So i was driving in crazy stop-and-go traffic yesterday and all of the sudden i see smoke coming out from under my hood and i looked at my temp gauge and it was all the way to H. i pulled over to the side of the freeway and popped my hood and my coolant reservoir tank was shaking and the coolant inside was boiling and bubbling like crazy. there was coolant everywhere around the reservoir tank also.
So what i did was just let it sit and cool down for a while and when i started driving again i turned my heat all the way up so that the coolant could continue flowing throughout my car. the rest of the day it was fine and it never overheated. my question is why did it overheat? i just got my water pump replaced not too long ago so i dont think it has anything to do with that. is it my thermostat? any help would be great

 

was your fan kicking? Thermostat seems to be the culprit it, but if it didn't overheat after the incident then that may not be the problem. when's the last the thermostat was replaced?

 

i have no idea. ive already had to replace lots of things though for my engine since ive bought it. and i dont know it my fan was kicking. i wasnt paying good enough attention

 

check for crack radiator,hose,termostat and water pump.

 

if it didn't over heat after I think it's your fan or switch. Check your fan when you warm up your car to confirm it's one or the other. I think because you weren't going no where for a long period of time there's no air to radiator and with no fan kicking it'll overheat. But when for the rest of the day it didn't do he same cause maybe you were moving and getting all that ram air. Not sure if that's the case, but it's a theory.

 

that sounds right. like after i let my car cool down i got off the freeway and took alternate roads and i was going like 50-60 the rest of the time. i think that during the constant stop-and-go for 2 hours, my engine wasnt getting alot of air and it was getting hot. my buddys car was startin to get hot too.

so how would i fix this?

 

check to see if your fan is working first, like I said it warm for like 20-30 mins, if the fan doesn't turn on it's either the switch or the fan assembly itself. Replace each on accordingly.

 

alright thanks man