Ok...sooooo first problem...i think both of these almost have something to do with each other.. but im not sure...ok..so i was driving down the road the other morning to school and noticed my heat wasnt very hot..so i was like wtf...and then i turned it off and back on and it got hot and the car started to over heat...like not to bad... but noticable and it just drove fine...and then i parked...

I went to crank it back up(NEXT PROBLEM) and it didnt want to..i sat there and it turned over for about 7 sec. while i was giving it good good gas and then it finally cranked up..It then started to overheat randomly...my first guess was a thermostat...but then i thought it wouldnt do it randomly..it will be rly hot all of the sudden and then it will just drop back down to normal..

My next guess was a leak in the radiator because i started filling my radiator up like every day with like a bottle and a half of water...and the overflow tank emptys itself 2...but..theres nothing..no leak..no steam anywhere..no smell..no nothing...

Next guess...bad headgasket...but my oil was normal color and my radiator fluid was normal color...it didnt smoke at all either...

So now im sitting here..trying to figure out how my radiator can lose fluid in a closed circuit...??? WTF?!?! if anybody can help it would be appriciated
Chris

 

check to see if your radiator cap is good, and i would say replace your thermostat also. the long cranking cold be another problem altogether but not sure

 

first step, remove your rad and bring it to a radiator shop to have it leak and pressure tested.

check your hoses and clamps.

the rad test should basically tell the story.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Turbo Dan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">first step, remove your rad and bring it to a radiator shop to have it leak and pressure tested.

check your hoses and clamps.

the rad test should basically tell the story.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Umm, no. That is a basic in car procedure. I would take it to a shop that can doa basic pressure test procedure if you can not see any leaks while the car is fully warm (Try putting a large piece od cardboard under the car after topping up the coolant and warming it up fully). If no leaks, it is either the heater core or head gasket, and I hope you can identify if the heater core is leaking! Compression/leakdown test results?

 

umm yes,

actually, you dont know what your talking about.

do you know what temperature coolant gets to in a rad?
do you know what happens to small amounts of coolant that leak out of a pinhole leak on a rad.

yup, you guessed it, it evaporates. so your cardboard will be dry as a bone. just because you aren't shooting water out of your rad by the gallon doesnt mean its not leaking.

have you ever boiled water for 20+ minutes? ever notice how the water goes somewhere? if youre asking yourself where this water is going its evaporating

nice advice though

 

To check the headgasket remove the radiator cap when cold and crank the
motor, have someone watch for bubbles in the radiator. If there are no
bubbles top off the radiator while it's running.

 

ok..soo i went to crank it up yesterday and it didnt want to crank..it took about 2 hours to get cranked and when if finally did it let out a poof of white smoke and was spitting out water...aka blown headgasket...that narrows it down..right??

 

yup, sounds like you got engine problems.

search for headgasket or blown headgasket on this forum to read about similar problems people have had.

more than likely sounds like you may need to replace the headgasket, hopefully thats all thats wrong.