The other day my car just started overheating. Fan works(but sometimes doesn't seem to come on when its idling with the temp level above middle, but not sure if thats normal), CTS good, fuse good, coolant good. Sometimes it burns it up if I use water, but the coolant doesn't want to go from the resevior to the engine, although it did put more coolant back into the resevior. Any chance something is clogged? Seems to really only do ok when it 5th gear at low RPM's, but eventually starts to spike. Any way to inspect the spring on the thermostat? Any chance the rad cap it causing it?

Edit: checked the top hose and took off thermostat. Thermostat looked fine and there was coolant sitting inside the head. I had my water pump go a little over a month ago and it just broke it didnt have any issues with the H and C as I can remember, so I'm geussing this water pump is not bad. Filled the radiator with coolant. The fan didn't seem to be running alot, only came on when I first started idling for a bit then it came on when the arrow spiked.

 

where you sitting in traffic?

is this the first time its happend?

was th AC on?

Details??

not that i know of. Usually ill just replace it since its so cheap

possibly

list of things it could be
There are several reasons: bad fan relay, low coolant, defective radiator cap, clogged radiator, bad Coolant Temperature Sensor (CTS), bad thermostat, radiator fans not working properly, headgasket leaking, radiator fins are damaged, and faulty water pump. (Info courtesy of spudsterier and FuzzRacer)

 

i was just driving when i noticed it started to go up.
I flushed the radiator and hoses. CTS seems to work since it sends a signal. Wed when I get paid I'm going to get a new thermostat. Water pump doesn't have more then like 30,000 on it and it was just installed a bit over a month ago, no play in it. Radiator fins are good, I switched the 30A fuse on the radiator but is there a relay too?
If the head gasket were leaking I would be losing coolant..It seems to not want to go into the engine, and the coolant in the engine seems to just stay in there and get too hot, which would make sense for the bad thermostat. It took less to fill the radiator back up with coolant after I flushed it out, I used the drain plug on the bottom of the radiator to do it.

I'm geussing the rad fan kicks on at the OVerheat as a automatic precaution, and there aren't turning on when it gets a bit hot because the coolant isn't going the the radiator?

 

Make sure you have all the air out of the system.

Fill the radiator, leave the cap off and turn on the car. This way all the air can come out of the system.

 

i did that, didn't seem to work. I'm getting a new rad cap and thermostat tomorrow. The fan doesn't seem to be going on, but I already switched the relays and fuses to check and got nothing. Does it go on when the fluid goes through, or when the CTS tells it to(thinking there might be a problem with the cts if its not sending a signal to the fans but is to the guage)?

If the fluid is passing through however I could run the fan on a switch temporarily..

 

That doesn't make sense....either its coming on or not.

 

No when this first started happening it would come on, but not as often. Now it is not at all. I'm going to the Jy now to get a CTS,cap, and thermostat.

 

Can you jump the fan to test the motor?

 

the Jy isnt a very good place to buya capor thermo.

 

Especially considering how cheap they are from the parts store.