Grimms 00 Legacy overheating!!! HAAAALP!!

[Grimmrican]

So tonight sucks. After closing the store I headed to Brooklyn to go pick up my son from my sisters house. I left the car running and bs'd for like a minute with her. As I go back to the car I realized I locked it, with the keys in the car, while its running -__- wtf. Coincidentally my mother was a few houses down visiting my cousins. So I took her car back to my house (in moosup) to grab my spare keys. Upon my arrival back to my own car there's a huge plume of white smoke. My initial though was its prolly the muffler with the cold but after the brain fart realized it was overheating! I unlock the car and shut it off immediately and open the hood. Now kinda stumped as to what exactly caused the car to overheat. I have a few assumptions and hypothesis. But tomorrow after work to test my theories. Smh I'm upset I had to leave her at my cousins house :C

So far my cousin n I checked the fan relay (good) coolant temp switch/sender that's behind the rear right of the engine (good) checked the belts (good) upper rad hose (squishy n hot) lower rad hose (extremely hot but couldn't test to see if its hard a rock)

Before I shut the car off the I didn't see no battery light. Gave it a few mins to cool off then restarted the car. It was at normal temp then started inclining again. I cranked the heat on blast and realized the fans are not turning on either.

There's only so much I can do at midnight without the neighbors wanting to call the police on us. So tomorrow ill rip the thermostat out and see if its even functional anymore. In the meantime if u guys have any input plz feel free to ask I'm open to all ideas. I just want my baby to be healthy again (TT~TT)

Edit: just remembered there was coolant everywhere. Hoses seemed intact but I noticed the coolant rez was boiling and super full. I normally check all my fluids and the other day it was at the full line. I checked my oil dipstick am the oil is still clean n yellow (recent oil change) not watery whatsoever. Eventually when the car cooled a lot more I checked the inside if the rad itself and that too is full.

*Sigh* I can't sleep.....

[Grimmrican]

Bump* plz help

[Muse]

No clue, but I wish you good luck.

[Bhatman]

Sounds like the dreaded Phase II HGs....Check the the t-stat and radiator hoses. Possibly do a coolant flush too. You did the technical way to bleed of the heat by cranking the heater to high, but with your fans out that's going to need them.

[Grimmrican]

But how can it be the hg if it was done back in jan? Also I did a temporary fix and hot wired the fan so it constantly runs. Surprisingly the car did not over heat but actually ran on normal temp. But tomorrow ill start working in my car and really find the problem.

[1996Battlewagon]

I wouldn't jump to conclusions just yet but I know first hand how you feel. It's awful.

Start off simple. Flush the coolant, replace it with clean stuff and burp the system. Trapped air can be an asshole.

Then, check the thermostat. Those are pretty cheap and obvious to replace. Then, make sure your radiator cap is in tip-top shape and the proper size.

In regards to internals, start of simple too. The water pump could be a culprit if it wasn't replaced along with the Head Gaskets five months ago.

Stay tough good sir.

[r3v_v3ng3]

But how can it be the hg if it was done back in jan? Also I did a temporary fix and hot wired the fan so it constantly runs. Surprisingly the car did not over heat but actually ran on normal temp. But tomorrow ill start working in my car and really find the problem.


This is how my headgasket went out twice. The 2nd gen have HI/LO fan. My fan came on when it needs the LO to kick in but just would'nt come on when it needs it on HI. I don't trust it anymore, so also just hardwire it with a relay and comes on when the headlight is on. Both settings work when hardwire. I also put wrx aluminum rad to make sure it wouldn't overheat anymore. Hope its just something simple and not the HG

[phi11]

Which HG was used?
When our EJ251 needed the HG replaced,
We used the WRX one.

Are the heads warped? Where they machined?

[Bhatman]

But how can it be the hg if it was done back in jan? Also I did a temporary fix and hot wired the fan so it constantly runs. Surprisingly the car did not over heat but actually ran on normal temp. But tomorrow ill start working in my car and really find the problem.


Mmm I didnt know that the HGs had been replaced. As Battlewagon mentioned do the coolant and radiator hoses first since those are the easiest to get and will get you to your root cause. You can also do a UV dye test since your flushing the coolant and those come in kits at the auto store.

[Grimmrican]

Ok so I pulled 2 codes which are eluding me right now but was the definition was along the lines of replace temp coolant switch and flush coolant/ thermostat. I did hardware the fan to the coil pack ONLY BEACAUSE I didn't have enough line to reach anywhere else. But it works and no overheating what so ever so that's a good thing. Tomorrow I will actually get down and dirty with her and replace the thermo and coolant switch along with a good flush.

[Grimmrican]

Also I used felpro hg from aap (seeing as I work there) and I didn't know up until about a month ago it made a real difference. Stupid noob move I know. But I'm still learning and asking questions now before I jump the gun lol. I just like to get all opinions and see how correct I am ,if I am lol.

[Neatfellen]

Also I used felpro hg from aap (seeing as I work there) and I didn't know up until about a month ago it made a real difference. Stupid noob move I know. But I'm still learning and asking questions now before I jump the gun lol. I just like to get all opinions and see how correct I am ,if I am lol.
..so the update? lol

[Grimmrican]

Ah yes I totally forgot I even did this lol.

So what I ended up doing was emptied out all the nasty old coolant out then ran a flush in the car with water for a few days (3 days to be exact) and added a new thermostat. so then I proceeded to flush out the water from the system and put 7.1quarts of full strength and diluted it to 50/50. Everything seemed to be running all good and I burped all the air out of the system but the fans weren't kicking on... So I did a quick run around the block and lo and behold the fans were engaged. But when I sat back in the car the temp needle was pegged in red. So I immediately turned it off with the fans running. I check the overflow, no bubbles, I checked the rad cap, no boiling noise and was infact not even hot to the touch. The same for the upper and lower rad hoses. So I took a chance and drove it again and needed being a faulty coolant thermo sensor behind the plenum. I put the "new one" in when my car was cold and when I turned it on it pegged again immediately!! Had to run back to the parts store again for a defective exchange and now it's running perfectly. Temp gauge is where it's supposed to read an no more overheating.

[Neatfellen]

lol boy did that one like to throw u for loops!

[Grimmrican]

Yea it def did

[unsullied_spy]

Perhaps invest in a cheap infrared thermometer? I paid a little over $20 for mine and it is much more reliable than the temp gauge. Late to the party, I know, but could be useful next time.

[Wiscon_Mark]

Perhaps invest in a cheap infrared thermometer? I paid a little over $20 for mine and it is much more reliable than the temp gauge. Late to the party, I know, but could be useful next time.

Where would you aim that at to get the most accurate reading, out of curiosity?

I'm going to move this to N/A engine for search purposes.

[Grimmrican]

^thanx

[unsullied_spy]

[quote="unsullied_spy":2y61m68j]Perhaps invest in a cheap infrared thermometer? I paid a little over $20 for mine and it is much more reliable than the temp gauge. Late to the party, I know, but could be useful next time.

Where would you aim that at to get the most accurate reading, out of curiosity?

I'm going to move this to N/A engine for search purposes.[/quote:2y61m68j]
When I was having overheating issues I checked each cylinder head, the crossover pipe (the thing the upper radiator hose hooks to), I checked the heat at the top and bottom of the radiator, the lower radiator hose, and heater hoses where they go into the firewall.

Cylinder heads should be anywhere from 180-190, hotter if it's hot out and has been on the highway. Crossover pipe around 190. The lower hose I'm not sure what normal temps are but I'd expect 140+. The inlet to the heater core should be 10-20 degrees hotter than the outlet, if you aren't seeing 180 or so at the inlet you could have a blockage in the heater core which can make the thermostat function incorrectly.

I've had enough issues with cooling on my car feel free to ask if you're having trouble!