overheating. :/

[koryto2012]

So today on my way to work, i was sittin in traffic because there was a "bad" accident, and I look at my temp gauge and it very close to the top. I put my car in neutral and reved it up a lil bit and the temp went down. A few mins later it shot right back up. And while it was at the top my oil light flashed a few times, so I reved it and it went down. What could cause this?


Ps. My heat dosent work. It'll be warm for a few seconds then cold. I turn it off for a min or so, then turn it back on and its warm, for a few seconds. then cold again.

 

[CODE4]

Have you checked your coolant levels? And the rest of your fluids for that matter?

 

[koryto2012]

I have not...but I'm goin to change my oil tomorrow. Maybe that'll help.

 

[Slo2gen]

Changing your oil won't help so don't get your hopes up on that one As stated above, check your coolant levels. I find it strange that your car overheats but won't blow hot air through your HVAC, and leads me to believe that you have a blockage in your heatercore or radiator or a thermastat stuck shut. Do some checking on the fluids and then get back to us.

 

[Th3DooM]

Maybe it's the waterpump. If your coolant leven is perfect I guess most of the small shevels on the impeller are broken so it can only transport water out of the hot areas when it spins faster. You can easily test it when you open your hood and touch the radiator (your car must overheat. DO NOT TOUCH THE FANS!). if the radiator or the hoses are cool or just warm, the hot water doesn't get out of the engine into the cooling areas.
If hoses and radiator are freaking hot the problem must be somewhere else.

It could also be the thermostat. but that doesn't explain why there's a cooldown when you rev your car.

 

[1slo1g]

It could also be that the level of coolant is just low. As the fluid is pumped through out the system i will blow warm until the air bubble hit the water pump then it stops the pumping (think pulmonary embolism) til it fills up again and pumps again. The reason the higher revs are making the fluid pump is the higher RPMs are the faster the air bubble can move through the system. hope this helps. I would check the fluid levels first before any thing.

 

[koryto2012]

Turns out I was just low on coolant. Thanks everybody.

 

[Slo2gen]

Good to hear, now the next question to ask is why was it low?