greenlikematt

Hello all, I am having overheating issues. Here are few quick facts for you to consider.

- newer radiator
- new thermostat
- new cap
- burped system via bleeder valve and
- radiator fan always on

My car will drive about an hour. The radiator spits up coolant and my car begins to overheat because there isn't enough coolant in the system. I stop the car and coolant spills out of the overflow tank. After the car cools down, the radiator pulls it back. I am wondering what is causing my car to spit out the coolant. It can happen in as little as 2 blocks or after as much as an hour or so or a few days. Once I top off the coolant, it will be stable again for a day or so.

One place told me it was probably the water pump (it's not leaking) and another place told me gasses are mixing and recommended headgasket (no smoke out of the tailpipe, no milky oil) and water pump for $1300. scary. let me know what you think before I spend alot of money. Thanks!

vtecb18c

sounds like your water pump...the headgasket thing is probally just so they can make money..no smoke at all right??

itsmejto

Smelll/taste the exhaust, is it sweet smelling ? (antifreeze) indicates a head gasket problem. It may just be a blockage, power flush it and try again. Though water pumps don't just "fail" it usually creeps up on you with higher temps coming on slowly as it wears/rusts the impeller. If you do the water pump, do the timing belt and idler at the same time. $1300.00 IS scary, even for a dealer repair. Find a competent local mechanic for 1/2 that price. Or buy a haynes manual and do it yourself, its a long job, but not difficult.
May just be that you still have air locked in the system, turn the heater on full, run it without the radiator cap in your driveway for a while, watch for bubbles at first, if you get bubbles all the time, you definately have a gasket problem. Be prepared for the water to expand and overflow out the radiator top with a few low profile catch pans and lock up the cat while you do it.
You might try removing the thermostat for a test, I've seen faulty new thermostats that won't open.

greenlikematt

okay. didn't make it home. pulled over and steam was blasting from the overflow tank. once it subsided, i took of the radiator cap and it seemed damn near empty. this is less than a 30 minute drive. heater blows cold air. hose from radiator to engine seemed to be full of air. started car with cap off and it blew alot of steam from the radiator. does this equal headgasket or failed water pump/blockage? used almost a gallon of coolant just today. keeps getting worse.

tortis

sounds like you need to do a leak down test.

(jdm)bytemee495

You should be seeing coolant on the ground if it's leaking externally tho. If it's leaking internally like a head gasket...You should have other signs by now if it's that bad like milky oil...the fact that you don't have either...makes me really think you have a blockage...but i def. don't know 4 sure. Just a thought

-(jdm)bytemee495

BlackDeuceCoupe

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by greenlikematt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...does this equal headgasket or failed water pump/blockage?</TD></TR></TABLE>


I hate to tell ya this, but it sounds like you're into it for an engine replacement...

You can only blow the coolant out of a motor so many times before it's trashed!

It ain't like the old days when everything was made of cast iron, you know?

gsrhatch2356

You have mentioned it overheating several times. just get a new motor. For every 10 degrees over operating temp you shave about 1000 miles off of the life of the motor. so it wont be long before you spin a bearing, just save your money.

thrust

willing to bet its your water pump... i had similar issues with my hatch and the symptoms disappeared after changing out the water pump. i can also attribute it to a minor leak i was having with my thermostat housing. change out the water pump and if the problems persist it may infact be a headgasket issue.

Doylerules4588

hey man i have the same problem......i put in the new headgasket yesterday along with new thermostat....70,000 d15b2 and timing & waterpump were done under 4,000 ago.........i'm stuck just like you.........hopefully someone on here will know what's wrong!

El Verdugo

Say man did u ever resolve the issue of overheating? I am having the same dilemma with a fresh build here.