staticx1134

hey everyone, I am having a problem with my car overheating again... At first it was my fans about 2months ago that they would not come on. I fixed that problem by replacing the fan switch. Now when I am driving it is fine until I come to a stop for over a min. it will start to heat up and I can some times smell antifreeze. So I started with the easiest thing today and replaced the radiator cap and it didnt do anything. Im wondering if it is the thermostat,water pump or I dare not want to say headgasket

What do you all think?? O btw I also went ahead and bleeded the radiator.

Thanks!

staticx1134

Oh ya, I topped off everything when I did the radiator cap and drove around for a little bit and then checked the level in the radiator and it went down... The overflow stayed the same though. Also I dont see any thing dripping.

Kwando

make sure your cooling system does not have any air trapped in it... there is a bleeder valve that you can unscrew to get rid of the air... check out the helms manual

xviper

There may be a few things going on in your case, however, I am KEYING in on this phrase. Something is NOT right here and it "might" have something to do with your situation. It would seem that you are losing coolant even though you don't see it anywhere. Has your engine always overheated or is this something that's been happening lately?
I'm thinking that you don't have a solid connection between your radiator fill neck and the coolant reservoir. As your engine cools down, it should draw the coolant back out of the reservoir, thereby lowering the level. If the tube is loose at either the rad neck end or the reservoir end (and I'm thinking it's at the rad end), then you are not creating a seal and allowing the coolant to draw back in. When your engine heats up, the coolant should "overflow" into the tube and into the reservoir, raising the level. If the tube is loose, the coolant will squeeze out and most likely evaporate from the heat of running down the radiator. Can you see a green stain down the fins of the rad? Repeated heat cycles will have you lose coolant but no way of recovering it. It will push out coolant to the outside as it heats up and draw air back in as it cools.
How low was the level under the cap when you took it off? Does the level in the reservoir rise? You tell us it doesn't fall, so I would think it won't rise either. Put a little hose clamp or zip tie around the tube at the neck.
Start with this and get back to us and we can go from there.

staticx1134

k I will do in the morning... Viper you have helped me out so much!

Thanks!

xviper

Start with the engine cold. Zip tie that hose at the neck and pull up the reservoir so you can check the connection of the hose near the bottom and zip tie that too if you're at it (won't hurt). Remove the rad cap, top it up right to the brim, put cap back on and make sure the reservoir is filled to between the lines.
Now, go for a decent drive (at least 1/2 hour). With the rad full, it should heat up on this first drive. Does it? Now, go look at the reservoir level. Is it higher? It should be. After a complete cool down, it the level back down? It should be. If not, you'll need to address other possibilities - thermostat, rad hoses, bad hose clamps, air lock, bleeder valves, water pump, head gasket, other block leaks.

Oh, have the heater knob to HOT (fan switch on lowest setting - 1 light). Open your windows and use A/C if it gets too uncomfortable.

Eluded

You don't want to overheat this engine. It is VERY VERY delicate.

staticx1134

well i did what you said and just got back... Except this time it overheated quick... in about 5mins which it has never overheated that quick before. The over flow was filled all the way to the top now!

what now?

xviper

Do another coolant change and bleed and follow the instructions. This car can be a bit finicky to bleed properly. You may have an air lock from sucking all that air in from the previous cool down cycles.
Time to check your water pump and change your thermostat.

BTW, what kind of coolant is in there right now?

Ek9

You have blown head gasket symptoms. If you overheated it when the fans didn't work, that might have warped the head. As Eluded pointed out, these engine are easily damaged when overheated.

The quick overheat and overflowing overflow tank leads me in that direction. Blown HG will sometimes introduce gas to the cooling system so, it may seem like you need to bleed the air out but, next time you run it, it fills with gas again.

Any decent shop should be able to tell pretty quick with an exhaust gas analyzer held over the radiator cap opening.