Possible overheating?

DSMNerd6889 · #1 01-23-2007, 03:50 AM

Hey guys, I was driving home last night from work (very cold). And my car was acting really funny. First off, it wouldn't heat up to turn the heater on. The gauge never read very hot, but on my way home my car died at a stoplight, it took a little bit, but I was able to get it started again. Then it died again as I was waiting for my garage door to open. I wasn't able to get it started again. When I looked under my hood, there was steam and gargling coming from the radiator cap. I really am not sure what's going on here, my initial thought is thermostat. Any other thoughts? Thanks in advance!

DSMNerd6889 · #2 01-23-2007, 09:57 AM

After taking another look under the hood this morning, I may have spotted my problem. On my thermostat housing there is a small threaded plastic piece that two vacuum hoses go into. That piece appears to be broken off. When I went thru my Chilton and Haynes manual the only reference I saw was calling it a thermo valve. Would this cause my thermostat not to open? Also, does anyone know where I could get one of these? Thanks in advance.

gthompson97 · #3 01-23-2007, 11:21 AM

The thermostat is only reactive to heat and nothing else, so no, that would have anything to do with it. Besides it stalling, did it run fine (idle, crusing, etc)? These cars have a tendency to warm up quite slowly (or mine did) on a very cold night (any car does if it's extremely cold), so that may be part of the problem too. If you find it never gets to normal operating temps in the cold weather, just ziptie a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator (behind the bumper), and that should help. Just remember to take it out once it starts to get warm again.

Mikelb · #4 01-23-2007, 11:40 AM

^that valve... I have it disconnected on my car... all it does is run vacuum through the valve to allow the coolant to flow into the throttle body to heat the car when it's warm...

^try Garret's trick to help the car warm up faster, and make sure you have enough coolant in the radiator (if air gets in there, the water pump won't be able to pump water through the block, but then you'd know it was over heating...the thermostat would get really high, and you'd be boiling coolant out the overflow)...

DSMNerd6889 · #5 01-23-2007, 12:49 PM

Well, what I'm wondering now is if I need that valve hooked up since I live in a cold climate, last night when all this happened it was 15 degrees. I read somewhere that when the coolant doesn't run thru the throttle body that it'll idle high (which it was doing) do you think these problems could be due to the fact that my tb wasn't getting any heat? Thanks again.

gthompson97 · #6 01-23-2007, 01:04 PM

Yes, it could be. Fix that connector and see if it helps. And if it's only 15, then your car should operate fine. I'm from ND and when you said very cold, I was thinking along the lines of like -20, but no need to use the cardboard if it's only 15 outside.

DSMNerd6889 · #7 01-26-2007, 03:39 AM

Okay, so I think my problem was that my coolant froze. I found a busted coolant hose between the thermostat and the turbo. After I replaced that I found a lot of coolant leaking from the drivers side of the motor, I'm thinking it's the water pump but was wanting to know if we have freeze plugs or anything like that that I may look into. Thanks.

Mikelb · #8 01-26-2007, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DSMNerd6889

Okay, so I think my problem was that my coolant froze. I found a busted coolant hose between the thermostat and the turbo. After I replaced that I found a lot of coolant leaking from the drivers side of the motor, I'm thinking it's the water pump but was wanting to know if we have freeze plugs or anything like that that I may look into. Thanks.

what mix antifreeze/water u running?

50/50?

gthompson97 · #9 01-26-2007, 11:43 AM

Your coolant froze!?! That's an extremely bad thing. Worst case scenario, the block is cracked. Lucky case scenario, you broke a coolant hose. Run a 50/50 mix of green antifreeze and water. If I was you, park your car inside for a few days to let the coolant melt, drain the cooling system, and then re-fill it back up and make sure that ALL the hoses are in good condition.

There are freeze plugs, but if you actually froze the block, you most likely fucked the water pump too.

DSMNerd6889 · #10 01-26-2007, 11:02 PM

No, it's not like all the coolant froze, but like bits of ice. It's all fluid now, but I blew out a hose and now there's a leak coming from around the water pump I think. Does anyone know where the freeze plugs are on our cars? Thanks again.

gthompson97 · #11 01-26-2007, 11:13 PM

There's 3 or 4 on the front and 4 on the back. You do know what frost plugs are right?

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