Just picked up another teg ... noticed that the car overheats randomly and runs low on coolant at times so I fill it every other day or so to make sure it's ok, I think there is either a leak in the radiator or the top hose had a small leak. I noticed bubbles going into the coolant overflow ... would this have to do with either or am I looking at a head gasket that is starting to go?

I'm going to be taking a look at the hoses and radiator tomorrow to make sure but just wanted some input, thanks!

 

take off the cap and start it up cold and wait till it warms up to see if bubbles come up, also make sure that its full. If it has bubble coming up with the cap off sounds like you might have a head gasket problem a leak down or getting the coolant system pressure checked can also help confirm if the head gasket is leaking.

 

ok, I will fill it cold then start it until it gets warm ... I'm looking for bubbles to come up from the cap (since it will be off), correct?

 

bubbles came out when it was cold AND when it was warm ...

 

I had this EXACT same issue 1 week ago, my car was overheating, so i pulled over and the water was ****ing boiling in my overflow tank. Anyways i got it home, emptied the shitty coolant put in some Super Flush w/ water. Drove around for 20 minutes, flushed again. Then filled it up with some nice fresh coolant. And that fixed it.

GL, try that Super Flush stuff. Its like $7 and worked for me.
You also may have a radiator cap that has the wrong pressure. like 1.7psi instead of 1.3psi. Or a bad waterpump, or headgasket. See if there is any white smoke coming out your exhaust.

 

When i had bubbles coming from my over flow it ment i had air in the system take the cap off, fill/bleed the system get all the air out. Could not be over heating just low on coolant so your temp sensor is reading the air bubble in the system and it is giving you a false reading. Get the air out of the system and go from there.

 

no white smoke at all ... so thats good, right?

 

will do ... sounds like my project for tomorrow

 

i also read somewhere that , with the cap off, if you rev it a little and water comes out of the cap like a geyser it would indicate a bad headgasket ... I tried this, wasn't the case.

so yesterday, drained the entire system, put a new thermostat (since I was in there and they don't cost hardly anything) and put new coolant ...

still overheats.

forgot to do a compression test since I didn't have any white smoke but will be doing this tomorrow anyway.

I guess the next thing to do is a radiator flush? I bought the stuff yesterday but was running out of daylight since I spent most of the day digging a ditch haha

 

Sounds to me like you ave serious air in the coolant lines, or a leaky head gasket.

 

I had a similar problem. In my case it was the headgasket. From what your describing you seem to have the early symptoms. Very early.
I had no white smoke. Just some bubbles, a reservoir full of coolant, and a pressurized coolant system when the car was cold, over night.
My leak down on cylinder #1 was 3%, the others less than that. When I pulled the head you could see the path from cylinder #1 to the coolant chamber.
I am not saying this it is your headgasket but has the head been of lately? 1-2 years?

 

just came from the garage and ran the car until it got to operating temp with the heater on ... did not overheat.

also, went for a quick drive earlier and it seemed ok but then again, I just drove the thing for maybe 15 minutes at the most.

the issue happens randomly so maybe I'll go for a putt later. again, will be doing a compression test this week, hopefully tomorrow

thanks again for the feedback everyone!

 

Went for a longer drive yesterday to do my compression test ...

cylinder 1,2, & 4 were 154, cylinder 3 was 149 so not bad. As long as they are within 10 lbs of each other, I'm good.

Had a couple MINOR air leaks (small cracked hoses) so I cut the hoses and re-positioned them. Also, the lower radiator hose was not seated correctly so I also re-seated and tightened that. Haven't had a problem since. I'm thinking I had air coming in from that lower radiator hose or something ... time will tell. Only driven it once since working on it, didn't get above normal operating temp once

 

problem re-occuring ... randomly again.

Ideas?

 

radiator blew (I think) .... fluid EVERYWHERE as soon as I shut it off. Luckily in the garage.

Parked the car in the garage, shut it off and heard a loud hissing of course then fluid everywhere from the bottom. Checked all the hoses and they all seemed fine. Radiator cap was still on the radiator so I have to see where it all came from in the morning.

Suggestions?

 

hose has a slit in it ... one that comes to thermostat from heater core. going to replace that today, I think I might be lucky for once!!

 

They are all within a few psi of eachother, but are pretty low for a Gsr motor. I think you may be looking at a rebuild sooner than later.

 

is the car leaving water spots on the ground? If you have to fill it every other day the leak is pretty bad, if there is one! You might want to check if the radiator hoses are hard, if they are it is a good sign you have air in the system. To fix this you can find a funnel that fits pretty tight in the top of the radiator and fill it with water/coolant while the car is COLD. Make sure there is plenty of water/coolant left in the funnel before starting. Then let it run and warm up for a while. let the fan turn on and off a couple times so it goes through an entire heat cycle. When you do this you can watch for bubbles comming up out of the funnel, and the level of coolant in the funnel will start to drop. To finish what is lift in the funnel, I normally bleed the system for a while to make sure the air is out out of the system completely. But this is what I do. You may do it another way if you want. Just my opinion from what you describe

 

its a stock ls

 

good advice thanks

turns out it was a slit in the hose after all. what a mess haha

got a new hose from kragen and its good to go! so far so good ....

 

back from the dead ... well a month ... grrrrrr

after that hose split (small hose under intake manifold) and I got it replaced, it was fine for a while ... then it gradually got harder and harder to start. It starts on the 4th or 5th try now for some dumb reason and when it DOES start it's shaky for a couple seconds then runs fine ... I'm wondering if I got something wet that wasn't supposed to get wet? You know, like all the electrical under the hood? Would any of that cause an issue?

So now I'm noticing some coolant leakage if I run the car for a bit and let it sit (example: went to get groceries and when I left Ralph's I noticed a good size wet area when I left) ... I will have to check the other hoses AGAIN I guess ...

ALSO, steam or something is coming from the intake pipe ... I took off the small loop of extra pipe (under) off the stock intake pipe so I could reach something one time and forgot to put it back on ... but anyway there is steam I guess coming from that area.

Oh, and the radiator reservoir fills to the brim and actually went 'poof' one time when I shut the car off. 'poof' meaning the sound it made when coolant shot outta the reservoir a little and splashed the intake and surrounding areas ...

Would a faulty cat have anything to do with this? I know it can cause overheating but all these other issues?

Thanks all!

 

upp

 

up up ... bought a new radiator cap, think that will help?

 

radiator cap didn't fit damnit ... still the same issue.

Drove it around for 20 minutes or so ... didn't heat up (YET) but the coolant in the overflow was almost to the top ... any ideas? thanks!

 

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