[Bruh pls help]

It overheated and barely made it back home. We later inspected it and found some hoses that were cracked and assumed the coolant leaked. We fix that, test drive it, and it overheats. We replaced the thermostat, test drove it, it overheats again. It has a new thermostat, the hoses are fine, it has coolant, the radiator is fine, and no strange noises are coming out of the engine bay. We genuinely don't know what to do anymore.

 

[MuranoSL2003]

You may have air left in the cooling system. Does your heat work consistently? If not, it's a sure sign of air in the system.

I recommend using a device like this to more easily bleed the air out of your cooling system:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A6AS6LY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[canuckguy]

May be the rad cap.

 

[nitely]

Several reasons for overheating including above mentioned. Are the fans running on both speed? Clogged radiator if original? No coolant flow - water pump failure? Blown head gasket?

 

[Pilgrim]

Water pump failure, radiator cap, air trapped in radiator, head gasket, or if it only heats in town at low speeds is the radiator fan running? Many cars will run OK on the highway with a bad electric fan, because there's enough air moving through it..but not in town.

Head gasket is probably least likely...provided you don't keep overheating it.

 

[2ndGenMaintainer]

Agree with everybody , use the spill free funnel on top of the radiator. Start with the engine cool and fill up the radiator until the funnel has some standing coolant in it. Turn the heat up as high as you can and you should see the coolant go down the funnel and into the radiator. If it does, then keep filling up the radiator through the funnel to repeat the process. Keep an eye on your engine temp while all this is going on. If that works, then you know there was air in the system. You may only see air bubbles come out of the funnel, same reason. If not than you most likely don't have that problem. From there I would take the thermostat out and run it again to check for flow to eliminate the pump as the problem. You didnt say anything about the engine bucking so I doubt it's the new thermostat but still could be if the engine maintains temp without it installed.

 

[2ndGenMaintainer]

Btw I'm not sure if I'm the only one who has ever experienced this but on a previous car my radiator had a very small crack in it on top hidden under the frame of the front of the car. Probably caused by a small accident in the front a couple years prior. This crack introduced air into the system and kept causing overheating until I found it and changed the radiator. I decided to change the cap and thermostat at that time too.

 

[Wolfgang Huang]

If you can measure the temperature of the radiator fins (ex. with an IR thermometer), it should give you an idea whether or not the heat is circulated out of the engine block properly.

 

[Pilgrim]

Btw I'm not sure if I'm the only one who has ever experienced this but on a previous car my radiator had a very small crack in it on top hidden under the frame of the front of the car. Probably caused by a small accident in the front a couple years prior. This crack introduced air into the system and kept causing overheating until I found it and changed the radiator. I decided to change the cap and thermostat at that time too.

I have seen that happen as well. One clue is to look for colored residue on the outside of the radiator, as the colored coolant will often leave a track of dried coolant - although it may be in a hard to see spot.

 

[Classylady]

Same here

It overheated and barely made it back home. We later inspected it and found some hoses that were cracked and assumed the coolant leaked. We fix that, test drive it, and it overheats. We replaced the thermostat, test drove it, it overheats again. It has a new thermostat, the hoses are fine, it has coolant, the radiator is fine, and no strange noises are coming out of the engine bay. We genuinely don't know what to do anymore.

and I’m pissed I wasted almost a grand trying to fix this issue it only does it if I’m driving on the highway or where my rpms are high I don’t kno what it can be and the mechanics don’t either but I smell anti freeze some where

 

[2ndGenMaintainer]

If you have bleed the air out, checked function of water pump, hoses, thermostat,coolant temperature sensor, valves, head gasket and everything is fine than the only other thing I can think of is the belt unless water pump is driven by gear, the heater core is bad, does the heat work. Idk...The mechanics should be able to figure it out if their good.

 

[2ndGenMaintainer]

The mechanics should be driving the car on the highway with live data pulled up checking things like engine coolant temp and intermittent faults etc, and verifying the customer complaint.

 

[Classylady]

If you have bleed the air out, checked function of water pump, hoses, thermostat,coolant temperature sensor, valves, head gasket and everything is fine than the only other thing I can think of is the belt unless water pump is driven by gear, the heater core is bad, does the heat work. Idk...The mechanics should be able to figure it out if their good.

That’s what I said who the hell are these mechanics around here like how hard can it be but it’s something and all the things u mentioned have been either replaced or checked I’m abt to sell it but I feel bad cause someone will have the same problem ..but I can’t keep wasting money it’s that or I just don’t drive on the highway but that’s bullshit why have a car if u can’t drive it the way u want .

 

[2ndGenMaintainer]

Yeah I agree maybe think about selling it. I didn't mean that car mechanics in general arent good. Intermittent problems are sometimes tough to solve but it sounds like you have spent the money on the diagnostic hours involved in solving a problem like this. It's one thing to throw parts at a problem without knowing what exactly is the problem and it's another to throw zero parts at it and find the problem for sure, then replace that part. I believe theres a process in troubleshooting a customer complaint and those mechanics that handle it without just throwing parts at them are the ones that have really good troubleshooting skills.

 

[ElleShooTiger]

How quickly does it overheat? Is it ok while driving at 30+ but overheats when stopped?

If it overheats mostly at slow speeds or when stopped, check your fans! If you turn on the A/C, one or two should turn on. When its really hot, both should run or run on high.

One of my original fans went bad and it overheated while I was parked. Replaced the fan assembly and it was good again, until it failed again. Stay the eff away from Dorman fans, I've been replacing them almost every year! At least Advance has lifetime warranty, but it pisses me off that I risk blowing a head gasket every time a fan fails.

 

[dananton485]

It overheated and barely made it back home. We later inspected it and found some hoses that were cracked and assumed the coolant leaked. We fix that, test drive it, and it overheats. We replaced the thermostat, test drove it, it overheats again. It has a new thermostat, the hoses are fine, it has coolant, the radiator is fine, and no strange noises are coming out of the engine bay. We genuinely don't know what to do anymore.

Well the water pump will usually make sound when it goes bad but it wouldn’t hurt to replace it depending on the mileage it will eventually need replacing anyway. Also the fans might not be coming on, if not then check or replace your coolant sensors and/or fan electrical relay. Generally though a car overheating is usually a mechanical issue. If you can’t resolve it may be worth going to a trusted mechanic to see what they find. I would suggest taking it to an auto electronically shop they are better at checking the electronics that operate your fan system and they-also know the mechanical stuff too. Anything but the dealership would be a good choice