 
Sorry. I will feel them both. I was at work at the time so i was quick reading.
 
Have you done a compression test to make sure your head gasket isn't leaking?
Or while you are bleeding the system for air if you see constant small bubbles appearing, it could be an indicator also.

I had a 95 civic that leaked exhaust gas into the cooling chambers through the head gasket and it had the exact same symptoms you are. Would go up to 1/2 then down, then to 3/4, and back down all over the place. I replaced the thermostat, fan switch, hoses, wired the fan always on, but still did this. The leaking head was over-pressurizing the cooling system and pushing all the coolant into the overflow tank, overheating, suck overflow back in to the system, temp drops, pressure builds up again, repeat. The overflow only holds so much though and would leak out the extra onto the ground while I was driving; never while it was parked. I kept refilling the radiator daily trying to figure out what was wrong, and then it all exploded out the bottom of the radiator onto the highway one day. :hellyeah:

So yea, do a compression test :thumb:
 
No link.

I did notice the temp gauge rest at halfway then it will go to 3/4 then back and keep doing that. It will eventually go all the way up and bounce back down. It was bubbling in the overflow so I know it was getting too hot. I even put the AC on that way the fans would keep cycling on and off. I kept filling it. I dont see any leaks anywhere and the pulley seems to spin free.

I dont know whats up with it. Temp goes up and down then finally goes all the way up and overheats. Does that sound like a temp sensor ? What if i just remove the thermostat completely ? Would it be ok?


If I'm not mistaken if you see over flow is bubbling and was empty and is not full. Your cap is leaking when pressure builds up.

Have you done any electrical work. My second problem to me running hot was 2 ground wires went bad. One had broken completely and the other had 3 strands on it. These where chassis ground cables, big fat ones. Maybe look for something like that.

Mine started after a head swap. Hope this helps.

How I new it was electrical was, I put a thermometer in the coolant and see temp. Would be at 210 when my needle would be at the top of the gauge.
 
It was bubbling because of the steam going into it. The cap is brand new also

And i have not touched any wiring. Except removing satellite radio.

Compression test results.

Cyl 1: 150
Cyl 2: 145
Cyl 3: 140
Cyl 4: 150

Head gasket?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8v7HIJOe-Y&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Well I just went out, emptied the radiator and flushed it with water then filled it back up. I did notice that it does not bubble in the overflow while its warming up. Seems to be only after it overheats. I had the head gasket blow in my trans am and the exhaust was mixing in the coolant. It always bubbled no matter when it was. What you guys think? Why does it take so long to overheat? Could the temp sensor be bad? The water pump seems to definitely be working.

One thing i forgot to mention. After it overheats,I allow it to cool. Start it up and it idles really bad. That goes away after driving though.

And another thing. The car has the 6 bolt swap. Im taking it that it wasn't finished or maybe even done right. I know the tranny wasn't done right because i had to buy the kiggly kit because of the torque converter bottoming out and destroying the pump. So who know what else was half assed.
 
Those compression numbers are on the low end, but OK. 133 is the limit where it needs to be replaced, and 178 is excellent. You did this test at WOT (gas pedal to the ground) right?
 
are you sure you have all the air out of the system? How long did you run the car to burp the system?

Have you verified your new t-stat isn't junk ? You can remove it completely and run the car to see if the issue still occurs; if it doesn't overheat then your new t-stat is junk too.

You said the top hose is hot and bloated, what about the bottom hose? Cold?

It really sounds like you've either got air still in the system, a blocked radiator, or your water pump is dying/dead.
 
Everyone has had great suggestions, good job! :)

My 2 cents.... ;-)

I highly do not recommend running just water. It is extremely corrosive and you have no idea how many times at the body shop I have empied radiators and the water was brown and rusty.

Water boils at approx: 212F
50 /50 mix of antifreeze and water boils at approx: 223F
70 / 30 mix of antifreeze and water boils at approx: 235F

I would also recommend to grab the 2 heater core hoses behind the intake manifold when the car is warmed up to see if they are hot. If they are not, you have air trapped in the Heater Core. You would need to turn the heater on full blast with the radiator cap off to bleed the air out. This could also cause your idle issue as the coolant goes to the Throttle body and if air is stuck in the heater core, rubber hoses, or even at the end of the metal pipe that goes above the tranny to the heater core, this will cause these problems too.

Let me know if those 2 hoses are hot by the firewall behind the throttle body.
 
The heater hoses are hot and the 2 radiator hoses also. I can see when the thermostat opens and it starts pumping water. I have let the car run for almost an hour filling it as it takes it.

I did run the car yesterday without the thermostat in it. It took forever to warm up but it eventually settled at halfway. Now, i cannot figure out this squealing noise I have. Replaced the PS and ALT belts with no luck. I spun all pulleys and they seem fine. Could this be from the water pump?

It squeals at startup and sometimes when i have either the heat or AC on.

And everytime i put it in reverse. I only bring this issue up in case its the WP.
 
hmm...

Squealing could be the AC Belt / Compressor / Clutch if it has seized or is getting close to seizing. Did you spin the water pump pulleys with the belts off? If so how much resistance was there? Did it spin freely or kinda rough?

You may have a blockage of some sort in the block or water pipe. Do you know when the timing belt and pump where replaced last? When you flushed the radiator was there any sludge or stuff you could see inside the radiator?

If you dont know when the timing belt and pump where replaced, it might be a good idea to replace the timing belt, tensioner, balance shaft belt, water pump just to be safe. The last thing you want is the T belt or Balance Shaft belt snapping.

Timing Belt VFAQ

You can follow the above link which gives a pretty good walk through as well as having a Chiltons / Haynes manual.
 
Is your heat in the car working when its up to temp? I mean, set it to the highest temp setting and fan speed, it should get quite toasty or your heater core is blocked. This is easy to fix with a compressor, CLR, and lots of water.

After all of this, I would just pull the radiator out and make sure it isn't blocked too. You have an OEM radiator cap right?

If you decide to go down the route of replacing timing, water pump, etc, I would just replace the head gasket also. For the little extra it would cost, you can guarantee that isn't the problem and know the motor is fine after that. The peace of mind is worth it IMO if your tearing the motor down.

And just to make sure, your compression test was with the pedal to the ground, right? If it's not at WOT your numbers won't be correct and it needs to be redone with the throttle all the way open.
 
Someone else linked this to me on my thread hoping it would help, and I replaced everything that wasn't inside the engine and also I didn't replace the water pump.
For me I decided to take out the radiator and make sure it was flowing freely so that I could confirm it was the water pump. IT DID flow freely but after I drained out as much as I could I could shake the radiator and hear water whooshing so it was still blocked, and it only over heated whenever I was at higher rpms (like the interstate) probably because the water pump pushes more at high rpms and needed more coolant.

Hope this helps!
 
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I appreciate all the help.

I will not replace the timing belt or the head gasket. It will be put up for sale. I may replace the temp sensor yet, but that's about it. Heat works and all hoses. Get hot.
 
I appreciate all the help.

I will not replace the timing belt or the head gasket. It will be put up for sale. I may replace the temp sensor yet, but that's about it. Heat works and all hoses. Get hot.

I would check the torque on your head-bolts if you feel comfortable doing it. If the the bolts stretched you will experience overheating after running for a period of time and also have erratic temperature readings. My bolts stretched and I thought it was a head gasket, cause I was always losing coolant.

If you are driving on the interstate or anywhere over 50MPH for more than 5 minutes the straight water in the system will cause the temps to increase. I don't know why it would do this, but one of my DSM's experienced this as I head heating issues like you and was using water for a time. Once coolant was used the temps remained stable.
 
Ok.I'l check it out.

Is there a such thing as the car warming up too fast? I swear it was a minute till the heater was blowing hott air. Im going to remove the radiator and dump it to see if its blocked up.

I keep driving around then letting it sit. I keep filling and repeating. I will get it fully filled. It will not overheat driving around town, only on the highway.
 
chet1185, I would check what Flavoade said and make sure your head bolts are all torqued to spec also.

I had a car (not DSM) loosen the head bolts on it's own, the previous owner did a head gasket with no-name aftermarket bolts/seals and when I thought the head gasket was bad (oil in my coolant) I tore everything down only to find the center head bolt completely loose, and the 5 surrounding ones barely finger tight. Head gasket was still fine though, got new OEM bolts and that fixed it.

Don't give up! You've done a lot to narrow it down already.
 
Ill check those . The top rad hose is dripping so i ordered a new 1

Are the bolts directly under the valve cover? And are all 4g63 valve cover gaskets the same?
 
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