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My Car is Heating Up Please Help!

9

98SVTtour

CEG'er
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
46
Location
Oakdale, MN
So I was driving home today from the car wash and noticed that my temp gauge was about as far to the hot side as you can get. I pulled over right away and it smelt a little bit on the left side of the motor. Checked the antifreeze; it was fine. Let it sit for a little bit and then turned it back on. When I turned it on the needle hurried to the middle of the gauge just as it always sits and as soon as I started moving it got hot again. I decided to just get home quick since I wasn't too far away. When I got out of the car the engine sounded like it was bubbling (I mean it was loud) so I checked it out and the antifreeze container was sizzling hot and I saw coolant around the container. Can you guys help me out please! I just had a job interview today and got a job starting Monday. Bad timing. Huh
 
Check and see if your heater blows hot air. If it DOESN'T, you're probably looking at a bad water pump. I'm betting that is the problem.
 
I checked out the heat on the drive home and it worked just fine. Today when I popped the hood the coolant reservoir is now below the min as opposed to last night when it was above the max and sprayed all around in the reservoir. It also looks like some coolant escaped from the hose that attaches to nothing
 
So I decided to go out and try the heat again. No hot air. I only had it running for about 30 seconds because I was too afraid I might mess something else up but the air stayed cool. Does this mean it is the water pump?

Also, this is the second water pump in the car. The first one was replaced just due to the history of the bad pumps
 
98SVTtour said:
So I decided to go out and try the heat again. No hot air. I only had it running for about 30 seconds because I was too afraid I might mess something else up but the air stayed cool. Does this mean it is the water pump?
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Click to expand...
If the temperature gauge was at the Normal position, and there no hot air was coming out of the vents, then yes, the water pump needs to be replaced.

Water Pump replacement from
Duratec Maintenance-Read First.
http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?t=9480
 
Tony2005 said:
If the temperature gauge was at the Normal position, and there is no hot air coming out of the vents, then yes, the water pump needs to be replaced.

Duratec Maintenance Read First.
Click to expand...

The temperature gauge was not at the normal position when I tried it this morning. Last night when I tried the heat it worked fine. I'll put some water in the reservoir and go and see if the heat works.
 
98SVTtour said:
The temperature gauge was not at the normal position when I tried it this morning. Last night when I tried the heat it worked fine. I'll put some water in the reservoir and go and see if the heat works.
Click to expand...

So I put some water in the coolant reservoir and let it reach normal temperature. Now there's no overheating or fans running but the heat does NOT work. Is the water pump the only thing that could be causing this or could it be the gauge itself? Any opinions
 
First of all, it would take more than 30 seconds for the heater to start putting out heat. Because 30 seconds isn't long enough to build up heat.


Two things to look at. First would be the waterpump and most likely the problem. The second could be the thermostat.
 
98SVTtour said:
So I put some water in the coolant reservoir and let it reach normal temperature. Now there's no overheating or fans running but the heat does NOT work. Is the water pump the only thing that could be causing this or could it be the gauge itself? Any opinions
Click to expand...

If you let the engine run at idle and come up to operating temperature (should take 7-10 minutes I would guess) and you are not getting any heat when you turn on the blower, your waterpump is bad.
 
98SVTtour said:
So I put some water in the coolant reservoir and let it reach normal temperature. Now there's no overheating or fans running but the heat does NOT work. Is the water pump the only thing that could be causing this or could it be the gauge itself? Any opinions
Click to expand...

That's what I did. I'm pretty sure it's the water pump now. Plan on getting it fixed asap. Thanks for the help guys.
 
So I brought my car to the shop and the guy there thought it was the thermostat. He switched that out and now the car is still running hot (not nearly as hot as before) at about 240 degrees. I think the water pump is next on the list.
 
Yeah, when mine overheated the summer I got the car, I had to replace both the water pump and the thermostat. I think there might have been something else too, maybe not... but I can't remember right now and my dad has all the paperwork.
 
You shouldn't be getting hotter than 230 MAX; the engine wiring is only rated to withstand that much. 240 is going to do some permanent damage! STOP DRIVING.
 
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