random overheating problem!! Need help ASAP!

[joegr]

I will call them in the morning and see what all they did. I'm wondering now, if when I have had the oil changed if they have been checking the coolant and topping it off or not. I usually go to the same oil change place which is not the mechanic I go to. I may have to change that!

Well, if there's no leak, it wouldn't have needed to be topped off anyway. The loss to evaporation is small enough that you should never have to top coolant off if you change it every three years.


My mother (who lives in a different state) uses a couple of different garages for oil changes and other maintenance. A while back, her brake warning light came on. I suggested to her that it would just about have to be that her brake fluid level was low. She said that it couldn't be that because they always checked all the fluid levels (including brake fluid) and topped them off as needed. She even had some reports where there someone initialed that the brake fluid level, coolant level, and so on were correct.
I made the long trip over that weekend, and found that the brake fluid level was low. I added to the fill line and the light went off. (I also verified the condition of the pads and checked for leaks.) She went back to the ones that said they checked and topped off the fluids. This time she got a different story. They said that they weren't allowed to check or add fluids. This was even though they were charging her for that service and saying that they were.
Anyway, rant over. The point is that even if they said they did, they might not have.

 

[joegr]

When my car overheated that one time, my check engine light didn't go on, I heard no dings, and no codes came up. The only thing different was the fan kicked on super high. But that was about 5 days ago. I've driven over 95 miles since then with no issues.

There seem to be basically four levels of overheat.

Level 1 - temp gauge goes past the half way mark and the fan runs at maximum.
Level 2 - temp gauge goes most of the way to H, and warnings sound.
Level 3 - temp gauge goes to maximum, warnings sound, engine goes to a reduced power (and rough running) mode.
Level 4 - temp gauge goes to maximum, warnings sound, engine shuts down.

 

[cirelle]

Cricket had an intermittent overheat indication (level 2) where the temp guage would go from normal to high after driving a couple of miles (from a cold start) and then come back down to normal on it's own.

I had it parked in my driveway (as I was doing stuff in my garage) which has a decent slope, (about 15 - 20 degrees) for about 50 feet, and noticed I needed more coolant after pulling it back in the garage. (down about 3/4 inch in the degas bottle from normal level with no evidence of leaking any fluids).

Topped it off and hasn't happened again.

My guess it was an air bubble.

 

[scjmc]

My slight coolant dissapearing act that I have had for a few years just got worse. The last few months I have been adding more and more. It has been overheating more often. I never have any leaks under the car at home. I fount the leak today between thermostat housing and tree. It does not leak at all until RPM hits 4K, then it starts leaking quite badly all of a sudden. I guess everytime I pass someone on the highway it blows some coolant out, and it all drips out before I get home/work.