legacycentral bbs

I just chaged the oil and filter today because i realized its been a very longtime since it was done last. So far no leaks that I see, however I was driving to a few stores a lil while ago when was waiting to turn right when i accellerated the temp gauge went up incredibly fast. It was a smidge above the middle when i was idling and went almost to the red. After I drove to the next light though it cooled down, so I'm thinking it might be an air circulation thing. Then I came to the next light, and had to turn left, it was a long light so i decided to see what would happen if i turned on the ac. I pushed the regular one, and it started up normally. About 10 seconds later the temp began to rise, it got almost to the red again. I then turned the A/C off and about 3 seconds later the car died. I started up again and parked at home. I was sitting in my garage and decided to test the ac once again, sure enough it heated right up. I checked under the car for leaks and didn't find any new ones. I've never had the temps get this high before and its starting to scare me. I don't know what to suspect except the oil change. I just checked the oil level again and its almost full. Does anyone know what it could be?

did you check your radiator?

I wouldn't keep testing to see if you're getting into the red....not a great idea.

have you look at your coolant level ?

I had Heat Rise problems like you describe 3 weeks ago, caused by my engine being almost empty of prestone. (1 - 1.5l left)

Sounds like how my car was acting when the headgasket was leaking. Not enough of a leak to turn the exhaust white, but enough to need water topped off every 500 miles to keep the temps from acting up. Would have been a simple fix, had my crank not been chewed by the pulley at the same time.

Just checked the coolant, its about in the middle of low and full and the engine area is still pretty warm.

THAWA: I hope your not looking at the overflow.....

i would check the usual stuff (radiator, fans, hoses, fluid level, thermostat, etc...) also, while the car is running, check the coolant reservoir for small bubbles coming from the bottom every couple of seconds. although it wouldn't overheat, my coolant reservoir would have bubbles and it turned out to be the head gaskets which i replaced myself.

when was the last time you changed your coolant or flushed the cooling system?

for the coolant level, it's important to look in the radiator! not the white bottle attached to it

Yeah, the turbo models have a cap to fill the coolant up near the throttle plate. There is no cap on the radiator itself. There is also an over flow tank, which the n/a vehicles have, also. You don't want to look at that. Check your actual radiator by pulling the cap. Just don't do it after you've been driving!!! If your not sure how hot your engine is I'd suggest wait until the morning.

If your engine is hot and you try and pop that cap right after you stop driving the pressure will blow that cap off if your not careful and it could give you some serious burns. I used to work at a lube shop and a guy did that. He didn't warn the guy in the pit about it, either, and the guy under the car wasn't too pleased to say the least.

While I'm thinking about it, if you don't think the oil had been changed in a while then it is probably a good bet that the coolant hasn't been changed also. Most places recommend that it is changed every 15k to 20k miles. I wouldn't think that it should be changed before winter especially in Sacramento, but you may want to flush it before the summer comes around again.

Well I've only driven about 7k miles since I've had it and most of the fluids were done about this time last year, did the oil and tranny fluid sometime earlier this year though.

yes I was looking at the white overflow resivoir, when I open the radiator cap should I see fluid if I do this in the morning?

It looks like I should change and flush the fluid

Hell I ought to change all the fluids.

you should always see fluid when you take the radiator cap off.

also, if it looks like your coolant needs to be changed like you said, your radiator might be clogged. it might be time for a flush.

If all else fails, change the radiator hoses too. They can get soft over time and close up, restricting coolant flow. Happened to me.

Steve

All the hoses and stuff look pretty good. When I looked in the rad i could see fluid but it was down pretty low, like after the lil bend, sound like this is the problem. Also during the drive today the gauge stayed pretty much in the same place as always, at anyrate a flush sound like somethign to do tomorrow. thanks guys

Read some of the stuff we have written about burping the system. Its easy to get air trapped in the system, especially in the heater core.