Overheating... DAMNIT

[EvilNCarnate]

Well I had problems overheating and noticed my fans were not running. So I replaced the fans with some flexalite fans. Well today she overheated again and datalogger shows water temps of 283. Considering the temp sensor is in the bottom of the core I can bet she was much much hotter. Now lets cover the symptoms.

Stopped and checked the overflow, VERY FULL
Felt the hose from the waterneck to the top of the radiator core, VERY HOT
Felt the hose from the bottom of the radiator core to the waterneck, WARM
While driving I had steam coming through my dash vents, Possible heater core leak, however it could have just been the steam from under the hood being sucked into the air intake for the climate control.
Fillmy residue on the inside of my windows the last few times she has been driven, Possible heater core leak

Right now I am letting her cool down. Then I will pop the radiator cap and see if there is noticeable fluid movement. Next step will be to try to pressurize the radiator and see if I can force some fluid through the core. The water pump only has 22k on it and it was a dealership 60k done at 90k. When I replaced the VSS all of the 60k stuff looked great and I remember the water pump did spin. I will however pull the timing belt covers and make sure she is still spinning while the engine runs.

So what other ideas do we have for me here? Also for those in the know, give me some cost estimates for parts and locations to order them from. I will report back in a couple hours with info regarding the conditions I find.

[Alan92rttt]

Did you consider the thermostat ?

[EvilNCarnate]

I should have considered myself an idiot. I just went out, popped the cap on the waterneck and looked for water... hmmmm none. Overflow tank... FULL. I filled the car through the neck with coolant and threw in some Royal Purple Ice. Fired her up, revved, added, revved added. Circulated just fine. Popped the cap to the overflow and the line from the cap going into the overflow was busted. Irony. I just replaced every last line on the car with all new platinum cured silicone. Cost me a few bucks but all the old ones were dry rotted, cracked, brittle, stiff.... The one line I didnt replace.... The one inside the cap. I replaced the line to it, the line out of it for overflow. Just not the one in the cap. Replaced it with some leftover line. Went and drove with the AC on, full boost, some "spirited runs", stop and go from stop sign to stop sign and she never went over 190.

[EvilNCarnate]

P.S. Thanks for the reply Alan. I know you dont like my affiliations but I am glad you are able to rise above that and still help out. +rep for you

[Alan92rttt]

I may not like TANP as a group but I individually I have no real issue with most of the members. (even ox is not that bad most of the time)

[EvilNCarnate]

Well now I am confused. I drove to Branson... about a 45 mile drive. Didnt overheat the whole way there. Drove into town, peddled around... 5 minutes inside town its hot, jumped up quickly. I parked and shut her down... BOOM. 300 degrees on the datalogger at park, looked back on the log and it went up from 180 - 260 in 5 minutes last 20 was after parking. It blew the top radiator hose off and with it half of the connector on the radiator, thank you fiberglass. I always carry an adjustable wrench in my car so I loosened the clamp, removed the 1/4 circle flare from the hose. Reattached it and ate lunch. Came back out, 240 degrees. Drove to the nearest gas station 1 mile and got some premix. 2 gallons of premix later, started up, cooled down in about 10 minutes to standard temps. Drove all the way home, back through my larger city and parked it at home still setting at 179 degrees.

My guess is the hose issue from earlier was the initial prob. However the new prob could be that the overflow was filled to the top. It couldnt push the fluid out when it got hot since the overflow was so full and it found the weakest link in the pressure system. The connection broke off in the middle of the clamp so I am going to assume it was stressed behind the front of the band (clamp has two metal bands side by side instead of a worm type). This is what made it the weakest link.

Anyway, I have been banned from driving it to Atlanta and will instead be taking the Minivan there. In addition I have been told I WILL buy another vehicle and apperantly I already have approval on an auto loan. As of 5 minutes ago it looks like I will be buying a 2001 Lexus ES300 with 40k miles on it.

Originally when we talked she told me I was going to have to trade in my car and get another one. I got mad. We argued, I almost cried. Swear to god I almost cried at the thought of trading in my car. I refuse to do it. I guess a Lexus isnt so bad.

Good news. My work area is a 95 mile round trip. I will be there almost daily. In addition I will be one of 2 network techs so I will be sent all over BFE. Company will reimburse mileage. My goal, dump every penny of mileage money into the car payment before they get around to giving me a van next year. So far I have been told they are slow on it. Typically 2-4 months after the new year they get around to it, then a few more months to take delivery. Figure minimum 50.00 a day in mileage, half going to gas... comes to about 500/month towards the car payment. Tack it on as an extra payment and cut the loan in half.

As for the VR4, paint money will be again chopped up and I will be buying a new radiator, thermostat, water pump and radiator cap. I dont just fix a problem on my car, I fix everything in the same category. So at least thats one less item to worry about, figure 400.00 for those parts and 1 or 2 days to replace them. Might hold off on the water pump until I get a little more cash and just do a full 60k as it will be the second time the timing belt will come off.

[J-Groove]

Another thing to check. It is random but it just happened to me a month ago. Make sure part of the fan shroud is no loose and going up into your fans. You said in your first post that the fans were not coming on then later on they were.

Check that out. Mine was acting the same way, fans would work then the wouldn't, it wasn't until the entire shroud was tore loose and ripped my drivers side fan loose that I finally noticed what was happening.

Good luck.

-john

[Alan92rttt]

Humor me and check the t-stat.

I messed with mine for server days thinking its can't be the t-stat and something else was keeping the fan's off.

[EvilNCarnate]

[quote=""J-Groove""]Another thing to check. It is random but it just happened to me a month ago. Make sure part of the fan shroud is no loose and going up into your fans. You said in your first post that the fans were not coming on then later on they were.

Check that out. Mine was acting the same way, fans would work then the wouldn't, it wasn't until the entire shroud was tore loose and ripped my drivers side fan loose that I finally noticed what was happening.

Good luck.

-john[/quote]
Fans are now flex-a-lite fans, however they were just installed and it hasnt been driven until today. I did make sure they were tight and square during installation.

[quote=""Alan92rttt""]Humor me and check the t-stat.

I messed with mine for server days thinking its can't be the t-stat and something else was keeping the fan's off.[/quote]
I think you may be right, all signs point to that as the issue. However I will still need a new radiator since half of the connection for the top hose broke off. Worst case I can sell the old one on 3SI (Obviously with a disclaimer).


I have put 75 more miles on it since I had it overheat and all with the AC on, still cool