Werew

I've read as many posts as I could find on my problem (most about newer cars, not cars w/ a 12A engine) and still have no idea what my problem is. The symptoms are the car heats up until it reaches the top of the temperature gauge no matter what about 5-10 minutes after starting. I bought the car recently and it has about 130,000 miles on it. It ran a little hot but not too hot (about 1/2 to 3/4s of the way up the gauge) the first few weeks I owned it. Then one day it just stopped cooling completely. I've checked the thermostat and although it's aftermarket it works fine. There are no bubbles coming out of the system with the radiator cap off. When I stuck my finger in the radiator fluid when the engine was hot, the fluid was lukewarm/cold. There is smoke coming out around the bottom of the engine around the exhaust manifold area but this might be the radiator fluid I spilt while taking the thermostat out without draining the system (the smoke continued with the car off). No smoke out of the exhaust after it's warmed up. The last owner did a bad job at working on the car. There are hoses unhooked everywhere inside the engine compartment, no catalytic converter or tailpipe, it has the wrong air filter, etc. Also of note is the fact that after I first drove it home the 1 hour drive, I noticed a small puddle of antifreeze under the engine (think it was too far back to be the radiator) but haven't seen any since. At that point I had to fill up the reservoir (which was empty) although the radiator was still full. The level has remained constant. The only things I can think of is if the water pump catastrophically failed or, more likely, something became completely clogged. If anyone has a better idea of what I'm dealing with please let me know. Both of my explanations seem really unlikely to me.

Ryan

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like a clogged radiator or a bad water pump (ie. blades corroded away).

rxtasy3

iTrader: (2)

my thoughts would be the rad also. but i must ask, did u actually test the t-stat or just push on it with ur fingers?

Werew

Wow, those were quick responses. Thanks so much for your impressions. Yes I actually boiled it on a stovetop with a thermometer that read 204 Fahrenheit at boiling. I checked the opening temperatures and the gap and they were close enough to satisfy me (any opening at all in the thermostat and I would have looked for another explanation for the problem I've got). I'll try flushing the radiator out with a garden hose next, probably this weekend.

rxtasy3

iTrader: (2)

any amount of opening in the t-stat less than fully open restricts flow. now, flushing the rad urself may work and may not. in the rad repair shop i used to work in we had a flow tester. when someone would bring in a rad with overheating problems, checking flow rate was the first thing done before cleaning. a rad supposed to flow a min amount of gallons per minute to sufficiently cool the engine. take urs off the car and find a shop that can flow test it. and as aaron mentioned, pull the wp and check the fins. gaskets r cheap.

Kentetsu

Okay, your damn near local to me so I'll give this one a shot too

1. Rip out that thermostat and get one from the dealer. This is a fairly common issue with 1st gens using off-brand thermostats. Not sure why, but the OEM thermostat always works correctly.

2. If you overheated the motor, it is probably toast. Hopefully not, but it is something to keep in mind. They do not deal well with overheating even a little bit, and it sounds like this one has possibly been through the ringer, so to speak.

3. The coolant leak and smoking from the side of the motor sound like the Orings between the intake manifold and the motor are bad. This too is a common issue. You can get replacements, but a lot of us just get some 20mm freeze plugs and put those in instead since they only cost a few cents and the proper Orings can be hard to find, hard to install, and only last for a limited time anyway.

4. Stop by the Midwest section (near the bottom of the forum) and check in with the Michigan thread. This may lead to some local assistance.

Best of luck...




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