1994 Villager overheat then engine cuts off

Hello!

I have a 94 Villager and my honey and I were going out on a date (we have 6 kids, sigh... far and few between) and the Van started overheating while going through a drivethrough for a soda.

Series of events:
I smelled the car
looked at the heat index
it was heading up

we took a chance (perhaps a stupid one) and tried to drive home (10 miles) made it about 5 and the engine shut off as it got up the hill from off ramp (thank goodness we got up the hill, lol... there was no way we could have pushed it up there)

Chris got out and pushed it a block or so to a hotel parking lot and we looked it over.

Looks to be that the fan is not turning on and a radiator hose had a bubble in it. There was still plenty of fluid in the overflow so it wasn't near empty.

Any ideas? Chris is picking up a radiator hose and thermostat on the way home from work today... thank goodness for Mom.

edited to say, looks like the radiator coolant fan motor is working, but the connection thing that goes from the relays to the fan are melted? so he pulled out that and took it to the autoparts store and they don't have that. So, I will call the dealer tomorrow and see if they offer it, otherwise it's off to the junkyard.

Any other ideas would be great! Thank you!
thanks for your help!
Selena

Hello!

I have a 94 Villager and my honey and I were going out on a date (we have 6 kids, sigh... far and few between) and the Van started overheating while going through a drivethrough for a soda.

Series of events:
I smelled the car
looked at the heat index
it was heading up

we took a chance (perhaps a stupid one) and tried to drive home (10 miles) made it about 5 and the engine shut off as it got up the hill from off ramp (thank goodness we got up the hill, lol... there was no way we could have pushed it up there)

Chris got out and pushed it a block or so to a hotel parking lot and we looked it over.

Looks to be that the fan is not turning on and a radiator hose had a bubble in it. There was still plenty of fluid in the overflow so it wasn't near empty.

Any ideas? Chris is picking up a radiator hose and thermostat on the way home from work today... thank goodness for Mom.

thanks for your help!
Selena


Sounds to me like it got so hot that the engine locked up. Hopefully after it cools off it will turn over and start. I would make sure it will turn over before ding any work on it.

If it turns over and runs change the thermostat and make sure that the cooing fan does work. When burping the coolant system of the air, raise the front off vehicle, drive it up on car ramps or park it on a incline of some sort. This helps get the air out of system and it takes time. Also turn the heater control to full heat, the blower motor does not need to be on.

Let us know if the engine turns over and runs and we will help more if needed.

good luck

hello,

yes, sorry, I missed that one thing. It died Monday, Tuesday afternoon he went back and picked it up and had MIL follow behind to make sure he got here. The temp went fine for the first 5 minutes then shot straight up again.

He replaced the hose that was bubbling... do you think it will need the thermostat? Or do you think maybe just replacing that relay switch connecting thing might enable the fan to switch on properly? Does the thermostat signal the relay to turn on the fan or??

thank you!

hello,

yes, sorry, I missed that one thing. It died Monday, Tuesday afternoon he went back and picked it up and had MIL follow behind to make sure he got here. The temp went fine for the first 5 minutes then shot straight up again.

He replaced the hose that was bubbling... do you think it will need the thermostat? Or do you think maybe just replacing that relay switch connecting thing might enable the fan to switch on properly? Does the thermostat signal the relay to turn on the fan or??

thank you!

Yes change the thermostat and I believe the engine coolant temp sensor sends a signal to the PCM to turn the fans on.