Car Overheated Today.........

[jawrgy]

Sooo.... As i was sitting in my car today, coolant started spitting out from that hole at the top of the reserve tank in my engine bay.

I was sitting in a parking spot in the sun waiting for my friend to quickly do something that would take 15 mins.... it took an hour. So as i was sitting in the car as an hour passed i realised smoke coming out of my right and side bonnent and shit myself. I turned the car off, poped the bonnet button and got out of the car to check out wtf is going on. As i go to open the bonnet there is a whole lot of coolant all over the road and i thought my radiator had cracked.... Well once i got the bonnet open the coolant in the reserve tank was boiling and spewing out coolant.

So why im posting here is to ask, will this cause long term problems?? Is it just a one off case from sitting in the sun and having the aircon on full blast??, after letting the car cool when i drove home my temp needle was normal but when i stopped at lights the needle would go to high. Is this caused by there being less coolant due to spilling out. I will top the car up with water when it cools down and take it to the mechanic just to have a quik look over, but do you think this has caused long term damage to my engine?

[fcruz3r]

my guess is that ur radiator fan may not be working.

if it returns to normal when driving, u probably haven't caused major damage but i suggest u get it looked at before driving it again. warped or cracked heads are costly to replace.

[jawrgy]

hmm hopefully its nothing to bad. I had my car serviced 2 weeks ago wouldnt they check the radiator fan?

[ka86]

Common problem with the fans failing. It could of been well and truely working when you got it serviced than failed. I'm literally in the same situation as you. I've just recieved the fan and thermostat I ordered from the States. Blocked thermostat can cause coolant to bubble back.

I'll chuck them in and run the engine (when cold) without the radiator cap. If it bubbles even after bleeding than it would more than likely be a cracked headgasket.

I'll also pressure test it as well even if it doesn't bubble back. I'll post up when I can.

[scotty nm35]

More than likely there is an air lock in the coolant system. Did they replace the coolant or drain it during the service?

Wait till its cold and fill the system through the rear bleeder. (before you go paying out cash.)

[TUFF_350]

Sooo.... As i was sitting in my car today, coolant started spitting out from that hole at the top of the reserve tank in my engine bay.

I was sitting in a parking spot in the sun waiting for my friend to quickly do something that would take 15 mins.... it took an hour. So as i was sitting in the car as an hour passed i realised smoke coming out of my right and side bonnent and shit myself. I turned the car off, poped the bonnet button and got out of the car to check out wtf is going on. As i go to open the bonnet there is a whole lot of coolant all over the road and i thought my radiator had cracked.... Well once i got the bonnet open the coolant in the reserve tank was boiling and spewing out coolant.

So why im posting here is to ask, will this cause long term problems?? Is it just a one off case from sitting in the sun and having the aircon on full blast??, after letting the car cool when i drove home my temp needle was normal but when i stopped at lights the needle would go to high. Is this caused by there being less coolant due to spilling out. I will top the car up with water when it cools down and take it to the mechanic just to have a quik look over, but do you think this has caused long term damage to my engine?

Had the same problem six months ago while driving through a booze bus setup. http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/342013-cooling-issue/page__hl__cooling+issues

Ended up fixing the whole fan assembly just to be safe, ordered the parts from the US as it was about 1/3rd the price.

[jawrgy]

Well the mechanic looked at it this morning. There was no problem with the car overheating at all when i drove. He bleed the radiator and he said there were pockets of air even after bleeding. He said it was most likely being caused by a faulty thermostat. As i needed the car for work and there was no time to pull the bonnet off and change the thermostat i tried my luck of driving around.

There were no signs of a blown head gasket (oil in the coolant), and all the fans were working.

Driving normally even giving the car a bit of gas and having the air con on, there didnt seem to be a problem which is promising. The temp needle stayed constantly in the middle. The only thing that was different was the first time i drove it, i could hear a faint rattling from my left hand side air vent in the car. It sounded like the rattling an old fridge makes but very faintly. It then disappeared. Any one diagnose what this may have been?

[scotty nm35]

The V6 is a pain to fill up with coolant as there are too many pockets for the air to be trapped, you need to bleed it when cold quite a few times I have found to clear it of air completely, and a cupful of air will cause an airlock for some reason. It wont overheat all the time either. Have you found a rear bleed point? Filling from the radiator isn't usually enough.

[Arcos]

Had a similar problem with a Mazda 626 years ago, mechanic couldn't work it out but after looking at a manual I tried replacing the thermo switch for the fan and that fixed it. The problem was the fan simply wasn't turning on until far too late, was cheap and easy to replace the sensor on the Mazda so might be worth tryingnout.