high coolant temps...now stranded.

[L0ckett]

So I finally get my car back from the shop after another new head gasket. I hook up dsmlink and do some logging and my coolant temps are unusually high. When the car is up to temp I log 229 degree temps and it slowly goes up if I'm stopped. After awhile it will hit 250 degrees so then I shut the car down, let it cool down, fill it with antifreeze (pre-mixed 50/50) and all will be good for a day or so. Well now the same thing happened and I filled it up, got as much air out as possible, and now the car dies when I come to a stop. Now I'm stranded in jessup, md (an hour and a half away from home) and I have no clue what is wrong. Can anybody help diagnose this for me so I can get back on the road?

P.s. if a local dsmer in that area can come lend a hand I would greatly appreciate that too, .

 

[Jermoturbo]

Let it cool down and try to remove the thermostat if you can find any tools. Sounds like it could be the water pump (check to see if coolant flows through the thermo housing after being warmed up), if not, it's probably your head gasket.

 

[L0ckett]

I know the head gasket, rad cap, and thermostat all have 370 miles on them. The only thing I can think of as for the overheating is the water pump or my intercooler is too big and blocking my radiator. My core measures 27x11.75x3 on a 16g setup. I always have my laptop with me and when it gets too high then I shut her down and this is the first time it hasn't stayed running. I will try the thermostat though just in case.

 

[rimmbrme]

how fast does it over heat? does it only overheat when your at a stop or even when moving? do you see any coolant leaks? fans coming on?

 

[nek]

Sounds like radcap. Did you get a oem cap or a crappy oe from autozone. If you push some coolant and your radcap doesnt allow it back in, youll get air pockets. You should also wire both fans on. Also make sure you have zero leaks of course.

 

[WickedQuikAWD]

So I finally get my car back from the shop after another new head gasket. I hook up dsmlink and do some logging and my coolant temps are unusually high. When the car is up to temp I log 229 degree temps and it slowly goes up if I'm stopped. After awhile it will hit 250 degrees so then I shut the car down, let it cool down, fill it with antifreeze (pre-mixed 50/50) and all will be good for a day or so. Well now the same thing happened and I filled it up, got as much air out as possible, and now the car dies when I come to a stop. Now I'm stranded in jessup, md (an hour and a half away from home) and I have no clue what is wrong. Can anybody help diagnose this for me so I can get back on the road?

P.s. if a local dsmer in that area can come lend a hand I would greatly appreciate that too, .

it is possible that your head is warped from previous overheating... did the shop check the head to be straight and true? removal of the thermostat will help to some degree, assuming the water pump is functioning. if combustion gasses are leaking into your coolant passages that would also cause overheating and the coolant leaking into your combustion chambers could foul the plugs or simply cause the car to stall out. either way, if you continue to drive the car in this condition you will more than likely cause severe damage that will result in you spending lots of $$$$ to repair. i would have the car towed unless that is not an option. another way to get lower coolant temps is to remove all coolant and replace it with distilled water (seriously, only use distilled) and water wetter or some similar wetting agent that reduces the surface tension of the water. distilled water cools better than antifreeze and the water wetter or equivalent will bring temps down further. this is not a fix for your problem, just a patch. if your radiator is old and clogged that might also be part of the issue. My old roommate and avid dsmer (EVO owner now) lives in Severn, MD which is not very far from Jessup. 443-745-9081 is my number. give me a call if you are still in the area, and i might be able to convince him to lend you a hand. i would do it myself, but i am several hours away at the moment. he has a garage and may be able to help rectify your problem or atleast diagnose it. the next step for you is to do a leak down check (which tests for CO in your radiator) and a compression test. these two will determine if the head gasket is at fault. Feel free to give me a call anytime with questions. i own 3 dsms and believe me, they can be a handful if you dont treat them right... then again, when all is well, they are a pleasure to drive. best of luck. -Seth

 

[Misterbeechy]

yea definetly check your fans.. my friend did get that FMIC problem too.. where its huge and covered the radiator...

 

[L0ckett]

Thanks for the help guys. When driving I will stay around 229 degree temps and when I come to a stop it will go to 234 then 240 degrees and back down when I start moving again. As soon as I see the gauge move up even an inch I shut her down and wait til it cools off. The rad cap is an oem replacement and I have the fans wired to be on constantly when its running. The fans are working properly which was the first thing I checked for. I'm really leaning towards a water pump though. I was able to get the car towed to my uncles shop about 20 minutes from where I broke down so I'll know the issue in the morning. If the problem persists then the only other thing would be to try a new core. a friend and fellow member has a 7" core that we plan in trying.

 

[WickedQuikAWD]

Glad you managed to get the car to a shop. Any new info? Please let me know if there is anything i can do to help. I should be in the Jessup area Thursday through the weekend.

 

[L0ckett]

I called them today to check up and they were just pulling the car is as they were getting ready to close. they'll be taking a look at it first thing in the morning and will let me know what they find. I described the issue and they said it could be a multitude of issues ranging from a failing water pump to even a crack in the block. I'm really hoping on the water pump, .

 

[t-rexn8]

Damn dude I was worried when my car got to 226. Hope it's nothing major.

 

[L0ckett]

Yea I'm really hoping that it is just something small and simple. I called the shop again yesterday to try and get an update and they told me that they somehow tore my exhaust off pulling it into the bay so spent most of the day yesterday trying to fix that and then today they will try running it and see what they can find out.

 

[tweek814]

After awhile it will hit 250 degrees so then I shut the car down, let it cool down, fill it with antifreeze (pre-mixed 50/50) and all will be good for a day or so. Well now the same thing happened and I filled it up, got as much air out as possible, and now the car dies when I come to a stop.

Your filling it up after every time it overheats? Its gotta be leaking somewhere, did you check the oil for coolant and vice versa?

 

[jrdrew5]

Idk how accurate my guage is but my car runs 220-260 day everyday. But it even says that on cold start up so I think guage is off.

DSM!

 

[d1prospect]

i had a similar issue like that. i re-torqued my head and problem went away..

 

[L0ckett]

I was reading that some people have had similar issues and just a simple torque of the head bolts fixed it. I'll pass that info on to the shop. They did find (which I already knew about) was a very slight leak at the thermostat housing. I'm in the process of tracking down a new upper and lower housing. As for the torque specs, it should be torqued to 81 ft/lbs correct?

 

[d1prospect]

90 no more than 95 with my arp's

 

[L0ckett]

Okay. I need to find out tomorrow if the shop that just did my head gasket replaced the studs or reused my arp's. I found a thread with everybody saying different specs from 80 to 110 ft/lbs .

 

[Jermoturbo]

95 ft/lbs max on arp studs with arp lube

 

[L0ckett]

I spoke with the shop that did the new head gasket and asked him how much he torqued the head. He torqued it at 65, 72 + 14 more than another quarter turn. If I'm thinking logically, that totals 107.5 ft/lbs. Wouldn't that be a little excessive for stock head bolts (they replaced my fresh arp's :-( ) and a fel-pro head gasket?

 

[Nvisabl]

I spoke with the shop that did the new head gasket and asked him how much he torqued the head. He torqued it at 65, 72 + 14 more than another quarter turn. If I'm thinking logically, that totals 107.5 ft/lbs. Wouldn't that be a little excessive for stock head bolts (they replaced my fresh arp's :-( ) and a fel-pro head gasket?

If they torqued stock head bolts that much I would lean towards a BLOWN Head gasket .. Stock bolts are torque to yield you over toque the give up .. Re- Torquing a head really won't last ,, may get you home ? and why would they replace ARP's with stock stuff that makes NO sense !!!! leak at thermo housing could be letting air in so it cavitates but I tend to lean towards head issues

GOOD LUCK

 

[L0ckett]

Okay, well I figured it was time to give you guys an update to my situtation. The shop that I had my car towed to didn't really dig into it too much because they found that there was a crack in the upper thermostat housing, causing quite a bit of coolant to leak out. I finally got my hands on the repacement parts and went yesterday to swap out the old stuff. After installing the new housing, bleeding the coolant system, getting all the air bubbles out (in doing so, a FLY came out of my cooling system, awesome) I start the car up and let her idle for a few minutes. After about 2 minutes of idling, coolant started pouring from my overflow. I figured that maybe the overflow was still full from the issues beforehand so I drained it and gave it another start up. Go figure, not 2 minutes later more coolant started pouring out. There are no other leaks anywhere, the temp gauge never went up but link still read 226 degree temps. I'm lead to believe that another head gasket went up. This would make head gasket number 4 in the 8 months that I've owned the car.

 

[tenn-gsx]

If the car really has stock head studs and they were torqued to 107 ft lbs then you need to remove them and replace with new stock or some arp bolts torqued correctly. Whil doing this have the head checked out. You hit 250 temps. your head may very well be warped now.

 

[airmail96]

I would have to agree with your assumption.

 

[L0ckett]

What gets me is that I had arp studs installed when the first hg went up. When they took it apart to replace the hg the second time the mechanic was able to spin the studs out by hand. Instead of reusing the arps he put fel-pro studs in. I still have the arps which I will most likely reuse since they have very little use on them. I still also have the 7 bolt head that came on the car so I may swap back to that head if mine is warped. I just need to find someone to tow the car back to town for me. The shop that did the work before will replace everything under their warranty. Anyone want to help a fellow dsmer out? Haha.