'03 MSP Overheating

[GJM]

Hey all,

So here's my situation, Friday on the way into work, as soon as I got off the highway, i notice my CEL come on, and there's steam coming from under the hood. The temp gauge is at H so I pull off into my works parking lot and pop the hood. The hose that connects to the reservoir had popped off the radiator and pissed coolant everywhere, obviously the res was empty after this.
After it cooled off I popped the cap on the radiator and it looked a bit low so I filled it with water, started the car, and after idling and some light driving the temp started climbing fast again. At this point, since I didn't see any leaks, I decided to pull my thermostat, and run with it open, filling everything back up with water. This fixed the issue or so I thought. I made it home fine, (40 miles) and this morning on the way back into work, once I got off the highway, I noticed the temp rose again. This time I ran the heat, and the temp went down, but it had pissed some more fluid out of the res valve/cap. I am picking up an OEM thermostat at lunch today, but I'm wondering if it could be the cap as well. Ive had the water pump done in the past with a timing belt, but I suppose I should flush out the radiator when putting in the new thermostat.

What coolant should I get, and also what would be the best way to flush out the radiator? At this point i'm thinking the radiator is in need of a flush if the cap doesn't fix this.

Thanks in advance!

 

[evilmonkeyMSP]

replace the cap.

 

[Tzar177]

How many miles on car? Maybe you should replace the cap just for some insurance...shouldn't be that expensive. You should go buy 6 gallons of Distilled water. To flush the system you need to idle the car til the engine fan kicks on. This is a sign that the thermostat has opened. Continue to idle for another min. Turn car off and open the drain plug at the bottom of the radiator and remove rad cap. Fully drain radiator then refill completely with distilled water. Let car cool down for a bit and repeat the process until nothing but plain water drains from the rad. This ensures that all old coolant is out of the system. Then fill your radiator with the appropriate amount of new coolant and top off with water if need be

 

[GJM]

Thanks guys,
I have about 140k on it now.
So I should flush the radiator after I put in the new thermostat then? I guess I was thinking I'd just drain everything I could, say run a hose through the cap, and leave the drain plug in the radiator open.

I was just going to pick up the 50/50 import mix at autozone for the coolant.

Thanks guys

 

[GJM]

Well just to update, I put on a new cap, drained/flushed/filled the radiator, and also added in the OEM thermostat. So far, I cannot make it overheat, I do notice that after a long drive, the resivouir does get full, almost to the top, but after a cooldown it lowers back at the full line. It could just be that I put a little too much coolant in there. It had been a while since my last drain before all this happened and the flushed liquid did have some dark tinge to it. I hope the head gasket isn't bad. My oil level is fine, but my turbo seal does look like its been leaking as there is caked up oil visible on the turbo itself when looking at it from up top.
At this point, if it continues to overheat sporadically, I'm guessing it's either the radiator or the head gasket.

 

[thecrash91]

cool beans guy. its supposed to go to overflow tank and go back when it cools down, mine wasnt doing that and it turned out to be only a cap. glad your problem is seemingly fixed.

 

[GJM]

Ah well I guess I spoke too soon.
After getting off the highway today, then sitting in traffic, the needle moved over halfway to almost 3/4 H.
Once i got to work, and popped the hood, the reservoir was full to the top, and i could see that it had pissed some fluid out of the top cap. At this point, I guess there is a problem with the radiator and the way it flows, as this is erratic. Some times, the car wont do this at all, some days it does.
I really really hope its not a water pump or head gasket.

 

[thecrash91]

have you checked your belts? when one of mine snapped it caused the car to overheat and the coolant boiled.

 

[GJM]

Yeah, the belts look ok.
Since it's so sporradic, I'm just wondering if its a problem with the way its flowing through the radiator.

 

[GJM]

Well,
I noticed that my coolant is now beginning to smell of oil. There is no white smoke from the exhaust yet, but at this point, I'm going to just do a head gasket myself, ship off the head to get machined etc. I'm not really sure how this all happened as I pretty much baby the car, rarely hitting boost but I suppose the millage is up there. I will try to test the flow of the radiator before I pull everything apart but I have a feeling its fine.

Thanks for the help regardless all.

 

[GJM]

Well I popped in a new stock MSP Radiator and so far things seem to be ok, well at least I hope so.

When the car is cold, the resivouir sits about 2 inches under the full line. After driving on the highway to work, and back roads, (45min to an hour) when I get home, its about 2 inches above the full line.

It doesnt bubble nearly as bad as before either. I see one consistant bubble in the res though, but it only produces a very small bubble every time.

Is this normal? I cant remember.
Also, the weather has been cooler lately, but I would still think after driving that much, the coolant is going to heat up as much as possible by then right?

 

[Jo060]

Did you make sure to "burp" the radiator after you flushed it? If not there could be a bubble in the system that could cause major problems.

A bit off topic, but what amount of coolant does the MSP call for?

 

[dacquesta1]

if it smells like oil in the coolant, could be head gasket...could also be turbo issue since its both oil and water cooled. i would check the turbo before pulling the head. also you should update your sig with your location