Okay so this FC has put me through Coolant Hell.

Anyways heres the story,

Car starts up just fine, full of coolant. Warms up, and then in city and low speed driving, temps start to climb, especially if I do not move it goes as high as 210 degrees.

So problem would be Fan. BUT I just swapped the clutch fan for a Taurus E-Fan and have been running it for 2 months and has been working beautifully. About 2 weeks ago I noticed I was actually running it on the high speed for 2 months, so I rewired it to run off the low speed. So I ran it on low speed for a week, and it basically cooled the same amount, and at no time would it ever overheat.

Fast forward to about last monday, car starts to overheat in stop and go traffic, however right when i hit the freeway, or hit a steady 45 mph, I can even turn the fan off and I get 180 ~ 185 Degrees. Depending on whether im going up hill or not.

I have changed:

Thermostat - 5 Months ago. Yes OEM.
Water Pump with low Mileage - 3 Months ago.
Radiator is AWR Aluminum Radiator - 11 months ago.
Have a Self Fabbed Aluminum undertray.
E-Fan is Taurus E-Fan 2 months ago. set up to run by switch. I have confirmed that it pulls air just perfect.

I'm not sure what else plays a part in the cooling system. I have flushed my coolant a bazillion times considering how much of the cooling system I've had to replace over the past few months. There is technically nothing left.

I have gone through virtually every hose, including heater hoses and mini hoses to BAC and what not.

Anybody know whats up?

Sounds like a sticking thermostat to me, I'm going to test it tomorrow when its day light, but I wouldn't think it would be the thermostat considering i just replaced it 5 months ago, and it is an OEM one, with the Jiggle Pin, And the Jiggle Pin is installed upwards properly.

Also I'm leaking coolant somewhere. Not internally cause its leaking on the floor, and sometime steams from the engine bay. Not heavily, maybe a quart every one and a half weeks. No clue where its coming from, I need to get it pressure checked.

its not the weep hole in the water pump cause I have a clear view of that. If its ANYTHING it might be the rear gasket from water pump housing to front cover. But I doubt that too =/ We'll see.

Anyways, any suggestions?

 

the leak could be letting an air pocket form in the cooling system. get that leak fixed before you do anything else.

 

pressure check it first then wile its running check the temperaure of the coolant in the radiator when it starts to over heat to make sure your gages are not just malfunctioning. old cars are wierd with that kind of stuff. if its still overheating and you cant find exacly where its coming from check the coolant hoses for small cracks and damage. and worst case senerio someone used barsleak in the system some time and now you have a clog somewhere. good luck

 

I just went through this, rent the cooling system pressure tester from Advance Auto parts. pump the system up to cap pressure (13psi) and feel around for leaks.

 

Mmm. I have a brand new after-market gauge. All the hoses were replaced, but I did check the usual hoses, unless there are hoses I do not know about.

I'm going to try and use the pressure tester from my schools auto shop, if not then I will do what you said. When you pressure test, does the coolant start to come out of the leak too or is it just air?

 

coolant should come out somewhere if its an external leak. Use a high power flash light and a mirror to see in the underneath places and behind the engine. If you say your seeing coolant on the ground the leak is there somewhere its just a matter of finding exacly where its leaking from. Cleaning the engine with break cleaner will give you a clear canvas so when it starts leaking you can pin point it right away.

 

Ur car turbo?? One of the difficult leak to spot on a turbo motor is from the little coolant o-ring between the lim and moto (for the coolant feed to turbo).
The coolant puddle is on top of the motor.

 

Yeah, its just really hard to find where its coming from. Engines pretty clean, its not dripping from anywhere visible so its just a matter of poking and prodding.

Non-Turbo.

 

Borrowed a friends pressure tester. Pumped it up to 13 PSi, found out that the OEM Spring style Hose Clamps for the Radiator Hoses are better than the Worm Gear Type. The lower radiator hose wasn't holding 100% pressure, switched to the Spring Style and it stopped leaking. =/. Maybe the I'll replace it with T-Bolt clamps down the line.

 

So the leak is fixed...
Did it correct your overheating problem?
Are you still loosing some coolant?
May I suggest a proper temperature switch/relay/wiring for the fan?

 

The leak is fixed as far as I know. The overheating problem was solved along with it. I guess at one point i let the overflow bottle run dry so its been sucking up lots of air, and thus air bubbles which leads to over heating. To my knowledge I am no longer loosing coolant. At least it doesn't leak on the floor anymore.

I am eventually going to spring for a proper temp switch/relay set up. It is currently running through a relay to a switch, but I'm tryna save up enough money to do it right the first time.

 

All the parts you need to assemble a fairly sophisticated temp control for a two speed fan can found at a junkyard.
Here's how.

 

with the taurus fan all you ever need is low speed.

i used a Starion fan switch(located in their radiator, fits our t-stat neck without modification) along with a relay. it turns on at 190f.

 

Cancel, wrong thread.

 

I had numerous issues with aftermarket coolant clamps. OEM clamps also fixed my issues. For what they cost I'd recommend OEM clamps and hoses for the entire coolant system.