Overheat problem and small crack in radiator, Need to fix this fast!

[clean96GST]

Ok so for the past few months I've needed to keep adding coolant to the system because the overflow would spit it all out. Every time I would take off the rad cap the line wouldn't be completely full of coolant.

Today I did one hard pull and then proceed to go about 70 down the highway for about ten miles, I get to the stoplight and I look down and the temp guage was at the very top (I almost cried) so I pulled off to the right and turned it off and popped the hood. I'm pretty sure it only got that hot for a few seconds, as it cooled down as soon as I turned it off. Smoke was coming off at first but then it stopped, thats when I noticed the thin stream of coolant coming off the radiator, right by where the solid metal goes into the other stuff.
Right around here:

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The stream didn't have too much leaking out so it wasn't draining my coolant fast. There was also a ton of coolant in the whole engine bay, it looked like it was coming from my overflow tank( mine didn't come with a tube on the other side so it sprays right out)
Here is where it was on the hood:

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So I finally decided and start it and try to head to a gas station, I put some more coolant in the overflow hoping that might do something...? Does it help? But once I started going the temp stayed right in the middle so I just went to my friends a few miles down the road. I got out and the leak that was spraying off the radiator was no longer doing anything. I drove it back home and it only started climbing a tiny bit twice before I pulled over and shut it off.

Anyways I pretty much want to fix this overheat problem once and for all, I was thinking of getting a cheap aluminum radiator, new hoses (saw greddy braided hoses on CL for <100), new cap, and flush the whole system(I don't know how to do that either)

I need to get this going really fast as it's my only means of transportation, any temporary fixes? What would you guys suggest I buy?

And sorry I put this in the newbie, the only other one that looked like it might go there was bolt on, but I didn't think this had to do with bolt ons as it's my whole coolant system

 

[clean96GST]

Weird, at the shop my stock second fan was on when the AC wasn't, and it didn't turn on when the AC button was pressed.

Today it started creeping up a bit, then it started to go up past the temp sing a few times before I pulled over. When we popped the hood it looked like the only coolant was coming from the overflow, so the problem is still there.

What else causes coolant not to get sucked back up from the overflow tank?

Anyways to make a long story short, rear-ended someone yesterday, then my car went from this:

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To this in 24 hours. It was definitely a good excuse to finally get rid of that awful kit.

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[lacroixdp]

An air bubble or a bad radiator cap will cause coolant not to get sucked back in. I hope it's one of those two things and not a leaky head gasket. Unfortunately, it sounds like you're pushing gasses into your coolant system, raising the pressure enough to dump your coolant out. Try re-bleeding your coolant system, and pressure test your radiator cap and replace if necessary. Hopefully one of those two fixes you up!

 

[clean96GST]

I put a new rad cap in yesterday . We also let it run without the cap for a few minutes while it was warming up, isn't that supposed to get air bubbles out? How much are head gaskets?

 

[DSM1G90]

What I do is drill a .050 hole in the t-stat flange to burp the air out if the T-stat doesn't have the jiggle valve on it.

HG's aren't that much.

What'd ya do, slide under a truck? Your insurance just went to the crapper with that one.

 

[lacroixdp]

If you go with a composite head gasket, even with ARP studs, the price is pretty reasonable. What I'd do is get the Parts Dinosaur timing kit and do that while you've got the head off ($197). He's also got a gasket set for the head that isn't too expensive ($64). I'd stick with a Mitsu head gasket though - that gasket set comes with an ITM head gasket but I'm not sure if I'd use it personally. Just get your head checked out by a machinist for warping.

Gasket Set: 4G63T Mitsubishi 2.0 DOHC Head Gasket Set 95 - 99
Timing Kit: 4G63T Timing Kit Package 3Turbo Engines 1995 thru 1999

 

[clean96GST]

Ok so here is the problem now, we put in the second fan but now the problem has gotten worse. Every time I pop the cap there is no coolant in the hose, and as soon as you put it in it goes into the overflow and never gets sucked back up. If I put more in the overflow just spits the old stuff out and then completely fills up with the new stuff. Is this the head gasket?

 

[DSM1G90]

Did you replace the cap, for it could be weak - both spring and cap gaskets (being dry, brittle, hairline cracks, et.al.) and did you check the gasket mating surfaces in the waterbox, for if any sign of rough edges, corrosion, rust buildup, dinged surfaces - anything where a gasket can't seat correctly, then coolant will gush past those areas, out of the waterbox and into the overflow bottle.

I just did a coolant overhaul on a 1.8 that was doing the same - blowing coolant into the overflow. Bad cap with major cracks in the gaskets, and bad waterbox gasket surface areas. Drained the system, did a huge flushjob to get all the crud, rust and old coolant out of the system - including radiator, heater core, and flushed out the over flow bottle - then, cleaned and polished the gasket mating surfaces in the waterbox, new coolant mix, let the thing idle and no more blowby to the overflow bottle when pressure built up.

If you got that all straightened out, then one can safely say..bad HG.

Good luck - DSM

 

[clean96GST]

Yep, we put in a new cap, new radiator, and did a flush. Where is the water box? And how do you flush the overflow bottle? How long of a job is a new hg?

 

[DSM1G90]

Where is the water box? And how do you flush the overflow bottle?

Sorry, the term "waterbox" is where the radiator cap is attached to since it's a device attached to the motor where you have to fill the radiator at - and not directly on the radiator itself.

To flush out the overflow bottle is simple. Take all the turbo intake stuff off first, then the bottle itself is just attached by a slide groove on the frame itself and it slides backward off the groove. Disconnect the low water sensor connection then take your pressure nozzle on a garden hose and just power flush out the bottle.

Amazing on how much crud settles down at the bottom.

HG repair can be a day job if you know what you're doing - in which you have no room for error in that task - it has to be done right.

good luck-DSM

 

[clean96GST]

O ok so how do you flush the "water box" the same way? I'm still not sure if these are even symptoms of a bad HG, do you think thats my problem? I want to be sure before I buy a new one.

 

[DSM1G90]

do you, or did you flush out the system by removing the T-stat? .. that also flushes out that 'waterbox'

What does the oil look like? If milky grey, then you definitely got a gone HG.

 

[clean96GST]

The oil on the dipstick looks nice and brown, but the oil guage on the dash has been moving around a bit more then usual in the past few days.

I didn't flush it by removing the t-stat, how do I do that? Just take out the t-stat and use a hose?

Also since it's not sucking anything back up from the overflow so I took of the lid of the overflow and checked it out. It doesn't have a hose on the other side so when it overflows it spits all over the intake. But I noticed at first when I sucked on the part the hose to the upper hose and the air was coming straight from the other end, not down the tube. Then after playing with it a while it seems like the valve changed and when I sucked it was coming from the tube going into the overflow. Could this be bad? I put it back on and drove it but the problem is still there.

 

[clean96GST]

Ok so last night I got out of my car to say bye to my girl and I noticed there was a lot of steam/white smoke coming from the exhaust. Head gasket? I just don't see how a bad head gasket would make it so it doesn't suck anything up from the overflow.

 

[lacroixdp]

Steam and white smoke out of your exhaust is a head gasket. It is consuming anti-freeze and introducing air into your coolant system, which is why it isn't sucking anything up from the overflow. The more you drive it this way, the more you risk having to rebuild the bottom end - anti-freeze is very hard on bearings. I'd stop driving it right away, before you risk further damage.

 

[clean96GST]

Steam and white smoke out of your exhaust is a head gasket. It is consuming anti-freeze and introducing air into your coolant system, which is why it isn't sucking anything up from the overflow. The more you drive it this way, the more you risk having to rebuild the bottom end - anti-freeze is very hard on bearings. I'd stop driving it right away, before you risk further damage.

O thanks for clearing everything up.
I thought it was fine to drive it for now as long as it stayed at temp, I guess I was wrong

 

[lacroixdp]

If you didn't have oil-antifreeze contamination, it wouldn't be quite so bad - I still wouldn't recommend driving it though. You can look at your dipstick and see if it looks milkshakey, as well as looking at your coolant. However, it takes a lot of antifreeze before it looks milkshakey in the oil - an oil analysis is the only sure-fire way of knowing for sure if you are getting cross-contamination. I'm in the middle of a rebuild that had the exact same problem you are having - #2 and #3 cylinders were 20lb low on a compression test, and it was eating antifreeze - it wouldn't 'suck' the antifreeze back up after cooling down. I thought for sure I'd have some antifreeze contamination in my crankcase, considering how much it was going through. Surprisingly enough though, I had absolutely no antifreeze in my oil when I got my analysis back. If you're lucky, your oil analysis would come back something like this - I sent in this sample Friday right before I started pulling my engine.

 

[clean96GST]

If you didn't have oil-antifreeze contamination, it wouldn't be quite so bad - I still wouldn't recommend driving it though. You can look at your dipstick and see if it looks milkshakey, as well as looking at your coolant. However, it takes a lot of antifreeze before it looks milkshakey in the oil - an oil analysis is the only sure-fire way of knowing for sure if you are getting cross-contamination. I'm in the middle of a rebuild that had the exact same problem you are having - #2 and #3 cylinders were 20lb low on a compression test, and it was eating antifreeze - it wouldn't 'suck' the antifreeze back up after cooling down. I thought for sure I'd have some antifreeze contamination in my crankcase, considering how much it was going through. Surprisingly enough though, I had absolutely no antifreeze in my oil when I got my analysis back. If you're lucky, your oil analysis would come back something like this - I sent in this sample Friday right before I started pulling my engine.

So are you saying I need an analysis? If I just replaced the HG is that not enough or do I have to find a way to get the coolant out? The oil on the dipstick looked pretty normal, not milkshakey.

 

[lacroixdp]

There's not really a point to you getting an oil analysis - you're going to be doing your head gasket either way. I was just showing you what your car was doing - it's just pressing coolant out, but not mixing it with oil.

 

[clean96GST]

If you go with a composite head gasket, even with ARP studs, the price is pretty reasonable. What I'd do is get the Parts Dinosaur timing kit and do that while you've got the head off ($197). He's also got a gasket set for the head that isn't too expensive ($64). I'd stick with a Mitsu head gasket though - that gasket set comes with an ITM head gasket but I'm not sure if I'd use it personally. Just get your head checked out by a machinist for warping.

Gasket Set: 4G63T Mitsubishi 2.0 DOHC Head Gasket Set 95 - 99
Timing Kit: 4G63T Timing Kit Package 3Turbo Engines 1995 thru 1999

For some reason these links aren't working. Do you guys think Napa or Autozone would have a HG in stock? Also I don't need the timing kit right? I will have someone who is experienced in dong timing and pretty much everything else helping me so I don't think it will be too hard. Can you not tell if the head is warped just by looking at it?

 

[lacroixdp]

For some reason these links aren't working. Do you guys think Napa or Autozone would have a HG in stock? Also I don't need the timing kit right? I will have someone who is experienced in dong timing and pretty much everything else helping me so I don't think it will be too hard. Can you not tell if the head is warped just by looking at it?

They will have the head gaskets in stock, yes. Unless your mechanics timing belt kit is cheaper than this one, I'd get this one. If you have more than a couple thousand miles on your current tbelt I'd go ahead and do it while you have everything apart - you've already done the labor for a tbelt with taking off the head. You have to take the head into a shop - it will most likely need shaved to make it flat.