car is running hot?

Question

car is running hor while at drive thru and light,car got hot and antifreeze boiled up and spurted.I think i added too much water in coolant compartment a week ago cause when i checked it it look dry .anyways it boiled over ,got hot and idled high in the works of it all.iy spurted and cooled for a minute or two and i drove home.same thing again today ,it started getting hot.???help please

green anti freeze,ford explorer

Answer 1

If a car is hot there are to ways to deal with it:
1) give it some Tylenol and call me in the morning
2) TAKE IT TO A MECHANIC! You said it was "dry" at some point. It means it's loosing coolant. Needs to be checked before you ruin the engine.

Answer 2

You need to find out where the anti-freeze is going? The bottle shouldn't be dry. Check for leaks first. If there are no leaks you should pop off the oil filler cap and check for a creamy tan colored substance. If there is then you have a blown head gasket. If there is none it can be a blown head gasket that leaks into the cylinder and is being turned to steam and exiting out of the tail pipe. Remove the radiator cap ( cold engine only ) and rev the engine up. If the antifreeze is spits out of the radiator this will tell you the head gasket is blown and the compression of the cylinder is being forced into the coolant system. The best way to tell is to pressure test it though. Thermostats and cooling fans can also cause vehicles to over heat. As well as a clogged radiator. There are several things to check. The type of vehicle would also help being that some cars have common problems. Hope this helps :)

Answer 3

Busted thermostat. It could be a water pump, but the thermostat is a do-it-yourself project (for anyone capable of turning a wrench or socket--not complicated at all) that will cost you $12 for parts. So try that before you take it to the shop.

Go to the parts store with your registration and get the thermostat, gasket, and some gasket sealant (aka gunk). Follow hoses from your radiator to see where the thermostat goes--it's a small metal box, probably silver colored, and the box the thermostat came in will probably have a picture to help you. Just open that little metal box up, take out the old thermostat, scrape the old gasket off (if there is any of it left), put on the new gasket, add the sealant gunk, and put the metal box top back on. Once you are done, check that your antifreeze level is still good or drain it all out and replace it. Piece of cake--really.

It could also be your fan/fan belt. Look under the hood with the engine running and see if the fan is turning--if not, it's the fan.

Answer 4

Open the hood and fill with water or whatever. Start the car and let it run. See if the Fan on the radiator start working when it get to operating temperature.
If, the fan works it my be the thermostat is bad, but, usually this get hot during regular driving down the road.
Once it fixed you may want to drain the radiator and fill with the recommended mix of antifreeze.

Answer 5

Don't drive it without coolant. The fan is not functioning, check fan clutch. If it's an electric fan check all fuses, fan for function. The high idle is scary because if you overheat and warp your head you can have a vacuum leak and cause a high idle. Get this fixed now or you will not have a motor left.

Answer 6

It's probably got something wrong with the cooling system. Could be lots of things. Is the water pump working? Fan belt intact? (or in the case of an electric fan, is it working?) Does the radiator leak? Thermostat work? There could be some blockage....try flushing out the radiator first...

Answer 7

Most likely going to be: thermostat, waterpump, or electric cooling fan. Shouldn't be a very expensive repair. Why not flush the cooling system at the same time and kill 2 birds with 1 stone? Good Luck!

Answer 8

You may have a leak in the radiator, or you may have put the wrong type of coolant in the radiator when you filled it.

Remember to mix your coolant with water if it is the green coolant, if is DexCool which is a red color, I think you have to mix it with distilled water.

Either way, now, it seems you are in need of a mechanic.

Take it to a shop.

Answer 9

Are the fans running? Are they running in the right direction? I had a similar problem, and it turned out the fan was wired wrong, it was pushing air toward the front of the car instead of toward the engine so it would over heat when at a red light but would be fine driving down the road, because when driving down the road it would force the air toward the engine.

Answer 10

first off water should be a last resort. And second either you have a whole in your radiator or you need a new one. You can go to autozone or w/e and buy some radiator patch up (liquid). You just put it in your radiator and let your car run for a bit and the solution finds the whole (if any) and the solution begins to cover it up.