Thread: Possible overheating issue?

So last year a few months after I purchased my 2005 GP GT I had a coolant leak right before I got to work and did not know until another worker spotted all the coolant on the ground in the driveway. I work nights so in the morning I grabbed a few jogs of water and put it all in my radiator. Drove it about a mile until my temp started to go up so I pulled onto a dirt road and shut the car off. I had a friend bring more water and as I was pouring it into my radiator I noticed it coming right out on the side of my engine. I let my car cool down about 30 minutes and drove it a few miles before my temp started going up again. This time I had no more water so I let it sit about 30-45 minutes then drove it about half a mile to my house. I never let my temp get into the red area while trying to get my car home.

Before all of this I kept getting an engine code saying that my car wasn't getting up to temp in the right amount of time which was due to a bad thermostat. When I got to my house I and looked at where the water was coming out from, it was those plastic elbow's. The top elbow is the one that was damage but I replaced them both with new ones and also replaced the thermostat. What sucked is right before my coolant leak, I flushed my whole system with radiator cleaner and put new coolant in....

My question is, could I of caused some kind of engine damage to my car? Reason why I ask is because when I stop anywhere like a fast food place and i'm waiting in the drive through my temp would start to climb within minutes of sitting while waiting for my food. For awhile I thought my fans weren't kicking on until one day when my temp was going up in below 20"F weather I popped my hood and my fans were on which would bring my temp down to normal for a few minutes then it would go back up until the fans would kick on again. I also had an AC leak which I think caused my fan not to kick on at all because my AC system was completely empty?



This is a picture of my normal temp while i'm driving and above it "red line" that is where my temp will climb up to until the fan's will kick on which bring it back down to normal temp. I would say it takes about 5 minutes or so for it to reach the temp before fan's kick on "I think" Does this seem normal to you guys or do you think my car has some kind of heating problem?

Btw the thermostat I have is a Fail/Safe 180"

Much appreciated!

By that you mean open my bleeder valve and poor radiator fluid until it comes out of the valve? Is this done while car is off/cold or on/warm? Any thing else I should know to make sure all air is out of my system?

I agree. That is a pretty normal. I have an 04 and I had been having temp problems for the longest until recently when I had to do a head gasket swap. I would recommend replacing those plastic elbows with the aluminum ones and making sure you bleed the system very thoroughly. You do that by taking the tstat housing off and filling up the LIM through there. Once you have enough coolant in there, put the housing back on, fill up and top off your radiator. Once the radiator is topped off, leave the cap off, open your bleeder valve, turn on your car, put your heater on full blast and let it get up to running temp. Check your upper and radiator hoses, once they both feel equally hot it means your tstat opended up. Constantly squeeze your hoses to get those air bubbles out and fill up the radiator as needed. Once you see a steady stream of coolant shooting out of the bleeder valve and you are getting some pretty good heat inside the car, close the valve, put the cap on the radiator and you should be good to go.

Also keep your eye on the temp and heat inside the car for the next few days afterwards just to make sure you are good.

Well at the time of replacing my elbows I did not know that they had aluminum ones but I will probably replace those this summer so I don't end up with same problem. Also what is the best way to flush a radiator system? Before my elbows cracked I flushed it with Preston Radiator cleaner but not sure if that did the best job.

So yesterday I was about to bleed my system after I got home from the store. I grabbed a socket set with 20+ sockets cause I wasn't sure what size it was and like 15 F with a windchill. As I approached my car I slipped on some ice and socket's went everywhere! So I said F*** this and went inside >_<! I will try to get around to it today though hopefully I don't fall this time...

Originally Posted by Scottydoggs

how to flush the coolant.


remove the t stat, put the t stat housing back on, take the upper hose off the radiator, then push it down to the ground to a bucket or let it fly.


get your garden hose out, put it in the rad turn it on, then fire up the car, let it run till clear water pumps out the top hose.


then turn the hose off, run the car till no more water comes out the upper hose. then turn it off.


put your t stat back in, with new gasket, the upper hose back on.


now take 1 gallon of full strength green antifreeze, not the 50/50 crap. ( parts store cheap green is fine to use) dump the whole gallon in the radiator, fire up the car, fill the rad with hose water till its full. top as needed till its ready to be bled of air. it will burp and take coolant as the water in the block warms up the t stat opens up for a few seconds till cold coolant hits it and it shuts again.


now to bleed the air out, let it idle rad cap off till the fans turn on, (when the fans are on the temp is over 195 deg, the t stat is wide open) then open the bleeder screw on top the t stat housing a few turns till a steady stream of coolant comes out the hole, shut the screw, top off the rad. cap it.


done.

I hope you just copy and paste that each time. LOL

Why not get mods to make it a sticky?

Originally Posted by Scottydoggs

cause if you search like your supposed to im sure that little how too will show up.

if we sticky every good little how to the new posts would start on page two of every section lol

We can make a sticky link which could take you to all the stickies. I've seen it done on other forums.

Does anybody have the part number for the aluminum elbows, or where you can get them?

Local autopart stores should already carry them. I have seen them at autozone and oreilly's.