Dr4900n

I searched and found some info, but nothing that matched my exact symptoms.

I went out for a drive to get a garden hose and soap to wash my car. So I'm pulling into my parking lot and I notice my temp gauge is creeping up there, so I park and pop the hood.

I check under the car and there is no fluid on the ground. There is a little moisture on some hoses under the main passenger side coolant hose, but not alot.

I listen and the coolant hose on the passenger side is bubbling inside and is quite hot (******* rad burned me a bit).

I look at my coolant bottle and it was way past full and at the top and all the coolant was cold.

The top passenger side of my rad is hot, but the driver side is cold.

I'm hoping that by some terrible stroke of bad luck I just caught a bubble and the system needs to be flushed so I'm going to wait 10 hours and do that.

Could my rad be clogged? It didn't seem to be pushing any coolant through it.

ericgrau

iTrader: (1)

It could be:

A. Boiling for whatever reason: air in the system keeping it from circulating, no undertray on the radiator, clogged radiator, etc.

B. Blown coolant seal. Unlikely, because then you would have this problem all the time. And you'd either need a bad overheat first or else - after years of severe cooling system negligence - the problem would come up slowly.

C. You were just hearing a little air moving and you were over-reacting. Normal coolant temps are 180-200, just a little below boiling water.

On the 1986-1988 models, the gauge is normal at around 1/8th-1/4 of the way up. It can go as high as 3/4 without any short-term problems. At around 7/8 or so you're starting to overheat.

www.aaroncake.net has a cooling system diagnostics section. The forum FAQ for tips on improving your cooling system. Find a maintenance schedule - owner's manual, haynes manual, factory service manual from a link in the FAQ, etc. - and do all maintenance, including cooling system maintenance. Always use an OEM thermostat. The Lisle funnel does a wonderful job of removing air and it's super simple & easy. Search forums and google for info. Other methods of removing air are slow, frustrating and partially ineffective.

hanman

Sounds like the rad might be clogged. I would also check the thermostat, it may be fubared.