OK. More info.

Flushed radiator but did not seem to help. I don't think water is going through the radiator because warm air does not come out the heater vents when on.

Likewise, bottom rad. hose it not heating up.

I pulled the thermostat and tested it in a boiling pot of water, it is opening. While the thermostat was off, I decided to run water though the overflow until it was flowing out the thermostat housing.

The water was a deep brown color (not really rust color) which concerns me. I am thinking it may be oil, but it is not greasy and it is well mixed with the water. No film on the water surface. Oil level in the pan seems fine as well.

Any thoughts?

 

I would say the rad is plugged. Your last test is run the cab heat and see if that helps drop the engine temp and you get hot air from your vent (assuming the heat isn't disabled or otherwise malfunctioning eg blend door).

That being said, the best cleaning is a proffesional "roding". This however isn't done too much anymore because it is usually cheaper to get a new replacement. You can try a flush kit that you hook up to a garden hose, but I have had limmeted luck with this. A proffesional flush with a pressure machine is a good option if you can find a good repair shop you can trust that actually has one. If you remove it and back flush it, that may work well ( I have cleaned enough out of mine this way in the past). The best and fastest option (and it could save $ by not filling, then emptying antifrezze again) is to just replace it. You can find one for about $150.

Good luck, let me know how it goes.
Kurt

 

OK. Now I am more confused than ever. I am not sure what I did that seemed to resolve it, but it is not overheating anymore.

I was concerned about the water color (almost dark coffee like) coming out of the thermo housing when I pulled the thermostat. So after putting the thermostat back in (tested OK in boiling water) I decided to pull the bottom radiator hose to see if that dark water would come out the bottom of the radiator.

Well, the water coming out the radiator was clear and the water coming out of the bottom hose was mostly clear (little bit of antifreeze mixed). I put it all back together and filled it back up with water and tested it. To my surprise, it was no longer overheating.

Also, I am now getting hot air blowing out the vents when the heater is on which it was not doing before.

However, there was some water drops coming off the back on the engine on the bottom side. It seemed to be coming from where the tranny bolts up to the engine as it was between the tranny oil pan and the engine oil pan. It was a redish color and slightly warm. It seems to have stopped now but going to check it in the morning again.

Also, the engine oil light is on. The oil level seems fine but going to top off in the morning and check again.

I am terrified that the block is cracked or a blown headgasket or something from the overheating.

I can't think of anything specific that would have fixed it.

Does any of that make sense?

Do you think I could have done any major damage from the overheating?

 

Jay...

The top of the radiator is not filled with fluid... and would normally only be hot where the hose enters the radiator due to heat transfer in the metal. The top of the radiator on the opposite side of the hose would normally be the coolest part of the radiator.

My issue is the fans... might be the same as you.

If you look for the Coolant Temperature Sensor... which is one input to the "Powertrain Control Module" that controls the fans speeds... you will see that it is NOT in the radiator... but in the block (as close to the front center of the 3.2 engine as you can get). This is a $30 part... but I am not replacing it until I can read the error codes... which I am having issues with.

Are you getting any error codes that relate to the cooling system?



Kurt... why the wise *** remarks. Seems like you spam answers for forum reply points without thinking.

I am a rookie on this forum... but not with cars or car forums. I can diassemble a Ferrari in my sleep. Buzz off...

 

First, do you loose fluid (you never mentioned this so I assume no). Second, does your oil look like a creamy browinish milk? Third no smoke from the tail pipe...if all these are negative, you can feel a bit better that it's probay not a cracked block/head gasket.

That said, is the radiator now warm all over and you now have wR
air in the cab? I reread your post and you said this came out of the blue, but is this the first the cab heat worked since you changed the pump? How much fluid and what type did you add after the job (gold or yellow green)? Did the fluid that came out resemble the stuff you put in? When you pulled the lower hose, did any thick, grainy or chuncky stuff come out?

As for the oil light, do you have. Gauge in the dash also or only the light? Is this the first occurance? Does it flicker or is it steady?

 

So at first I only lost fluid when it would boil out the overflow (at least I think that was all). Since it started working correctly, I am not sure if I am losing fluid or not as I only had time for a quick test drive once it was working. I am going to check it again in the morning to see how it looks. Stuff from the radiator was clear like what was going in, stuff from the bottom hose was mostly clear mixed with some trace amounts of antifreeze that was still there after the flush. I think there was some grainy material that came out of the bottom hose, but not much.

I was only using straight water after I drained the anitfreeze and flushed the radiator. Going back to antifreeze tomorrow if everything is still working ok. Did not want to go back to anitfreeze until I knew it was working correctly.

So far, oil looks fine. Dark brown/black. No signs of water in it yet, will be watching this closely tomorrow. No smoke from exhaust yet either.

I am hoping it is all ok but I will be watching it over the next couple of days to see for sure.

As for the air from the vents. When it was overheating, I could not get any warm air out of the vents when the heater was on. Now I am getting warm air out of the vents and the temp guage does not seem to be rising and the car does not seem to be overheating either. I did not feel the radiator, but I did feel the bottom hose and it is not getting hot where before it was not.

The oil light is just an idiot light. It flickers when first starting they stays on solid. This seems to be new so I am not sure what is going on. I will check the oil level again in the morning to see if it is really low or a false indicator. It just scared me a little becuase it was not coming on before so this seems new and given the dark brown water coming out of the thermostat housing when I pulled the thermo out for testing, I was concerned that oil was leaking into the block. However, while it was similar in color to oil, it was not greasey at all nor was it separating from the water. I am hoping it was just sediment from the engine block or something. I had never seen water from the radiator that color before. It seems as though once I flushed out the water in the engine block (all that dark colored stuff) that things got better.


I will post back tomorrow after I do some more testing and refill the radiator with antifreeze. I will also check the right side of the radiator to see if it is getting hot. I am guessing it is since the bottom hose is getting warm.

 

Yep, I replaced the temp sensor already because I was having fan issues as well. It did not resolve the fan issues. I ended up getting an RFI module from a junk yard and that seemed to fix the fan issue I had.

I was mistaken on the year of the car. It is a 95 and does not have a OBD port so I cannot read any error codes.

 

UPDATE:

Checked the fluids, they don't seem to be low or leaking. The drops that were coming out the bottom (behind oil pan) seemed to have stopped.

Oil level was good and the light is no longer coming on.

I did drain the water and it was a dark brown alomst like a deep ice tea or cofee color. Again, did not smell like oil, no residue on the surface nor was it greasy. Therefore, I am guessing it is just sediment and gunk from the engine block or something.

No smoke from the tailpipe.

Heater appears to be working properly.

It's no longer overheating.

Topped it off with Antifreeze.

I would have to guess that the gunk was plugging the radiator and that the extra engine block flush helped clear it out or something.

So, I guess everything is OK.

Thanks for all the help. If you think I am missing something, please let me know. I will check back.

 

The original fluid was a brownish color as oposed to the normal greenish yellow stuff we are used to. It sounds to me that you had a blockage at the bottom of the rad (this is normaly where the junk accumalates).

Glad to hear you are doing better

Kurt

 

Just go to auto zone rent there cooling system pressure checker and see if it holds pressure that should let you know if your head gaskets if you know how to test for it or if you have a leak somwere and use some uv die and a uv light. If you have been running just water then you could mess up all kinds of things like eroding your water pump propeller and alot of other things. Turn you heater on high and start your car and let it warm up and see if bubbles start coming out of your overflow or radiator cap which ever one you have...you must get all the air out of your system or your car will over heat...they make a good tool for this I have one its a airlift tool its over $100 buts its sweet.