Why is my car overheating?

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Began running really hot Saturday afternoon (It's always at around 8-9 o clock on my gauge). I let it sit for a few hours, filled the rad with about a third of a four litre bottle of antifreeze. At the same time, it began sputtering. Took into my mechanic Sunday morn, thinking head gasket. He said no, and let it run for what he said was a few hours and a few trips around the block. Nothing. (The sputtering, he said, was due to a loose ignition wire not making contact with a spark plug).

 

Drove it all yesterday and today, and nothing until about nine o clock. It got really hot all of a sudden. I managed to pull over, fill the overflow tank with a bottle of water I had in my car and sit for about ten minutes. It was cooler, but still a gamble taking it home, so I found a place to stop again and let it cool down a little longer before limping it home, still running really hot on the three or four kilometre trip.

 

Is there a way to gauge how much coolant the rad needs? Is there an issue of adding too much? I'll let it sit overnight, it's less than a five minute drive to work, and the daylight there will let me top the coolant up.....If I top the coolant in the rad up, should I still put cold water in the overflow? Wil it make a difference?

 

Edit: And I trust my mechanic immensely.

[vivalaultra 0]

I'm by no means a gearhead, but...

 

Does it only overheat when you're idling or at a stop? If so, it might be that one of your fans is out. Or maybe it's your belt. How's your belt?

 

If it's not a cracked head, it might be something with the radiator or the manifold. I dunno. What kinda car do you have? Is it new, used?

 

My Dad's got a Cadillac STS that was doing that overheating thing like yours where it only overheats every now and again. He brought it to his mechanic and turned out he did have a cracked head (even though there wasn't any white smoke coming outta the tailpipe or anything), and, in addition, his whole engine block was cracked.

 

Yeah, but like I said...I'm no car guy.

[Red Baron 0]

 

That is his car. A 93 Eagle Summit I believe.

[MrRant 0]

Is it burning off the antifreeze?

[Art Sandusky 0]

Tomorrow, during the day, park it over some concrete (only this will do), pour some more antifreeze in there, and see if it's leaking anywhere. That's the first step.

[Wyld Cannon 0]

You need a new johnson rod. It'll run ya like 500 bucks.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

"Johnson rod."

[Guest Legalise Drugs and Murder]

Water pump's going out.

[NoCalMike 0]

Someone told me once that once your car overheats, it usually breaks the gauge, and you have to have the gauge replaced....

 

Is this true at all?

 

I went through a car that over-heated and a head-basket blew....bye bye car. And the shitty thing is, it happened out of nowhere. I had never had a single problem with it over-heating EVER, always had fluids filled, and then ONE FUCKING DAY I am driving and all of the sudden the temp gauge goes off the chart, I pull over.....GOODBYE FORD ESCORT!!!

[Wyld Cannon 0]

i've had a blown headgasket for a while, I still drive. I just have to replace my oil and coolant once a month which is pain in the ass, but my only option currently.

[vivalaultra 0]

If your coolant's not leaking, there might be blockage in your tubes somewhere. There's a buncha stuff that it might be. We should turn this into a contest where the person who guesses correctly as to what the problem is wins. We could call it "The TSM Car Pool 2007".

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

I thought I noticed something last night when I filled the the overflow thank...there's a hose, about the circumference of a dime, that leads to....nowhere. It literally stops atop my overflow tank.

 

In the daylight today, it was confirmed. I'm thinking this might have something to do with it? I'd never noticed it before, but never really looked for it either....

 

Also, topped up my antifreeze at lunch. It's still full five hours later...So that effectively rules out leaking.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

If your coolant's not leaking, there might be blockage in your tubes somewhere. There's a buncha stuff that it might be. We should turn this into a contest where the person who guesses correctly as to what the problem is wins. We could call it "The TSM Car Pool 2007".

 

Not bad, actually. I doubt it'll get the love Schiavo got a few years ago. Anyone remember the blue ribbon KKK had in his sig?

[spman 0]

I just recently had this same problem with my car, and was diagnosed with a blown head gasket. For lord only knows what reason, my father agreed to this 1400 dollar repair job on a '96 Saturn with 150,000 miles on it that I only paid 1800 for in the first place back in July.

[NoCalMike 0]

I just recently had this same problem with my car, and was diagnosed with a blown head gasket. For lord only knows what reason, my father agreed to this 1400 dollar repair job on a '96 Saturn with 150,000 miles on it that I only paid 1800 for in the first place back in July.

 

 

I'm afraid this might be me starting....today. I just had my coolant flushed and filled because it looked like oil or something was in there. So today I am driving and the meter starts getting to the red, so I pull over and see coolant, brown thick shit, all over the spot I pulled over....which means it is running hot and spitting the coolant out again. So I basically wasted $75 on the coolant flush, and now I am facing the possibility of a cracked or broken head gasket which usually means the car is useless....FUCK. Oh and the car is also a 1996 Saturn with approx 102,067 miles on it....and no way in hell will I spend $1400 on a repair...