WHy is my car overheating? It is full of radiator fluid.?

Answer 1

The radiator could need cleaned out, a problem with the fan or the water pump may need work.

Answer 2

Okay I'm a woman so I'm not an expert but I can tell you this my mother has an older car with over 190,000 miles she feels she is too old to buy a new one. Her car started to overheat, the reason was she wasn't changing her oil enough. What I did was have a good oil change and then added slick for high mileage cars that helps the car from overheating. Since changing her oil for her and adding the Slick (says so car will not overheat) the trouble stopped and car is no longer overheating. Check your fan, make sure that is working. You might also need to flush the radiator for build up. Put some newspapers under the car and see if you have a leak anywhere? When is the last time you had and oil change? How many miles does this car have? Have you looked looked under the hood while the car is running to see if the fan is working? If you have done all of the above try the Slick look for the one that says so that the engine doesn't overheat if you have a Pep Boys or Car Place in your area this will run you about $16 maybe more, but it's worth saving your engine. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Here are points EVERYONE missed. Is your radiator full of just water? That can cause overheating. Is it full of just antifreeze? That can cause overheating as well. You need to have a mix, specified by the cars manufacturer of coolant & water. Some newer vehicles use a special blend of coolant that needs no water added, as was the case with my 96 Blazer. If you do have the proper mix of coolant/water then on to the next possibilities.
These depend on the year of the car. Newer cars have electric fans to help cool the engine. Older cars have a fan thats driven directly from the engine. With the fan is whats called a fan clutch. Real old cars (60's & earlier) have a fan with no clutch.
The fan clutch has a rheostat inside, and when it feels the heat, it will kick in the fan. Now, the fan may be spinning even with the clutch disengaged, or with the fan clutch being bad, but under load or sometimes even idle, it wont spin fast enough to pull air through the fins of the radiator and do proper cooling.
If your car has an electric fan, you may have a sensor going/gone bad, your fan motor may be bad, or some wiring may be shorted. If it is an electric fan, have you checked the fuses for it? Fuses may be on the drivers side on the side of the dash, under the dash, or even on the passenger side in the glove compartment. There may be fuses & breakers under the hood as well.
Also, to check to see if your water pump is working, the car has to be running & up to temp in order for the thermostat to open. When its open, you'll see currents inside your radiator. If you stand there for quite awhile, with the car hot, and you see no thorough movement of the fluid, it may just mean your thermostat is bad. Theyre very inexpensive, and usually quite simple to remove & install. Thats where I would start first, then I would use process of elimination...starting with the least expensive part (thermostat), .....hopefully this solved the problem and you wont have to get into replacing the more expensive items, such as radiator, heater core (which if its clogged, coolant wont circulate either) ,water pump, etc.

Good luck! elmo_schmelmo1

Answer 4

You might have a bad water pump or thermostat. In either case the fluid from the radiator isn't getting to the engine to cool it.

Take off the cap and start the engine. If you are seeing the fluid moving around it is likely not the water pump (especially if you don't hear any strange noises). Go to an auto parts place, ask for a new thermostat. You can probably change it yourself--check out information online about changing the thermostat for your type of car.

Answer 5

it could be a number of things ,first i would check the thermostat,
the easist way to check it is to let the car run untill it warms up and turn on the heater if there is no hot air comming form the vent then it is the thermostat ,thats the best case ,check the water pump with the car cold take off the radiiator cap start the car up and see if the water is moving or you may have ablown head gasket need to take it to a shop and let them do a compression test.

Answer 6

The most likely cause would be the thermostat. An easy check is to drop it in boiling water. If it opens it's good. A less likely cause and hopefully not the problem, would be either your oil level or oil pump. If this is the case, check your level or take it to a mechanic.

Answer 7

check your thermostat...and see if your fan is coming on if it's electric. If it's a jeep, it's more than likely a sensor. More than likely it's not your water pump if your coolant is full. thermostat is $5 and maybe $25 for labor at a shop, if that.

Answer 8

Could be the water pump is bad,radiator is clogged ,cooling fan is shoot or the thermostat is stuck.If it's not over flowing but the gage says it's over heating,the gage could be bad.

Answer 9

examine your radiator followers, Are they operating even as it steams? you may turn your heater on and which could help cool the engine too. you should get a blast of warm temperature from the vents, in case you get little warmth then your water pump gained't be operating.

Answer 10

i would say either you or someone eles check the water pump for rust if you have ever tries ....god forbid water as a tempp coolant, or it just isnt running....but if that is fine i would say that if the weather were you are is very hot, ost cars can even over heat when there is nothing wrong if its hot and your driving them