szczerbanator

SO i bought my car about a month ago, did all the normal tests. Turns out fine. Well i just drove it today for about 1-2 hours. And i looked down and the my TEMP gauge was at HOT!!!

SO of course i pulled over, popped the hood. and the water in my overfill tank is BOILING, steam and all.

Talked to the guy at Schucks, he said it could be the following:

1) Lack of radiator fluid
2) Headgasket Blown
3) Bad Waterpump


Well i don't think its the headgasket or lack of water/radiator fluid.

SO if ANYONE has an idea....................PLEASE let me know.!

jhammond_82

iTrader: (1)

bad thermostat? are you sure its not the head gasket?

szczerbanator

Yeah i think its the thermostat, causing the fan not to turn on to cool.

The car was drivef fr abou 45min before anything started to happen, really doubt its the headgasket. Not noticing leaks or anything, but then again ya never know. Thanks for the response, ANYONE ELSE??

blac00si

Need more information...

We're both your upper and lower radiator hoses hot?

cambmx

run a compression test, if you dont have one, open the cap on the radiator when its full, turn it on and see if it bubbles (usually head gasket) if it is the thermostat, the fans should still kick on, it would just be the fluid is not making it through, but after 45 min, it should be open already, therefore hard for it to become stuck closed, and the waterpump would be leaking a lot and lots of slop if it is bad. I had a problem like that, but it was seeping through the head gasket from compression, and pushing air into the system, and then pushing out the fluid, causing overheating.

szczerbanator

The hoses were warm, nothing extremely HOT or out of place except for the boiling water, steam, and the temp reading HOT. I will check that stuff. I really hope its jsut the thermostat, BTW its my 18th birthday today................

What a present huh...

szczerbanator

And there is nothing leaking btw

beanbag

Go thru the usual procedures to check the thermostat

boostdc211

take radiator cap off
start car
if it sprays up
say hello new headgasket

szczerbanator

If it doesn't spray up, I.E. being normal, what is it suppose to do just circulate?
And if tht is fine, what else could be the problem?
Also what if i get that headgasket fixer stuff that is suppose to permanetly fix it?

szczerbanator

So i JUST did what you guys suggested. I started the car without the radiator cap on, and nothing came out. So its NOT the headgasket. I checked the level, and couldn't see anything. aka needs more coolant. Before i bought it, it was driven for a good amount of time. So i'm assuming that the coolant/water evaporated. Which is good. I will keep you guys updated..




BUMP

szczerbanator

No spraying!!!!
I won't have to say "hello new headgasket" lol Thanks

trrbl1bmx

Sound like a bad radiator cap or the wrong one. Or a blown headgasket. With the cap off and your car idling rev it slightly, if coolant shoots up like a geizer then you have your self a bad headgasket, also take note, if after your car sits for a while ( overnight ) does it run rough when you first start it up?

bigislandc2

easy way to check if its an headgasket is leave every as it is. do a cold start and just start the car and check the upper rad hose to check if it becomes hard real quick then thats a head gasket problem. as stated in some post its t stat or cap. does the car over heat when it's under a heavy load like going up hills? if so its the rad. plugged.


since you just bought the car i would reccomend that you replace all the cooling components t stat, cap, coolant, water pump if you can and timming belt just for peice of mind. and happy late b day!!

BlacStarr

iTrader: (2)

I say water pump!! My car started doing the same thing awhile back. Fan not turning on, water boiling, and temp at HOT after few minutes of driving. The water pump wasn't leaking a lot at first, but after refilling the radiator a few times it started leaking a lot. Me and a friend of mine just took the car apart today and the water pump was bad beyond saying. Oh... and another way to be able to tell if your head gasket is bad is when coolant comes out of your exhaust.

BlacStarr

iTrader: (2)

And stop driving or even starting your car, cause you head gasket will give out. Believe me, I had to learn the hard way.

91akira

give us an update.

szczerbanator

What happens when a headgasket eventually goes out?
Just curious, like if i was driving would it just stop?

I did notice someting liquid out of my tailpipe but i don't think it was coolant. Just some water or gas, cause i'm in seattle so rain getting in the tail pipe is no rare occurance.

Thanks everyone, i will be flushing my coolant today and refilling it with new radiator fluid. Cleaning what i can, and will let everyone know..... just crossing my fingers its not the headgasket. I just turned 18 and can't afford that ****....ugh

szczerbanator

Oh and also usually when i start the car it will rev between 1-2k for a couple minutes, but only when its in Neutral or Park. Its a auto btw.

91akira

keep us updated if it was the headgasket or the simple Tstat or others mentioned.

szczerbanator

OK, so i just went to good old Fred Meyers and bought some Radiator super flush/ anti-rust stuff. Just flushed the coolant, and it appears that there wasn't enough in there to begin with. So i'm now jsut waiting for my car to cool down to empty the Super Flush stuff, and put in some anti-freeze/coolant.

So far, i don't see any leaks. Temp is normal when driving now, but i only drove for about 10-15 minutes to get car to normal temp for the Super Flush stuff.

Only bad sign so far, white smoke from exaust. But i have a feeling its because this is the first tank of gas run through this thing in the past year or so, being that the previous owner hadn't driven it for awhile.

OR

Since i had to get emission i put alot of the octane booster and fuel injector cleaner in there so that might just be causing it.




Thanks everyone will keep you updated, Just bought insurance......being that its my first car. Only $130 a month, not bad since people have been telling me it'll be over $200.

szczerbanator

Also i let my car warm up and then checked the pressure in the radiator hoses, and there wasn't any abnormal pressure instantly, so whoever wanted me to check if they get stiff quickly. Well the DON'T. So hopefully that helps...

Off to change coolant BRB

91akira

I read you paragraph like three times. You said that there wasn't enought coolant? That could be your problem right there.

And for the white smoke, that can be bad head gasket so I've heard. hope not though. Don't forget to bleed your coolant when your adding.

szczerbanator

Ok everyone, I'm done with the coolant flush etc....


EVERYTHING IS GOING ALOT BETTER!!!

Little to none white smoke out of exhuast now

Car Temp is at Normal, need to drive far to really put it to the test though

The color of the coolant flush was semi-brown....basically telling me it was a bit rusty and dirty. But the Super Flush i bought is suppose to fix that.

So after that i added the recommened amount of Radiator Coolant/anti-freeze

And started her up, drove her around a bit and its all Gravvvy so far....

Thanks everyone for what you suggested and hopefully (knock on wood, or whatever the hell this is) this will fix it permanetly.

If it turns out its Not the headgasket i can finally buy from Shocks/Struts....

Will post a pic of the car just for fun

91akira

I'm glad everythings okay so far.

When you say that you flushed, Did you just drained the radiator and put that flush chemicals in the filler hole? Because a real flush is flushing the rad and the engine block by using a garden hose. You'll have to remove the thermostat to do this. You remove the upper rad hose and stick the garden hose in there and flush all of the coolant out. This procedure is just to completely flush all the coolant out.

But what you did is fine.

Let us know in a day or so if things are okay.