A long story here…
About a week ago while driving to the local store, the dash alerted me to an engine overheat condition. It only lasted a second or two and then the gauge dropped and returned to normal. I decided to use Torque Pro while driving to monitor the temperature.
I found it hitting 230f and hovering around that temp. It varied between 220f and 230f. It was a short drive of less than 5 miles and 45mph to 60mph. So I finished the run and returned home. Once home I decided to look further.
Checked the coolant level and all was good. No leaks and the tank had pressure. But a strong smell of coolant heated up.
That day I bought a new thermostat, drained and installed it and filled it back up. It had the same issue as before with the temperature eventually reaching 235f.
I had flushed the system back in May and had no issues until that day. So I started checking the fan. I set the fan low on to 189c and the high on at 194c. The fan kicked s expected when the temperatures were reached so fan is not the issue. I figure with 172K miles that maybe the pump was going bad. So I bought a new one and installed it, as well as more coolant (50 / 50 mix distilled water and coolant).
The car was still overheating after all this so I dropped the car off at the dealer. Several hours later, and $195 for a flush and troubleshooting, I picked up my car. They told me they could find nothing wrong. On the 5 mile drive home, yup, it overheated yet again.
So I figured now one last thing. Bought a Mishimoto Aluminum radiator (Looks nice and built well by the way) and installed it this evening. And yes it is still overheating after all this. Mind you, if I run the heater it blows hot air and brings the temperature down.
However, this time I started looking at the hoses since it did take the heater longer than usual to start blowing hot. The lower hose (Outlet) is not pressurized and it cool to the touch (Ambient temperature) while the upper radiator hose (Inlet) is very hot and pressurized. This leads me to think it is thermostat related. It is not opening.
So after spending way too money (Water pump, thermostat, radiator and I lost count of gallons of coolant), am I wrong in suspecting that the new thermostat is bad, not opening?
About a week ago while driving to the local store, the dash alerted me to an engine overheat condition. It only lasted a second or two and then the gauge dropped and returned to normal. I decided to use Torque Pro while driving to monitor the temperature.
I found it hitting 230f and hovering around that temp. It varied between 220f and 230f. It was a short drive of less than 5 miles and 45mph to 60mph. So I finished the run and returned home. Once home I decided to look further.
Checked the coolant level and all was good. No leaks and the tank had pressure. But a strong smell of coolant heated up.
That day I bought a new thermostat, drained and installed it and filled it back up. It had the same issue as before with the temperature eventually reaching 235f.
I had flushed the system back in May and had no issues until that day. So I started checking the fan. I set the fan low on to 189c and the high on at 194c. The fan kicked s expected when the temperatures were reached so fan is not the issue. I figure with 172K miles that maybe the pump was going bad. So I bought a new one and installed it, as well as more coolant (50 / 50 mix distilled water and coolant).
The car was still overheating after all this so I dropped the car off at the dealer. Several hours later, and $195 for a flush and troubleshooting, I picked up my car. They told me they could find nothing wrong. On the 5 mile drive home, yup, it overheated yet again.
So I figured now one last thing. Bought a Mishimoto Aluminum radiator (Looks nice and built well by the way) and installed it this evening. And yes it is still overheating after all this. Mind you, if I run the heater it blows hot air and brings the temperature down.
However, this time I started looking at the hoses since it did take the heater longer than usual to start blowing hot. The lower hose (Outlet) is not pressurized and it cool to the touch (Ambient temperature) while the upper radiator hose (Inlet) is very hot and pressurized. This leads me to think it is thermostat related. It is not opening.
So after spending way too money (Water pump, thermostat, radiator and I lost count of gallons of coolant), am I wrong in suspecting that the new thermostat is bad, not opening?
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