car is over heating help please

[stang]

HEY

i just ternt 16 years old and have a 1998 cavalier and when i start it up and let is run and i come back ofter 8 min the niddle it at hott say ing it is over heating??????????????????????????/

[Flatrater]

Just because the needle is at the red range doesn't mean its overheating! Now is the needle in the red? Is the coolant overflow jug bubbling over? If you answer no to the questions I would feel that you have a gauge problem where it isn't accurate. Now its either a bad guage or a bad sender.

If the coolant is bubbling in the jug than you have to make sure you have enough coolant in the rad, the water pump is working,the cooling fan is working. Make sure their is nothing blocking the air fow over the rad.

A good tip to remember is if your engine is overheating turn on your air conditioning it will force your cooling fan to come on.

[SolTheHoelessPimp]

do not turn your ac on if the cooling fan is not working, this will overheat your engine.

[stang]

the coolant is bubbling in the jug and comming out

[H&H Motorsports]

In my experience with Cavaliers, which is pretty extencive, it sounds to me like you have a blown head gasket, maybe a bad water pump. While the car is cold and hasn't been ran take the rad. cap off then start the car with the cap off watch to see if the water is moving through the rad, if not replace the water pump and the thermostat. Also check the oil, I would do this first, if the oil has a grey "milky" look to it you have a blown head gasket and there is no need to check water flow. write back and let me know your findings.

Chris,
H&H Motorsports

[H&H Motorsports]

In my experience with Cavaliers, which is pretty extencive, it sounds to me like you have a blown head gasket, maybe a bad water pump. While the car is cold and hasn't been ran take the rad. cap off then start the car with the cap off watch to see if the water is moving through the rad, if not replace the water pump and the thermostat. Also check the oil, I would do this first, if the oil has a grey "milky" look to it you have a blown head gasket and there is no need to check water flow. write back and let me know your findings.

Chris,
H&H Motorsports

[muck]

ok im having the same problem, but i took out the termostat, watched the fans running, checked the oil, and checked the water pump. and its still overheating......
im running out of things to check. what does the heater valve do? and can this cause overheating? whats left to check? just the heater core? need help fast. thanks

[klohiq]

mine does the same thing...havent checked to see if the coolant is boiling. It's kinda intermitent where I can drive pretty far and it just gets close to the red and backs off slightly and then stabilizes, but other times it overheats a lot faster and I'm not taxing the engine/ accelerating/ revving it much/ using the ac/ anything else i can think that would make a difference.

Haven't checked to see if the fan is moving. Also haven't checked out many of the possible things like thermostat though when I dropped off some oil at the dump they called me telling me I had to come back and get it since it had antifreeze in it and couldn't be recycled. Me and my friend both did an oil change so it could b either of ours. I suppose that means the head gasket is about to go on mine if it is mine that was mixing?

It also has some hesitation and stutters when I'm starting out from a stop. Like if I rev it a little (probly 2500 rpms or less) and then less off the gas and then press the gas again fairly quickly it just bogs down.

So the question is...what should I check for and does anyone know some definite problems I need to get fixed?

[Flatrater]

What about a bad rad cap?? If your coolant system doesnot build up pressure due to a leaking rad cap the car will overheat much quicker!!! Also what about a head gasket, that is allowing coolant to leak out the corners? The increase in pressure inside your cooling system raises the boiling point of the water! No increase in pressue then you have a hot running engine!!!!

[scorpioangel71]

UGH!! It appears I am not alone. I am having a serious problem with my 98 Cavalier LS. Started overheating for no reason about a month ago. Short distance, long distance..no rhyme or reason. Goes to the red zone in a matter of minutes. Some times not at all. Fan comes on, use air conditioning to try and keep it cool, but AC will start to heat up and we can smell the antifreeze... AntiFreeze (Dexicool) is bubbling over in well!! Thank GOD I have the Major Guard: so far the garage has (in order) 1. new thermostat 2. radiator flush 3. new radiator 4. new radiator cap 5. water pump. It has been in the shop constantly, everytime they appear completely stumped and I feel like they are just guessing at this point. I have asked about the head gasket, but they say oil looks fine and diagnostics do not indicate any cracks. They say they are at a loss and have calls into GM HQ. This garage has a good rep and has been around for 30 + years. They have been very nice through all of this. SO far I have reigned in my temper but I am getting very frustrated! It is still in shop as we speak (over a week now..they got sick of us renting cars on the Major Guard plan so we are driving a loaner). Does anyone have any suggestions? Am I losing my mind? Is the garage incompetent? I have been searching for recalls and other info about this problem...any advice would be sooo appreciated!! Thanks !!!

[mdb25]

Ahhh, overheating cavaliers. It is a problem that has plagued the cavalier throughout it's history. The most important thing to remember is that if you have a cavy that is not running at normal temps, you should NOT be driving it. It only takes one time overheating to warp an aluminum head, or worse yet, crack it, then you are into major repairs and an empty wallet. If you have a cavy that is overheating, you should always check for the obvious first:

1.) Is there a sufficient amount of coolant?
2.) Is the fan working?
3.) Is the water pump getting noisy or not working?
4.) If you are over 50K miles, have you had the coolant system flushed?
5.) Has the engine lost compression? AKA bad head gasket

The first three are the easiest to check and anyone with a little common sense can do so. Coolant leaks are easy to spot and even easier to smell while driving. They result from a bad hoses, a cracked or rotten radiator, or a failing heater core. Confirming if the fan works is simply a matter of listening for it when the car has been running for a few minutes. Water pumps usually get pretty noisy when they start to go. Flushing the coolant system every 50K is a good idea because the most common cause for radiator failure is debris is the coolant system. Even if your radiator is still solid and has no holes, they can still fail from debris blockage. The worst case scenario, a bad head gasket, is also a common problem on cavaliers. There are a mutitude of ways to check if your head gasket is bad and I will list those below. But the one definite and easy way to check is to go to your car in the morning, after it has been sitting for more than 6 hours, remove the radiator cap and then starts the engine. Normally you should see a smooth swirling motion of circulating coolant. As the car heats up this coolant will rise, so you must check for this when the car is cold. Now, a car with a bad head gasket when it's cold will instead immediately blow air bubbles. Almost like a peson gurguling water.

Other signs of a blown/deteriorated head gasket are:
1.) A large amount of thick white exhaust coming out of the muffler. Results from antifreeze leaking though the head gasket and being burned up in the cylinder.
2.) Gas production (gurgling) in the overflow tank.
3.) Poor performance with intermittent overheating.
4.) Creamy looking oil. Results from oil getting mixed in with the antifreeze.

I hope that this helps. I had to learn the hard way with my old Z24 and I warped the heads.

[clubcav_com]

what CANT you do to a cavy? they got everyting for that car now since a few years back..basically, everything they make for hondas and acuras, they got for cavs now...no joke

[klohiq]

The overheating and hesistation is mostly gone now on mine. I got a new water pump and it doesn't get much past half way on the temp gauge. Yes, that's above what it used to be and the radiator or head gasket or something might be going, but it's running alright at the moment.

Also got the coolant line/rail or whatever it's called replace. The long black tube just above the spark plugs and valve cover. That didn't fix much of the cooling problem though.

Going to check tomorrow morning or tonight when its cold out to see if the liquid in the coolant tank bubbles. Hopefully I don't need to replace, but I think I might have to. No white smoke is coming out the rear of the car, but it does seem like it's only running on 3 cylinders.

[sweetwhiteCAV]

Originally Posted by clubcav_com

what CANT you do to a cavy? they got everyting for that car now since a few years back..basically, everything they make for hondas and acuras, they got for cavs now...no joke

sorry, but I hate this guy...

[clubcav_com]

make an override switch for your cooling fan...look it up on google a ton of people have done it and posted up how to do it

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