Thread: Cooling System Question...

thanks for the help -- took the car to the shop, waterpump needed to be fixed, got that done...

Where are you? I had a similar thing happen to me in the Rust Belt because my grounds were so corroded. It doesn't sound like you're overheating, just that you put too much fluid in. Check your grounds and potentially replace the gauge sensor.

Sounds like you spend a bunch of money on coolant. If you feel your car is starting to overheat, believe it or not, the best thing is distilled water not coolant.

For what could be causing the issue start with the simple and then go to the PITA.

The coolant on the driveway could be out of the reservoir. Check and see how full it is. On first start most of that should go back into the system, but if you put to much in then it just sits.

Isfahan - its a Florida car so dont think I have to worry about about rust, but thanks for that.


kcobabe - thanks for the tip -- the coolant was 10 bucks, so not too much , but still, good point.

When I filled it in the parking lot, it was to the "max" line, when I checked the next morning, it was well below that ( none was in the overflow tank)...

not sure if this is related, but if I am at a stop light with the A/C on, I will start to get a humming noise (I figured its the compressor), that goes away if I rev the engine a bit (turning off A/C also makes the noise go away 100%)

Check your fans. The one on the drivers side is the regular cooling fan, the one on the passenger side is the AC fan.

A bunch of folks helped me out (mechanical Newb) with a "checklist" of things to look at when I was overheating, and then helped me figure out I had a dead fan. The "checklist" might help you out.

http://www.sr20-forum.com/general-sr20/59748-fan-issue-mechanical-newb-questions.html

Maybe your AC fan is only working intermittently? That could explain the humming noise, going away when you turn off the AC, and it might explain the needle going up and down as the AC fan either works or doesn't work.

On the other hand, I could be way off base.

+1. I had some overheating issues in my '92 SE-R VE, running some weird "Dex-Cool" coolant crap when the outdoor temperatures creeped towards and around 100 degrees so far this summer. Got rid of all of it, refilled with only distilled water and a bottle of Water Wetter and haven't had a problem since. Actual 50/50 anti-freeze/coolant is like $14-$16 per jug; distilled water is like $1.80 per gallon. The only thing is a bottle of Water Wetter is like $10-$12 so in the end it comes pretty close anyway in terms of price.

what do you all recommend as a first step for diagnosis?

1) Pressure test the radiator?
2) Have the WP checked?

..thanks again..

I would look and try to find out if your system is leaking from a hose, seal, or wherever. (i had a leak on my ve on the intake manifold where the hoses under the intake manifold go to the block, it would only leak some of the time but it was enough to empty my system out in 3 days), after you drive somewhere I would try to find the leak (if there is one), you may have to get under the car to look. That is the simplest to start with.

The movement in the temp gauge is probably caused at the temp sending unit. The connector on the unit deteriorates and engine vibration interrupts the signal to the temp gauge. This has been reported a few times on the forums.