Car Overheating

[Andrew Dussap]

Hey guys, bought a 2g a couple weeks back and she started to overheat, now I have made sure the fan are properly working, she shows coolant in the radiator plus I changed the thermostat today and I had her compression tested, she’s good on that. I also had her recently oil changed and am constantly checking the level of the oil and she’s good. As I drive the car, she starts to cool down and I usually notice it a lot better when I have the heat on, but when I’m at traffic lights the temp gauge rises and I really don’t know what it is, I need your help to get her properly working, any ideas?? I’m thinking water pump

 

[motomattx]

Bad radiator cap, bad radiator.

 

[Andrew Dussap]

Bad radiator cap, bad radiator.

Do you think the radiator could be clogged ?

 

[motomattx]

Could be, radiator cap first though.

 

[Mello]

Not much history or profile of your car. Before you go through the trouble of changing the water pump get a pressure tester & look for pin hole leaks, & try a new radiator cap. BTW how old is your radiator cap?

 

[AWD-Tony]

What fans are on it? When you have the heat on, you’re pulling heat from the coolant system Via the heater core. That’s why it’s not overheating when you have the heat on.

 

[Andrew Dussap]

Not much history or profile of your car. Before you go through the trouble of changing the water pump get a pressure tester & look for pin hole leaks, & try a new radiator cap. BTW how old is your radiator cap?

Honestly man, I’m not sure on how old it is, I’m going to replace it tomorrow and look for leaks even know I didn’t find any on the top.

 

[Dericsh]

Are you running factory fans?

 

[Andrew Dussap]

Are you running factory fans?

I’m running after market fans

 

[AWD-Tony]

Cheap fans are junk

 

[Andrew Dussap]

Yeah man, I forgot which ones I have but they aren’t cheap, it could be a clogged radiator, but it’s an after market mishimoto radiator, don’t know how long it’s been on the car

 

[Dericsh]

I’m running after market fans

Do they have proper shrouds?

 

[rabenne]

What temperature (from your datalog or gauge) is the car reaching?

 

[spyderdrifter]

I think one of the more important questions here, would be did you properly burp the cooling system after replacing your thermostat? A quick way to check your water pump, which could definitely be a problem here, is while the car is off, and not steaming hot, remove your radiator cap. Then start your car and let it idle. Don't rev it. Then observe the rad cap location to see if you can see coolant moving through the t-stat housing. If not, your water pump is probably failing. In either case, make sure you properly burp the system to get all the air bubbles out. That will cause overheat symptoms.

 

[Andrew Dussap]

Do they have proper shrouds?

Yes the mishimoto radiator has proper shrouds, today I’m going to get the radiator flushed and tested to make sure it’s good.

I think one of the more important questions here, would be did you properly burp the cooling system after replacing your thermostat? A quick way to check your water pump, which could definitely be a problem here, is while the car is off, and not steaming hot, remove your radiator cap. Then start your car and let it idle. Don't rev it. Then observe the rad cap location to see if you can see coolant moving through the t-stat housing. If not, your water pump is probably failing. In either case, make sure you properly burp the system to get all the air bubbles out. That will cause overheat symptoms.

Yesterday after changing out the thermostat, I added some new antifreeze and left the radiator cap open while I was letting the car sit at idle for around 20 mins and watching to make sure all or atleast most bubbles are out of the radiator, I’m not sure how old the antifreeze is or if the radiator just needs to be flushed

What temperature (from your datalog or gauge) is the car reaching?

What temperature (from your datalog or gauge) is the car reaching?

While I’m driving the car, I keep the hot air on to keep the temperature from rising but when I’m at idle it starts to increase and cools down while in motion, I’m going to replace the radiator cap today and get a radiator flush

 

[rabenne]

Dude, do you have a gauge or datalogger access? Are you just guessing that its overheating?? Stock gauge is meaningless - just FYI.

Simple question. WHAT TEMP IS IT GETTING TO?

 

[lasthope05]

Overheating at idle leads me to believe the fans arent working or atleast one isnt(if A/C is ON). The car doesnt rely on the fans when at speed. However you said they are working so it leads me to believe you have cheap shitty fans.

 

[rabenne]

Or maybe its not actually overheating since we dont know what temp its reaching.

Maybe cover the basics? Like what temp you are seeing...

 

[Andrew Dussap]

Or maybe its not actually overheating since we dont know what temp its reaching.

Maybe cover the basics? Like what temp you are seeing...

When I turn the car on in the morning, I drive and as I drive the temp increases and it still drives normally and as it reaches hot, it starts to misfire and lag. The temp instrument on the instrument cluster shows its at H(hot)

Dude, do you have a gauge or datalogger access? Are you just guessing that its overheating?? Stock gauge is meaningless - just FYI.

Simple question. WHAT TEMP IS IT GETTING TO?

I have a simple cluster in the instrument cluster telling me whether the car is either cold, in the middle or hot. In your car it may be meaniningless but it actually works in mine. The engine gets to hot and starts to backfire and stutter when it overheats. I got the block tested and it was fine, got it compression tested and it’s fine, changed the thermostat, cleaned the fuel injectors. The only thing I haven’t done is a radiator flush.

 

[Mello]

I hope you're only doing minimal driving for troubleshooting purpose & not trying to commute until you get this figured out. Have you check the coolant for oil & the oil for coolant yet? If you're getting into the red on the temperature gauge you're going to have more problem besides just running hot.

 

[Andrew Dussap]

I drive less than 2 miles and the engine doesn’t heat up enough to get it to overheat. But about it overheating, I just don’t know what is causing it. I have checked the coolant and it seems good to me, checked the oil and that was good too

 

[rabenne]

Still kinda sounds like you don't know what temp you are running. That's where I would start... You really are just grasping at straws with no datalogging or gauges.

Does the level go down? Does the level in overflow stay the same?

The cap has been suggested several times. Did you replace the cap? It is cheap insurance on the system and can cause all kinds of strange issues. It might also be worth renting a cooling system pressure tester so you can ensure there aren't any leaks you might be missing.

 

[Andrew Dussap]

Still kinda sounds like you don't know what temp you are running. That's where I would start... You really are just grasping at straws with no datalogging or gauges.

Does the level go down? Does the level in overflow stay the same?

The cap has been suggested several times. Did you replace the cap? It is cheap insurance on the system and can cause all kinds of strange issues. It might also be worth renting a cooling system pressure tester so you can ensure there aren't any leaks you might be missing.

I bought the radiator cap and will put the new one on today after work, I do have a guage that shows water temp, but I don’t think it was wired up right, if I cold start the engine it’s always on 140. And never ever changes so I rely on the instrument cluster temp gauge ands it’s accurate

 

[spyderdrifter]

Just to add this in here, but shouldn't need to, not everyone has access to data loggers or such items. I am lucky enough to have a code reader that also provides live data including the ECT. It's handy since i unfortunately don't have Link. Before I got it, I had nothing to gauge my actual temp or any other data. I too had to use the oem, inaccurate gauges. It sucks, but sometimes that's all that is available. Please everyone, be more respectful of our fellow DSM family and actually help to save these cars from ending up in a junk yard.

 

[rabenne]

For your gauge, I think we can help you get that working, and I have to stress that its worth doing if you have suspected overheating issues. They are super simple to wire up, so if you review the installation instructions, I am confident you should be able to get it working. Post any problems you run into and someone here can surely steer you through it.