Overheating, any help/suggestions?

[Forgiven]

Today was the first day that was in the 70s that I had my car. Also I was in a ton of traffic. My car has always seemed to run really hot, pretty close to the danger zone, but never in it. It always has the fan going.

I do have P0411 because my buddy accidentally clipped one of my tiny clear hoses over my cylinders and haven't replaced it yet.

Anyway, my car got way into the red, I get home, look under the hood and hear boiling, and I see this:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b167/Three16/2.jpg

As you can see there is a hole. I think that occurred today. But now i'm concerned my car has been running too hot anyway. I think the heat/pressure may have caused that hole today.

Here is where you can see some spray from it

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b167/Three16/1-4.jpg

Any suggestions? My fiance is going to drive my car home tonight from our new home in puyallup and it's quite the drive. I want to make sure it won't break down on her and am curious what I need to do to fix it.

[roundeler]

stay out of the red, pull over and stop if you must. Castrophic engine failure could happen when your pistons cease. As far as the cooling system. I wonder if you have corrosion as the result of not changing the coolant system enough and just adding water, causing blockage. Is your coolant tank losing fluid?

-Mark

[jnenad16]

that hose is just an overflow line, which is not important for cool running. the most common causes of overheating are a plugged up radiator, stuck thermostat or a worn out fan clutch. all of these topics have been covered many times before, so do a search on them. I would also suggest you do my electric thermostat mod(also do a search on it). it will help your car from overheating, however you will need to find and fix the current problem first.

nenad

[Sulaco]

driving around in an m104 with that kind of engine temperatures is Russian roulette.

You might already have a blown head gasket. If not, you're definitely headed on your way to having one (assuming you still have the factory head gasket).

[714guy]

not to long ago.. i was driving and my acc. belt broke everything went haywire, including the temp needle went to red then the raditor burst and needle went back down.. it all happend so fast I didn't notice but I pulled over immediately.

I pretty much ended up changing the radiator, belt and all my hoses and completely flushing the whole cooling system. Now my car runs right at the middle mark on a normal day and only reaches below the 3rd mark when i sit in traffic.

Just try flushing the coolant from your block and use water wetter. I did that before my little incident and it worked great. The engine temp cooled down faster then before. Also check your radiator cap, often that looked over.

Btw I have an M104 with 140K miles.

[Forgiven]

Originally posted by Sulaco
driving around in an m104 with that kind of engine temperatures is Russian roulette.

You might already have a blown head gasket. If not, you're definitely headed on your way to having one (assuming you still have the factory head gasket).

i highly doubt i do. I drove in the red for 3 minutes maybe. Car has run perfect since yesterday -not even overheating since i added more water/coolant. I'll prob do the flush that was suggested and also look into nenads mod.

Thanks for the response guys, really do appreciate it :)

[aflicted]

Almost everytime I've had a car run into the red it was the thermostat failing to open, or being partially clogged. There was one time in my old volvo that I started losing pressure in the system through a small hole, and that caused the boiling point of the coolant to lower and BAM! Remember that pressure is also key to keeping the cooling system in check. I can't see the hole from your images, but if its running okay I assume you repaired it?

Just thought of this. In my grandfathers truck he had a lot of debris collected b/w the radiator and tranny cooler which was preventing air pass through. Pulled them and cleaned the debris out and it was smooth sailing. (also replaced the fan clutch)

[duke]

it could be a blown mercedes head gasket (http://www.mbpartswarehouse.com/mercedes_headgasket.html) or a clogged radiator. try to check on these things. good luck

[Forgiven]

In case anyone cares to know, it resulted in a blown head gasket. Fortunately the dealer that sold me the lemon took it in trade in since I deleted the code is was throwing and gave it to them looking clean. (I had owned the car a total of 4000 miles before this happened -so karma got to bite them).

If you live in the NW, never deal with Platinum Autos in bellevue.

I ended up getting a bmw in much better shape, and they got their lemon back in unsellable condition ;)

[SLCPUNK]

If the car had a blown head gasket and was a 96, I don't think it is fair to call it a "lemon."

What kind of bimmer did you get?

[jnolte]

Originally posted by Forgiven
In case anyone cares to know, it resulted in a blown head gasket. Fortunately the dealer that sold me the lemon took it in trade in since I deleted the code is was throwing and gave it to them looking clean. (I had owned the car a total of 4000 miles before this happened -so karma got to bite them).

If you live in the NW, never deal with Platinum Autos in bellevue.

I ended up getting a bmw in much better shape, and they got their lemon back in unsellable condition ;)

told ya platinum autos is crap

not like your last post:

http://www.club202.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=11479&highlight=platinum+autos

[OzC36]

told ya platinum autos is crap.

not like your last post:
http://www.club202.com/forums/showt...=platinum+autos

Heh! Heh! Heh! Nothing like the voice of experience!