Hoosier Daddy

Hey guys last night I was kinda boogying on the highway when I noticed my tmep. rising, so I pulled over and turned the car off (my motor is more important than my turbo to me). Still worrying about the turbo, I turned it back on and it was fine. I turned the heat up just in case. It still runs fine, and temp stays normal except when I'm just sitting somewhere with the heat off. As soon as I rev the temperature goes back down.

I have a feeling it's the water pump, because they don't spin at idle, do they? Could something be wrong with my water pump? Maybe this is just one of those freak things that will go away when I get back in the car tonight, we'll see.

EDIT: Gonna make sure the fan is working. Thanks Mase! Anyone have an idea why the temperature would go back down once I rev if the fan isn't working? Does it get the water pump spinnning, and everything flowing?


Modified by Hoosier Daddy at 7:23 PM 1/31/2004

Jared

water pump does spin at idle. Sounds like air in the system or a sticking thermostat.

boost fed ls

is your fan kicking on?

lazerus

You're low on coolant.

Hoosier Daddy

Haha thanks guys. I know it's probably something stupid. I had a feeling I was low on coolant the other night. It overheated ONCE on idle, then I revved and it never happened again. I'll check all the basic stuff first.

Thanks

Hoosier Daddy

For what this is worth, my coolant resevoir was empty before, but after this happened it was full. If I remember correctly (haven't overheated in a while) the radiator just spits coolant back into the revoir when the motor overeats, right?

vaporboy12

the coolant will only go into the overflow then the radiator cap reaches the psi that it can hold

Mr. Softee

check if radiator is full, get back to us.

Phaze2 Mike

Quick note: He was low a blinker fluid that night, im not sure if that coulda been it.

Anyway, i think it might be air in the system i dont recall using the purge valve when filling it with coolant the first time.

boostincoupe

I had the SAME problem. My radiator cap was not allowing coolant back into the radiator from the overflow. $8 cap and $6 container of coolant later, no overheating. And I boost like crazy!

lazerus

so whats the scoop on this?

Hoosier Daddy

Had some surgery so I haven't touched the car since.

Not sure if I mentioned this, but my resevoir was empty until this happened. When it happened the radiator spit coolant into it. I poured it all back into the radiator though. I think it's low, so I'm gonna top it off. Also, when I took the radiator cap off, it burped/let some air out. There could just be air in my system. If it still overheats after I fill it up, I'm going to drain it completely and fill it with the purge valve open to let all the air out. I'll definitely let you all know what happens.

Hoosier Daddy

Finally got back to working on the car. My cooling fan fuse was blown, so that explains it. Every time I replace it, it blows though. Maybe i'll just wire up a fan switch. Kinda nice to have anyway.

What I don't really understand is why temperature goes down while driving, or if I rev the car when it starts to overheat. Does it just get everything flowing?

acy76

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hoosier Daddy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Finally got back to working on the car. My cooling fan fuse was blown, so that explains it. Every time I replace it, it blows though. Maybe i'll just wire up a fan switch. Kinda nice to have anyway.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I would find the cause of that fuse blowing. Wiring a switch into a bad circuit could burn up your harness or worse.

wanabecivicex

the reason your car overheats when it is sitting still because the radiators max cooling effeciency is when air is passed through it....the more air you can get through to disipate the heat the cooler the coolant temp. a fan is designed to move air through the radiator. this process happens naturally when driving.

Phaze2 Mike

Update: The fan itself was faulty. We replaced with an OEM unit and the fuse holds. The idle issue has been basically narrowed down to bad tps wiring.