car overheating!!! Options

[SiN_CeLi]

Hi everyone, I really need some help. I have a 96 gt and my car will not stop overheating. But the wierd part is that the temp guege reads normal so the fans don't kick in anymore.Everytime I park my car my radiatior dumps all the coolant out through the reservior. I think that my thermostat went bad but I am very open to suggestions. I already posted on a different site but know one could help me or they just chose not to.

[west_minist]

Go to a toyota dealer or mechanic.

You will eventualy damage your engine.

[maikl]

95% is your thermostat who is broken so he dont give the order to the fans to work down leaving an oppen circuit so the heating of the car stays hight and the water boils and get spilt

This post has been edited by maikl: Apr 19, 2003 - 6:25 AM

[97GTinKC]

I'd be leaning towards a blown head gasket, combustion pressure going into the cooling system and forcing it out the reservoir, time to get the cooling system pressure tested, another way to tell sometimes is to feel the radiator hoses after you start it, if they get real hard feeling real quick, chances are combustion pressure is going in to the cooling system, try it with the rad cap on and off. it will also 'blow bubbles' in the radiator when you rev it with the cap off, you'll see lots of air bubbles come to the top,,,

Or it could be simply a bad radiator cap. they normally push some out in to the reservoir when running, then suck it back in as it cools, Try a new cap?

[Guest_Matthew_*]

sin celi

does your car still run good?

besides the overheating?

if not maybe the head gasket like he said

but if not take it to a shop.

i would say that thermostat is not functioning properly

[94blackst]

take it to a shop. sounds like it could be your water pump and/or thermostat, or worst case the head gasket( not as likely). If it does it all the time, you will ruin your engine

[SiN_CeLi]

Everything else works fine. And it runs fine when I am driving it it's just that once I park it, the coolant starts to steam out. But everthing else with the car is ok and I probably will juss take it to the shop. I juss want to have some clue as to what is wrong with it before I take it ot a shop. But thanks for all the replies. I figured it was the thermostat.

[94blackst]

Another thing, does your cooling fan come on at all? that could be another possibility If it don't, then it will run okay when your driving cause you have air flowing through, but when you stop, it will boil over. Hope this helps.

[SiN_CeLi]

Hey thanks for all the help that u guys offered. But for some unknown reason my fans just started kicking in and now my car is working fine now. Thats just like my car to do something like that. But now that this problem has been avoided I am just anticipating the next problem that my car will have.But till then I am the owner of a good looking crap- mobile .

[EC_Knightrider]

well, keep us updated.......have your radiator flushed

This post has been edited by EC_Knightrider: Apr 21, 2003 - 9:21 PM

[SiN_CeLi]

Hey well I have auto-tech at school and I talked to my teacher who is a 7 time ASE certified technician. He said that it would be imposible for it to be a blown head gasket because the pressure that, that would cause in the engine would make it blow out after driving it for a couple minutes. He also said that it was most likely not the thermostat and that the most probable cause of the overheating is one of the relay switches. He said that I should just bypass all the switches because I think our cars have like 3 or 4 and juss wire the fans directly into the fuse box so that when I turn the ignition the fans automatically come on. I guess that I am just an idiot because I checked the relays and they seemed ok. He said it might also be the water temp. reciever.

[CelicaGoddess]

Just so you know for next time in case this helps.....the sensor at the bottom of your radiator..the plug you have to take out to drain your radiator...thats the sensor that tells the cooling fans to come on. my sensor went out when I blew the head gasket so I had to replace it...But I found out that if you unplug the plug that goes to the sensor, your fans will stay on as long as your car is running. Its not a really good solution cause you might blow the motor in your cooling fans, but its a quick fix until you can find out whats wrong....just in case you get stuck on the highway or something like that!