YACT: overheating

[Bryophyte]

A friend has a problem with his engine overheating while idle, like when sitting in traffic. He changed the coolant and replaced the thermostat, but it didn't help. Does anyone have any ideas to help diagnose the exact problem? Could it be a fan or sensor?

Thanks
BD

 

[Vette73]

Make sure the Rad fan is coming on. If not see if it is getting grouded, as most fans have constent power and the switch in teh coolant grounds it out. If the fan works then check switch. If all good then check rad. for being clogged or leaks.
Also check plugs to make sure engine is running right and check timing.

 

[Lager]

Originally posted by: BigDan
A friend has a problem with his engine overheating while idle, like when sitting in traffic. He changed the coolant and replaced the thermostat, but it didn't help. Does anyone have any ideas to help diagnose the exact problem? Could it be a fan or sensor?

Thanks
BD

What a coincidence, I have the same problem with the engine overheating.

 

[desertdweller]

Let the car Idle and see if the fan is coming on when it gets hot. If it isn't, it could be a bad sensor, an
electrical problem, a bad fan motor.

Without more information, thats where to tell you to start.

DD

Edit: If the fan is coming on, then you need to look elsewhere.

 

[PG]

Good suggestions so far, but also let us know more about the car. Year, make, model, etc.

 

[conjur]

Check the head gasket, too.

 

[Bryophyte]

Originally posted by: PG
Good suggestions so far, but also let us know more about the car. Year, make, model, etc.

Thanks for all the replies so far! I'll ask him more questions next time I hear from him (hopefully today).
BD

 

[amdskip]

Originally posted by: conjur
Check the head gasket, too.

A bad head gasket will allow oil/anti freeze to mix and cause the head to crack if not taken care of in time.

 

[conjur]

Ayup...mine was causing an oil leak and it was near disaster time before I finally got enough $$ to fix it.

 

[Riverhound777]

I had the same problem, mine turned out to be my radiator. it needed to be rotted out. No problems ever since.

 

[Bryophyte]

Ok, got some more info from him about his car. Still don't know what kind of car he has and how old it is.

"I used to alway use 10W40 oil for my engine, but this time I used 5w30 oil. Could lighter oil cause my (old) engine to overheat? I bought a coolant sensor and will change it tommorow, but I doubt it will help since the fan *does* work."

Does this spark any more ideas?

 

[Ronstang]

Originally posted by: Riverhound777
I had the same problem, mine turned out to be my radiator. it needed to be rotted out. No problems ever since.

Simply for future reference and to avoid ambarrassment the term you were looking for is "rodded" not "rotted".