i drove my car about a mile and i could smell radiator fluid so i looked at my temp gadge which was normal so i stopped, opended the hood and noticed it was pretty hot for driving such a short distance. there was also a trail of coolant drips behind the car, which makes me think the water pump is bad, i checked the oil it was at a safe level but it was dark and kinda thick. so anyway i was just a block from home so i took it home i heard so valve clicking noises pretty sure it wasn`t lifters.
in september i replaced the radiator, waterpump, thermostat, hoeses and tempiture sending unit.
i just got the car in august im thinking the oil wasn`t changed very often
i`m wondering if the sluggish oil is causing the engine to over heat and/or the thermostat is bad causing the waterpump to go out.
any ideas where i should start,
thanks
2007-03-04 04:20:03 · 3 answers · asked by lweber_2112 2 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
Overheating engines are almost never the thermostat. That's just a word people use because it's the only one they know.
Why are you driving it with oil like that? If it gets black as soon as you change it, keep changing it every 1,000 miles until the engine is clean.
One of the most common things people do wrong when they change radiator hoses is to leave the big spring out of the bottom hose. That makes it collapse when the thermostat opens and the water pump starts sucking water out of the radiator.. Particularly if the radiator cap isn't keeping the system under pressure.
If you don't have the overflow tank hooked up right, you'll get some coolant blowing out whenever the engine gets hot enough. Those engines are suppose to use 195 thermostats and run at around 215 degrees, so they're pretty hot normally.
You say you hear valve tapping, but you're sure it's not the lifters. That doesn't make sense. Valve tapping is always caused by bad or out of adjustment lifters.
Don't use more than 10W30 oil. Thicker oil doesn't protect any better and doesn't flow as well in tight clearances. Noisy lifters is the first sign of too thick oil.
2007-03-04 05:58:42 · answer #1 · answered by Nomadd 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Usually when a car overheats quickly (short distance) it is the thermostat. You may have a bad one in September.
2007-03-04 04:28:20 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
After rechecking hoses and such it could be your heater core leaking. Water pump in the beginning won't leak until the engin is turned off then will leak from weep hole in center of pump
2007-03-04 05:40:16 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋