jazz215

car started overheating today, pulled over, no steam coming out from underhood and no white smoke from exhaust. coolant was at the min level (guess i forgot to refill). I refilled it with 50/50. My car does not overheat while idling. did not find any leaks. whats going on? i was guessing it could be the pump, thermo, cap or fuse??

cliff notes:
overheating car
could not find leaks
no oil in coolant (or viseversa)
no smoking tailpipe
replaced radiator last year
only overheats when driving (idles fine)
rad hose from block is super hot , hose to the block is just hot (are they supposed to be pressurized? i can squeeze them a good amount)
dont know if this matters but my car started to smell like skunk this morning?! wtf

mike93eh

is your fan coming on? replace your thermostat and radiator cap since thereyre cheap anyways. if that dont fix it come back here..

jazz215

fan does work, it turns on and off. I will replace radiator cap

LoSt is BlaCk

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mike93eh &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">is your fan coming on? replace your thermostat and radiator cap since thereyre cheap anyways. if that dont fix it come back here..</TD></TR></TABLE>

did those parts do the trick, keep us posted!

PuiPui

did you fix it? happened to me the other day while i was driving,fluid was at min and i filled it with 50/50 also and still happened, ended up turning the heater on (its winter anyways) at full blast and that brought it back down to half, it stopped doing it now but what i noticed is that it happened at high load (ie accelerating in 5th) i want to know why that happened too:D thx

jazz215

i replaced the radiator cap (16lbs) from autozone. still no luck. I bought a thermostat and rubber seal.. but i dont know how to change that. so i guess its narrowed down to pump or thermo? if the thermostat is bad wont the car just take longer to warm up? my car heats up really fast now.

jazz215

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PuiPui &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ended up turning the heater on (its winter anyways) at full blast and that brought it back down to half,</TD></TR></TABLE>

even when i turn the heater on full blast, it doesnt help. I dont get why it only over heats when its in gear, when its idling in "P" park, i can rev it to 6000 and it still stays below half.

btw: do i have to completey drain the coolant to replace the thermostat?

snoochtodanooch

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jazz215 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i replaced the radiator cap (16lbs) from autozone. still no luck. I bought a thermostat and rubber seal.. but i dont know how to change that. so i guess its narrowed down to pump or thermo? if the thermostat is bad wont the car just take longer to warm up? my car heats up really fast now.</TD></TR></TABLE>

If the thermostat is stuck open, it will take longer to heat up. If it is stuck closed on the other hand, it will overheat badly before it opens. The thermostat is easy to replace, and i suggest you do it soon. If you keep driving the car this way the headgasket could go, in fact, its probably already gone. Keep an eye on you oil. If you see any green hints of antifreeze, or bubbles that look like soap, or white foam almost like chicken fat collections, stop driving the car. This means the headgasket is gone, and you don't want to wipe out the bearings on the engine. GOOD LUCK, don't worry, out of my three cars i have owned in 2 years, 2 have had headgaskets go.

snoochtodanooch

another thing is, if the seal for the waterpump is gone, you will lose pressure in the system. Loss of pressure results in a much lower boiling point for water. remember chem, any thing under enough pressure will stay in the liquid state no matter the temperature.

jazz215

i just had the head gasket replaced not more than 10k miles ago.. shiet!!!!! I will have the car taken to a shop tomorrow to replace the thermostat. So the skunk smell has nothing to do with the overheating right?

edit: is the coolant in the overflow tank supposed to be smoking hot?

jazz215

bump, will i have to drain all the coolant to change the thermostat? or can i just swap it out

fcuked

You don't have to drain the coolant, but it will be messy. I suggest get a clean bucket and drain the coolant in there, replace the thermostat and then re use the coolant. It's simple. Let me know if you got more questions.

joecivic93

Just for kicks check the passengers side floor board under the heater box see if it feels wet or if you can see/smell coolant in that area,you may have a pin hole in the heater core which will cause a loss in pressure,a loss in coolant and may explain the strange smell from damp carpet from coolant.Peel the carpet back if necessary and look for signs of moisture ie:coolant.

jazz215

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by joecivic93 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Just for kicks check the passengers side floor board under the heater box see if it feels wet or if you can see/smell coolant in that area,you may have a pin hole in the heater core which will cause a loss in pressure,a loss in coolant and may explain the strange smell from damp carpet from coolant.Peel the carpet back if necessary and look for signs of moisture ie:coolant.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

i checked but its all dry there... also had thermostat installed, it hasnt over heated yet... i did a compression test on my car 5 cranks 190,185,185,185. i lost some compression from sep 8th, which were 200,195,195,195. i left my car parked at work for 8 hours and no leaking coolant below my car..

edit: my spark plugs look good, my oil isnt black but isnt chocolate colored. i just changed oil 1k miles ago. I have also bled my cooling system.

jazz215

i literally smelled the carpet and interior and nothing smells wierd. but my car smells like skunk wtf.. grrr would spilled fuel rot and smell like that?? i did change my fuel pump and spilled a little.

jazz215

update: i was able to drive about 36 miles (city) without overheating, but then omw home the temp needle rose to about 90% almost to the red. not sure whats going on. im really thinking its the pump now. only overheats when theres load on the engine.


Modified by jazz215 at 10:36 PM 1/15/2004

jazz215

ttt

snoochtodanooch

chocolate colored, like diarhrea looking oil is bad news, headgasket.

jazz215

ok update:
I looked at the old radiator cap that i replaced, i noticed the valve part of it was broken off. so i was thinking.. **** it must be lodged somewhere in the radiator. so i just took the car to a shop to have some tests run. they couldnt find anything wrong.. and of course it didnt overheat while they were running tests. (it only overheats after a drive) they said i didnt have any blockage and that the thermostat opens and closes and fan comes on fine. later in the day, my car starts getting hot again?!?! i turn the heater on to help cool it down.. i pull over because its in the red H zone... i pop the hood and rad fan wasnt on.. ? what is it that tells the fan to turn on? thermoswitch?

cliff ntoes:
old rad cap was broken, (cant find other half of it anywhere. so i think its blocking the coolant)
took to mechanic, ran tests, (he says no blockage, thermostat opens and closes at right times, no leaks, headgasket is fine, and fan comes on)
overheated later tonight while cruising around town, pull over and fan is not spinning (even though car is at H)

mike93eh

okay, if you changed your oil 1k miles ago and it is chocolate looking now then you have a busted headgasket. its looks like that because there is coolant in your oil. take off your oil cap and smell down in there. does it smell like regular oil or does it smell like rotten eggs?

oh and the fan switch tells the fan to come on.

jazz215

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mike93eh &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">okay, if you changed your oil 1k miles ago and it is chocolate looking now then you have a busted headgasket. its looks like that because there is coolant in your oil. take off your oil cap and smell down in there. does it smell like regular oil or does it smell like rotten eggs?

oh and the fan switch tells the fan to come on.</TD></TR></TABLE>

i meant the oil color is fine... its the same color when it came out of the bottle. hmm... i will try smelling the oil though.. maybe i am have a bad fan switch..(turns on sometimes.. but not when overheating) is the fan switch temp based? or is there another sensor that tells when the fan is supposed to be on.

mike93eh

fan switch is temp based.. are you losing coolant? is it boiling up and filling up the overflow tank?

Racerage1

how many miles are on the motor?

when was the last time you changed your waterpump?

you've changed the headgasket, rad cap, fan seems fine(try to wire your fan so its on all the time.)

my guess: waterpump

BTW: whats your engine setup?

jazz215

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mike93eh &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">fan switch is temp based.. are you losing coolant? is it boiling up and filling up the overflow tank?</TD></TR></TABLE>

no coolant loss, it fills into the resivour but goes back down later.

jazz215

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Racerage1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">how many miles are on the motor?

when was the last time you changed your waterpump?

you've changed the headgasket, rad cap, fan seems fine(try to wire your fan so its on all the time.)

my guess: waterpump

BTW: whats your engine setup?</TD></TR></TABLE>
15,000 after rebuild
changed waterpump,oilpump & headgasket (oem honda) when i had the motor rebuilt
just changed the broken cap,
fan comes on sometimes (got any suggestions on wiring fans to stay on?)
setup: rebuilt z6, crower rods, srp 9:1, blockguard,str fuel rail, b&m fpr.