help! im overheating!

ok i've noticed ever since i got this car a few months back that the temp. tends to be 3/4 of the way up. twice this week coming home from work, my temp. gauge shot all the way up. (red) first time i immediately pulled over but then it shot back to 3/4's (weird). today, it stayed ALMOST touching the red line and finally went into the red. i pulled over, checked to see if the fans were running (both were running full blast) checked to see if there were any leaks and nothing. anybody know what the hell is going on? otherwise, everything else feels fine. the car was in an accident before so i dont know if that has anything to do with it. (water pump, thermostat, radiator?) :cry:

I have had this exp. Before it happened to me my temp gauge never went above half way, then it started freaking out and I was like wtf?!

I noticed I had a lot of leaking around the top radiator/engine exchange hose (forget if this is the pumping into or out of the engine). Anyway, I emptied all of the radiator (letting the car cool down first of couse fully fully) then put new worm clamps on the hoses lower and upper, cleaned the hoses, flushed the radiator, ran about a couple quarts through of pure 1/2 ethelene glycol and distilled water. Torqued the plug, cleaned the contacts, filled up the radiator, etc. Never had a single prob since.

hope this helps

L

should have said that those worm clamps provide a cleaner hold on the hose. I call them worm clams, they really are the ones you can tighten with a socket. Make sure not to tighten the one on the radiator too tight (think it's only plastic). also, if you're running the ac full blast like I was today in so cal you may want to do the above. basically it was a full radiator service.

L

dumb question..but is your radiaotr full of coolant, don't just look at the overflow bottle. Something like that happen to my old car...I kept thinkink that there's coolant in the radiator because the overflow bottle was full...turns out, I had a bad radiator cap and there was hardly any colant left in the radiator. but the overflow was full.

you also might want to check to see if your thermostat is bad. If you start overheating roll all the windows down and turn on your heat at full blast. It'll be hot in the car but it will take the temp down on your engine.

reminds me of cannonball, john candy in that bmw with that chick that was freaking out b/c she was so .. hot

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>ran about a couple quarts through of pure 1/2 ethelene glycol and distilled water</div>

why use pure ethylene over regular antifreeze

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>Ethylene glycol is a clear, colorless, odorless, viscous liquid with a sweet taste, that can produce dramatic toxicity. It is commonly found in homes and industry. It is found most commonly in antifreeze, automotive cooling systems, and hydraulic brake fluids</div>

My Temp gauge rose to 3/4 but never hit the red line.

Turns out my water pump was SHOT so I replaced the pump, timing belt, tensioner pulley, radiator hoses & thermostat.

Pump = $125
Belt = $50
tensioner = $30
Hoses = $10
Therm = $25

If you're going to pay to have someone replace your water pump, you might as well have them replace the timing belt too if you haven't already.