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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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like are they in a case? yes ty for all the have replied ill try these suggestions. I changed the cap but it is still overheating but it stoped the boiling over into the overflow. Do you think since it has overheated a few times maybe it screwed up my thermostat? ill look into replacing it again just to be sure
 
I bought a mishimoto thermostat and I don't remember why or how I ran across this and don't know why they say it...
Mishimoto Web site says there thermostat has a little "dipple" looking thing that moves and it's supposed to be facing at 12 o'clock. If anyone knows why, please share
 
I just went through this on my 2G after dropping in a new-to-me engine. Replaced a bunch of stuff (tstat, hoses, rad,....) did not get rid of the issue of overheating under load.

Did the usual burbing of the rad, making sure I had all the air out, new coolant 50/50, even did a vinegar flush to get eat out some of the rust from the block in case that was somehow insulating the water jacket somehow (which by the way did an AMAZING job...works so well that when i drained the first flush the vinegar smell was totally gone indicating it had completely reacted so i did a second flush...no rust now). Still was overheating under load.

When you said you had coolant pushing into the bottle do you have to top up the system after?

This can be a blown head gasket that is only leaking exhaust into the coolant....that is where I was headed with mine...except i did not have fluids mixing (oil in coolant or coolant in oil) nor did I have the tell tale white smoke in my exhaust. So I did some more investigating.

After a LOT of fcuking around I finally figured out that it was only doing it under load....so i thought about it and realized that I had turned my boost up to 22 psi from 15psi. In my case the head was lifting juuuust enough to let exaust push into the coolant.

I installed some ARP head studs and haven't had an issue yet. I was about 2000km's with no issue...then my nut backed off my turbo and messed up the compressor real bad.

What is your boost at and do you have ARP's in already?

Turns out the stock head studs wont take much more than 15psi without lifting.

Edit: missed the part where you said youre only running 9 psi. In that case its likely not your studs. ALTHOUGH when i went in to do my ARP's i actually found 2 headstuds were very very loose and another 3 were not even close to torque spec. Dunno how it held 15 psi.

Just a thought but check your headstuds so you can cross that off the list too.
 
I remember I had a overheating issue cause by the stock rad being clogged & fans not kicking on correctly. Check your fan relay if the fans aren't coming on. Driving down the highway it would be nice and cool only because air is being forced in through the front
 
I'll agree with everyone above, especially with air bubbles, but this just happened on my jeep so I thought I'd share. Just bought a 2000xj I6 a couple months ago from a guy with every receipt/repair, etc.
Motor was replaced; water pump, radiator (twice), he flushed the coolant system twice because it looked dirty.
Long story short, after replacing the corroded 5 year old water pump she started overtearing. Tried tstat, burping, flushing multiple times (including block) and it only stopped when I replaced the two year old single row rad with a 3 row aluminum rad.
Even though water ran through the rad there was blockage somewhere that would build up only after about 20-30 mins at full temp.
I suggest running the car for at least 20-30 mins with the cap off. Watch to make sure tstat is flowing. On my jeep after this amount of time a giant geiser of coolant would shoot out; I would dump distilled water in to keep it from overheating, then like clockwork it would do it again. Blockage.
 
Latest update,
I removed my head and found valve seals falling apart, replaced with new ones and did head gasket and new seals through out when going back together. Dropped my thermostat housing assembly and had fun trying to get ahold of a new one. Had to buy a new tensioner due to mine blowing the seals when trying to compress. Found a valve cover that was not cracked!! It fired it up and it sounds like a champ.
 
Hey all, about 2 months ago i picked up my brothers 98 Eclipse GST Turbo. Last saturday i blew up my radiator.

So far ive replaced the radiator, thermostat set to 180° (cleaned all the housings and new gasket in the process), replaced the hoses, and the fan control relays. Ive got water circulation so i dont think its the water pump. At the moment its within regular operating temperature while driving around town, but if i get on the highway and then start slowing down or come to a stop the temp skyrockets.

So my question is, am i missing something that i should be aware of on this car that would be causing this issue? Im taking it into a shop on monday and want to have an idea of what to look for. I work about 30 minutes away from where i live and i cant afford to have my car blow up on me again.

In advance, thank you for the help! I just want this nightmare of troubleshooting to be over.
 
Are u losing any coolant after your highway trips? Did the vehicle overheat and then your radiator blew up? Depending on what happened it could be as simple as air in the system or a blown headgasket.

So i was on my way into town when i noticed my temp gauge rising, pulled over and as i came to a stop the radiator blew. Ive been having to loosen the radiator cap to relieve the pressure in the system which brings my overall temp to a drivable level. At this point Ive been refilling the coolant where necessary. I've burped it twice now but every time i have to pull the cap im introducing more air into the system. My oil is clean and doesnt have the telltale milky white of a blown gasket.
 
Check your overflow tank after a short spirited drive and check for bubbles. Not having milky oil is great but u still can't rule out a failing gasket. It's quite possible air pressure (boost) is getting in the coolant system.

I had this problem on my 1g. Had to fill up on coolant every 3 days or so.
 
If its getting hot to the point of being in the red, wouldn't the bubbling in the overflow be just the fluid boiling? Or would that be indicative of a failing gasket. Someone was telling me that even though i put a new thermostat in, 1 in 5 are bad out of the box.
 
From the parts stores most are junk. Oem would be best. U can try running without a thermostat just to troubleshoot the problem a little more.

If u don't want to take any guesses and swapping out parts then test the coolant system. U can rent a pressure tester from a parts store to test it.

Can u hear the fans come on occasionaly? As it gets warm/hot when your driving turn your heater on and see if the temp gets back to normal.
 
From the parts stores most are junk. Oem would be best. U can try running without a thermostat just to troubleshoot the problem a little more.

If u don't want to take any guesses and swapping out parts then test the coolant system. U can rent a pressure tester from a parts store to test it.

Can u hear the fans come on occasionaly? As it gets warm/hot when your driving turn your heater on and see if the temp gets back to normal.

Because of the exhaust my brother put on i cant hear a damn thing. Ive checked and the primary fan kicks on while im idling like it should once it comes to regular operating temperature. I usually run with the heater on anyways as a precaution given the issue at hand. Should i order a thermostat from say, rockauto? Where does the dsm community get their parts from thats a reliable source. Is the 180° thermostat the right one or should i try to find say a 165° that is compatible. By the way, thanks for working through this with me. I appreciate your time.
 
Did you put the thermostat in with any weep hole up? Did you get a new cap? Burp system by when warm (thermostat open), remove cap, engine idle, squeeze lower rad hose a number of times to get air bubbles up to top out cap opening. You can also do this when cold to get initial bubbles out but it won't get them all until you do it warm. In normal operation the cap must be on to increase pressure which lowers boiling point - keeping it off defeats this as would a leak. If you must remove cap to keep it cool there is a problem, perhaps blockage, leaky cap, hose, or water pump not working well. Renting a cooling system pressure tester may be in order to find leaks.
 
The cap is new yes, Bought maybe a month ago. The seal on the old cap was destroyed. The new thermostat didnt have a weep hole nor did the original. Should i go get a new one and drill the 1/8" hole in it? As i said earlier in the post im taking it to a shop tomorrow.
 
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