I dont understand my overheating problem. It only happens occasionally.

My temp needle will rise past halfway and climb its way up slowly at idle ONLY after i have a semi-hard run.....for example, if I downshift on the freeway to pass someone, then come to a stop after.

I also have to add a small amount of coolant every other week....and sometimes my resoviour bottle is almost full to the top after driving.

What I have tried:
-I have tried draining air out of system
-Swapping out thermostat
-Changed hoses
-Made sure fans worked properly
-Created a manual fan switch.
-No sign of leaks in my garage but I am sure there is one somewhere.......

I have a 94 GSR with a drag 3 turbo. I need to fix this before I tune my car. THanks for the time and help.

 

bump cause my sisters car does the same thing and I dont know what it is.

Blaze

 

my buddy turbo car did that and he replaced the radiator and that fixed his problem.

 

If your overflow isnt allowing the overflowed coolant to return, replace your radiator cap. The cap helps pressurize the cooling system, which therefore raises the BP. This may be why you get a little warm after a hard run. Just a thought.

 

My money is on a blown head gasket. Does the coolant get frothy?

 

frothy......as in when I drain it from the little 10mm valve on the block? WHen I drain the air after a hard run it spurts out air, and then looks like its boiling, with tons of little bubbles? Is that what u mean by frothy?

Blown headgasket eh? I dont see any smoke from exhaust.....

 

Hello. Heres my 2 cents if its worth anything.

Umm...did you compression test your cooling system? Most radiator shops will do it for free. Or you could buy a craftsmen one for $80.

Call me stupid, but check for leaks. They sometimes happen in the most unexpected places. 8)

Um...did you switch out your water pump already? If not, I would recommend doing it. I've had mine go bad--turns out it was leaking through the seals and the bearings were about to give.

Hope it helps.

 

how much is it to swap a water pump? What kind of labor is involved?

 

tiny bubbles is close enough. Unfortunately it sounds to me like it's the head gasket. You can have the coolant analyzed to see if it contaminated with exhaust to make sure before you spend any money fixing it. A friends car had the exact same problem. the leak wasn't bad enough to get white smoke out the exhaust yet.

good luck

 

ok well i just did compression test

1 - 210
2 - 200
3 - 210
4 - 210
so that rules out headgasket....ne ideas


[Modified by intekragsr, 12:32 AM 2/5/2003]

 

if its insanely watered down fluid that would explain the overflow filling quickly get af tester their 4.99 at any napa just check im not saying thats it but worth a shot if it is you could save money

 

I don't mean to beat a dead horse (honest) but I don't think it would be prudent to discount the head gasket until after you have the coolant analized. If it is the head gasket, it's obviously not bad enough to get coolant into the combustion chamber so it's only the smallest of leaks allowing high pressure combustion gasses to make their way into the cooling system. This size of leak may not show up during a compression test. do a google search using the terms head gasket and overflow bottle and you will find many articles confirming this. It would suck if it was the headgasket and it decided to let go all of a sudden


HTH