Temporary overheating - Possible causes?

Crazy_pilot · #1 05-04-2009, 01:51 PM

About 5 hours into an 18 hour, 1000 mile drive my temp gauge jumped to just short of the red. After shutting down and letting the car cool, checking fluids and adding some water I drove off gingerly, checking the coolant whenever I was stopped. It held perfectly normal temp for the rest of the drive.

Any ideas what the cause could be?

Stuck thermostat? It hasn't been replaced since I bought the car, so I don't know how old it could be.

Head gasket? There was a huge amount of pressure in the rad hose when I stopped.

Water pump? Also hasn't been changed.

Since my car is going to be undergoing a 6MT swap this summer I may pull the engine to change head gaskets and rebuild the heads while it's down.

Mike621 · #2 05-04-2009, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crazy_pilot

About 5 hours into an 18 hour, 1000 mile drive my temp gauge jumped to just short of the red. After shutting down and letting the car cool, checking fluids and adding some water I drove off gingerly, checking the coolant whenever I was stopped. It held perfectly normal temp for the rest of the drive.

Any ideas what the cause could be?

Stuck thermostat? It hasn't been replaced since I bought the car, so I don't know how old it could be.

Head gasket? There was a huge amount of pressure in the rad hose when I stopped.

Water pump? Also hasn't been changed.

Since my car is going to be undergoing a 6MT swap this summer I may pull the engine to change head gaskets and rebuild the heads while it's down.

Chris,

I had a very similar experience with my Claret, and it was the first obvious indication I had that my head gaskets were failing.

Crazy_pilot · #3 05-04-2009, 06:31 PM

*sigh* One more project to add to my list for the summer, along with the tranny and quarter panel replacements. I needs me a beater. *searches for Civics for sale*

Mike621 · #4 05-04-2009, 06:55 PM

Don't you have "That thing" to drive in the meantime?

Did you see bubbling in the overflow tank when you stopped?

You could try replacing the radiator cap to see if that helps, as it probably needs replacing anyway. Can't guarantee that will help you at all though..

immortal_suby · #5 05-04-2009, 07:02 PM

I've had this symptom from both a thermostat and a headgasket.

Actually got so bad with the thermostat it popped a radiator hose open.

Crazy_pilot · #6 05-04-2009, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike621

Don't you have "That thing" to drive in the meantime?

Did you see bubbling in the overflow tank when you stopped?

You could try replacing the radiator cap to see if that helps, as it probably needs replacing anyway. Can't guarantee that will help you at all though..

It's more my brother's now.

There was no bubbling at the time, but my PWR rad has a cap with a pressure release latch. When I released it a fair amount of air bubbled into the overflow.

I'm going to flush the rad and replace the T-stat tomorrow, hopefully that will help. If not and this re-occurs, I'll just have to do the gaskets. Ah well, just more work. I do have a motorcycle to ride when the weather's nice, which gets significantly better mileage than the SVX.