Quote:
Originally Posted by SVXRide
I think you're missing the point...it is highly unlikely that it will ever overheat just idling, assuming you've got the right amount of coolant in the system. The spike in the gage reading is due to the pocket of hot gas that occurs due to a very small passage from the cylinder to the water jacket (under the HG). If you really don't want to have to pull the engine and replace the HG, do as LAN has suggested (repeatedly) and get on with your driving.
-Bill
|
Updating updating updating...
I was going down the freeway yesterday on the way to a friend's house. It was about 45 minutes of driving around 65-80 MPH. I stopped outside his house and turned my lights off, waiting for him to come out and get into his car. After a few moments I heard the radiator fans kick into high speed, and thought to myself, "Wait, they shouldn't be on like that at idle." So I flicked on the dash lights and sure enough, the temp gauge was a little ways over half.
I gave it a little gas in an attempt to increase flow and it just got hotter. So I put my windows down, set the heater to full, and everything was back to normal again.
We drove to a car meet, hung out for two hours, then made the trip back. I left my heater off this time. About 3/4 of the way home the freeway closed and I had to take a detour into a city. At one of the stoplights, the car started doing the overheating thing again, so I kicked the heater back on and the temps dropped to normal once more.
I got home, and let the car sit for 24 hours. Checking the fluid levels, the overflow was right where it should be (bottom line on the tank), and while the radiator wasn't full up to the neck with fluid it did have enough to cover the metal core, which is more fluid than the radiator has ever had after it has one of these stupid overheating spells. Normally I check levels and you can see the shiny metal core but no liquid.
At this point, I don't give a crap what it is. I've already decided on the course of action. I'm re-doing the cooling stuff and replacing my timing belt. If doing that doesn't solve the problem, I'm assuming it's a headgasket, some friends and I will pull the engine, replace all the gaskets, resurface the heads, the whole deal. I'm done. Nice thing about living in SoCal is I have lots of gearhead friends with hookups for all sorts of work.
This engine has plenty of life left in it, I can feel it. No sense getting another one when I can just fix this one up. And this way it'll at least have a brand new timing belt and stuff on it, so it's one less thing I'd have to do to a replacement.
I'll keep you all updated as I do the work. It's raining right now, but if it lets up tomorrow I'll jack the car up and run it without the fans. I don't think I'm gonna find a leak but I was gonna do that test anyway. Even better that the car's been sitting for over 24 hours.
Man... sometimes you just wanna kick these things. But then you remember that they make you smile when they're running right and you just can't get rid of 'em.
