Fixed my car, over heating gone!
 

Yesterday, I flushed out my cooling system i.e. radiator, engine block, heater core. Replaced my thermostat, replaced my upper and lower hose as well. Flushed out my car 3 times for good measure, until the water was clear. I dropped by the Suby dealer before I did it. I wanted to know how much to replace a water pump just in case it was the source of my problems, I could of replaced it myself, but then the water pump is driven by the timming belt. The timming would of been off if I did it myself. They quoted me $300 something just for labor, told that I would be getting the water pump myself online for less. They were not pleased at that as well. The service guys were not happy that I am trying to do most of the maintance myself. Oh well, I saved $175 yesterday doing a flush and thermostat. I also replaced my one of my hood supports. I gave in and bought one online for $76 something. I was using a plastic tube to support my hood for how many weeks. I drove around town with a cell phone just in case and my car ran great and the temp was normal. :D :D :D

Cool, clear water
 

Awd

You flushed out the system till the water was clear. Good job, and glad you got to the bottom of it without heavy expense.

You did not mention this in your post, so forgive me if you have already done so, and neglected to mention because it is of the "bleedin' obvious" category:D The engine is aluminium, and MUST have coolant. I trust you flushed out all that clear water and replaced with a good quality coolant?

Joe:) ;)

Clear H2O
 

Yup the water was crystal clear before I placed any coolant back in. As far as brand of coolant, I used Peak. I did however spliced in a tee fitting from Prestone in one of the heater hoses comming off the drivers side to make the flushing easy. The tee fitting lets you hook up a garden hose and pump continus water in your system while the radiator cap is off and when your engine is running. Prestone provides a cap to close off the tee fitting when the garden hose is not connected. Even before that I went straight directly with the garden hose in radiator and the engine block. and then hooked up the garden hose to the tee fitting. I wanted to make sure I got all the rust and junk out as much as possible. :D

Good going, AWD. I need to to the same on mine one of these days. Thanks for the incentive! :)

Re: Clear H2O
 

That is a good option. It would look kinda funny driving around town with a 50' section of garden hose tied to the bumper! :eek: :)

How dirty and what color was the water before it started running clear?

H2O Colour
 

I was a bit surprised to see what I was flushing out was not that bad. It was bit darker than new coolant mixed with water. I looked down into my radiator from where the cap sits, I did not see any rust build up. Just wanted to be safe, so I flushed it 3 times just to be sure. Now my heater really blows hot air fast, that is good when winter comes around, I won't be that cold waiting for the heat to kick in.

I'd bet the overheating was caused by a bad thermostat. It gets stuck closed or only partially open. I've seen this happen in my mother's car.

When was the last time you flushed the system?

maintance
 

I think the last time I flushed my car was 2 years ago at the dealer. But I don't think I had the thermostat replaced. I think the major problem was my thermostat sticking. When do you normally flush a the coolant system, do you do it every year?

They recommend every year, but there aren’t many who do it that often. I try to, but don’t always do it because of the miles that are put on the car. :)