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!

 

[GSTSpyder916]

I've done a search on this and havent found an answer to my problem. I've recently installed a FMIC and the car is now overheating (never used to prior to FMIC install even with the A/C going full blast). When I drive now I have to turn the heater on full blast and hope and pray its enough....it still overheats all the time.

A little background, the FMIC is a 3" core and does cover the whole front center opening of the bumper. I've installed a Koyo radiater and 2 FAL high flow fans (flow 850cfm) and it still overheats on a daily basis (even running the heater on high).......anybody have any ideas or suggestions?

 

[ddavisaf]

Are your fans push/pull fans? You might have accidentally set them to push when they should be on pull or vice a versa. Otherwise, you're probably overheating because you're not getting enough flow to your rad. due to the FMIC. Check the normal things such as your T-Stat and Rad. Cap. And make sure your fans are spinning the correctly direction. Post back with update.

 

[GSTSpyder916]

I have a new thermostat, the fans are pulling air through the radiator and the cap is a OEM unit......any suggestions from here?

 

[ddavisaf]

Then you will have to hack the front bumper to allow even more air through the IC to the Rad. Everything else that you have done was exactly what you should have done. The only thing left would be to open it up for more air.

 

[Kprime911]

yeah it was my thermostat that needed to be changed but now i got another problem. it still overheats but not as fast. i think i have a blown headgasket but not a hundred percent sure. when i rev the engine i can see white smoke coming out under the valve cover and i took out my oil dip stick and it looks like no coolant got mixed in with the oil and im not burning coolant or oil either. would a bad valve cover gasket cause overheating too? because i see oil around the edge of the valve cover . if indeed it is a blown headgasket how much would it cost to have it replaced and would it be okay to drive it for about another 3 weeks until i get the money to get it fixed? thanks

 

[GSTSpyder916]

I was thinking of having my local motorsports shop fabricate some ducts from the side vents and an underbelly pan to direct air at the radiator too (stock plastic splash gaurd has been removed for the FMIC....Im thinking this might be a part of the problem too)

 

[EZ91Talon]

I tried to drive mine about 30 miles with it overheating just thinking I could limp it home (came up 3 miles short)...6 weeks, $3K, and a junkyard 6-bolt later I REALLY wish I hadn't...If you have to drive it, don't let the temp gauge exceed the normal range. The top end of the gauge is red for a reason...
White smoke is a bad sign (white = coolant, bluish = oil, black = fuel), sounds like you've done some damage, don't make it worse.

 

[Kprime911]

ok since its kind out of the question to drive it in this condition and i also have a transmission thats need rebuilding also. so should i get the head gasket replaced first or do the transmission first? the tranmission drives fine except i have no overdrive and its slips just a tiny bit, thats it.

thanks

 

[mastadogg2]

After installing new radiator, I drove car for maybe 1 mile and I seen my temperature was all the way up maxed the temp gauge, drive home quick pop hood radiator hose was swelled up pretty bad, I let car sit 15min idle to cool itself down before I shut it off. Tryed again and same thing happened. I noticed my overflow went pretty low also. Any ideas what could be causing this? Normal driving and it dont overheat, but the moment i went WOT it overheated.

 

[poppyseed]

You did bleed the cooling system of air? You might as well replace the thermostat, and cap while you are at it to.

 

[poppyseed]

I bleed the system of air by leaving the radiator cap off. Letting the car get hot so the thermostat opens, and then when it opens, up the engine speed a thousand or so to get the coolant flowing better and watch the bubbles. After a few cycles of the thermostat you should be good. Also some coolant may over flow out, especially when you back off the engine speed. You can also buy a bleeder kit at major parts store which has a funnel and radiator cap with hole in it that the funnel goes into.

 

[Iluvskanks]

Air pocket, because when you changed the radiator you drained the whole block and probably heater core some to. Thats a whole lotta air to get out

 

[mastadogg2]

hey i didnt realize the new radiator was bigger then other so i didnt fully top off the cap.. i topped it off and all is well now. just blew up a coupler on fmic piping !

Thanks for you replies will give some points

 

[chrisfrye]

I'll be real suprised if it's a headgasket. If it's just a hairline crack or something, is that why it could be causing no symptoms? I threw some head gasket repair through my cooling system but i flushed out my hole in my radiator in doing it. So now i have to fix my radiator before i can see if the seal worked. I'm hoping honestly something was seriously out of wack with my radiator. Talked to the local radiator shop and they said they have little success repairing aluminum radiators.. ? Thinking about buying a brand new one and being done with it. What kind of test would show a head gasket leak? Compression? I don't have a leak-down tester but i'm sure i need one. I'll let you know what fixes it. Thanks

 

[chrisfrye]

My friend ran this theory by me. my thermo switch on my fans went out. causing my car to overheat(not redline). Cracked the headgasket and started building up exhaust pressure in my cooling system, then blew a hole in my radiator from all the pressure... I don't know i hate to think so negative.

 

[luv2rallye]

A compression test will show a head gasket leak. I recommend doing a cooling system pressure test. You can buy the tester at Sears or any auto store (you'll be glad you bought it for the rest of your life since all cars eventually have a coolant leak somewhere - I use mine 2-3 times every year), or any shop will do it. BTW all these quick fixes (rtv, pepper, zip ties, sealants in the cooling system, etc.) never last - fix it the right way or your problems will just keep coming back and/or masking the real problem.

 

[chrisfrye]

I'll do a compression test when i get home. Checked out the auto store and they didn't have a cooling system pressure test. So maybe online? I know they're temporary fixes, my mission was to try to be able to get to work for the time being. I don't plan on leaving my car like that. Looked around for some radiators, not sure if i should go fluidyne for 350 or get a koyo off ebay for 150. koyo i think is copper and brass though. I'll let you guys know what my compression says, see if that's my culprit. Thanks.

 

[brad98rs]

I just changed my valve cover gasket and took my car out for a spin and noticed the temp. gauge almost at the max. When i get it home there is stem/smoke coming from the hose pictured below. I need to know what this hose is called and how to replace it.

 

[ADrewzki]

Sort of looks like this I guess...

Mitsu says it's the "Engine heater water return pipe"
Part number - M04777378

 

[mavisky]

it'd actually be that small piece of rubber hose there next to the pipe. If so I'd just take it off and go to a parts store and have them cut you off a section of hose that's the same size. Hell as small as it is, they may not even charge you.

 

[Spool-Blue]

this may seem a bit odd to most people, but do yourself a favor and check the radiator cap. Or i guess the thermostat housing cap would be the better name for it. check the seals inside it and if they are broken and missing, replace it. i did this when my car would decide to just spit coolant out and then start to overheat, and it fixed it immediately. its the small details that really get the best of you on these cars.

 

[johnk]

I was just reading this thread http://www.dsmtuner.com/forums/showthread.php?t=194328&highlight=overheating and the guy claimed to have full compression just before his car started to smoke. We'll see what he gets when he retests.

 

[BGizzlePatrick]

I hate to ask this but since the search engine hasn't been working for me for the past 2 days i need some help:
Over the last maybe 2 weeks or so my car just keeps overheating all the time. I live in Phoenix so we had some days with well over 110 but im driving about 30miles to work freeway like 99% without aircondition as well.
The car drives fine and the temperature gauge is about a notch above half way up like it is always. Once i get home however i turn off the car i can hear the waterfall...... I wouldnt be thinking twice about it but i do as a fact know that i have enough water in my radiator and the reserve tank isnt overflowing either plus the temperature gauge doesn't show me that the car is getting overly hot.
Last night my gauge jumped to the top red and i pulled over and saw that the cap of the radiator was leaking and the radiator was dry so i filled it with about 2gallons of water and went to a friends house where i took the waterhose and sprayed the radiator hoping for the fans to suck the water right through the radiator but the fans didnt even turn on..... i mean here i am my car boiling and the fans aren't even on.
I let it sit there over night and this morning i went there to check the fans (im not sure when they are supposed to turn on) but when the aircondition is on both fans are running just fine. Any ideas what i could do besides flushing the radiator?
*Give me an excuse to tell my wife i need a new radiator and those slim lite fans

 

[ADrewzki]

Thermostat issue maybe? Um....on second though, I bet you just need a stage 3 short block to fix that problem (tell your wife that).

 

[turbotalon46825]

could be a number of things...
water pump.....raidator....thermostat....coolant fans......id start there.
hope this helps ya out