ShadowVampyre

My son has a 2005 TL. Has been fine for about the months or so we owned it. We bought off a family friend who is a part time mechanic.
It started overheating a few days ago. Like aftwr about 30-45 minutes of driving from a cold start. Weather is about 70 degrees F. No heat no AC needed. Steam coming out of the front and pegged temp gauge. Found that the steam was actually coming from a crack in the radiator overflow hose. Replaced that.
A trouble code said thermostat bad, have never seen that before. Bought a new thermostat, and there was no thermostat in the housing! Put it in, seemed ok for about 30 minutes on the way home, then overheated again. Seems coolant was low; upper radiator hose was not warm. Both fans were running. No blockage on either side of radiator.
Odd there was no thermostat. I checked with my friend, he installed a new water pump, timing belt, radiator, thermostat, among a bunch of other things. We did have someone be else work on the car for a poor idle, seems odd that the thermostat would be removed. Whatever..
anyhow, added coolant till I saw coolant on the top of the radiator. I drive it for about 20 minutes, no climbing temp gauge. My wife drives it the next day in the evening for about 45 minutes, with about a 30 minute down, then about 45 minutes back home the temp gauge starts climbing to like 90%, she pulls over.
The upper radiator hose is warm, no leaks, no steam , but some vapor around the radiator shroud. She waits like 10-15 minutes makes it about 10 minutes. Temperature gauge climbing again. Finally one more cycle of this makes it home.
What else can I check? How can I do a test at home without driving it? Not sure I can without air moving across radiator, unless I use a big fan.

I could really use your help!

ShadowVampyre

I also found 2 pieces of rubber hose, like 3-4” long, maybe 3/8” diameter and a rubber washer inside the radiator overflow reservoir, they don’t appear to go to anything. Any ideas on that?

ShadowVampyre

Well it looks like the small rubber hose and rubber washer go from the tube sticking through the reservoir cap down into the reservoir. Not sure what the thicker hose was for 1/2” outer diameter, 1/4” ID about 4” long, although it looks like it work as the hose coming down into the reservoir , like the other one, just 1/2” shorter and bigger ID

ShadowVampyre

OK, more info, hopefully someone can help. I just drove the TL, 65 degree F weather. The coolant resevoir was a little under the max line. I made it about 40 minutes, about half of that highway driving. Then the temp gauge was climbing fast.

I pulled over, the radiator overflow was about at min. Waited a bit, made it to WalMart, bought 50/50 antifreeze. Topped it off to max. Made it about 25 minutes, staring at the temp gauge most of the way... climbed fast. pulled over. A little steam coming from around the resevoir, and the tank was hovering about min again. Topped it off to about max. I waited about 10 minutes, drove some more.

Almost home, needed gas. The temp gauge at about 75%, decided to check overflow resevoir again.. .low again.
The hose coming from from radiator cap area to the resevoir cap seemed a bit loose, I will put a hose clamp on it. looking at the front of the vehicle, the right fan was on every time we parked, but not the left. Not sure if that is related.

Also, he has no heat (bad heater core most likely)... could this be related to all this, or is this just a bad heater core which wouldn't affect the overheating? no coolant inside the car cabin or smell of it or anything.

Canadiandemon

I don’t have much input, but the hose going from the overflow reservoir to the radiator tends to leak and I’ve heard people say that putting a hose clamp on didn’t do anything. Instead a replacement hose (from any parts store) will do the job to hold down the pressure and prevent leaks. I just replaced the hose but haven’t checked up on it yet to see if it’s leaking.

ShadowVampyre

Thank you. The reservoir hose had a crack in it already, and was blowing steam. This was last week, and I have replaced it with one from an auto parts store.

redbeard1

QUOTE=ShadowVampyre;16852334]....
It started overheating a few days ago....I checked with my friend, he installed a new water pump, timing belt, radiator, thermostat, among a bunch of other things. We did have someone be else work on the car for a poor idle,
What else can I check?[/QUOTE]

Around 0:20 second mark in the attached video, he mentions that irregular idle, no cabin heat, and engine overheating can be caused by air in your heating system. Did you bleed the air after refilling?


Also, the hose in the reservoir is needed to prevent air from entering system when the coolant cools down. The bottom of that hose should always be covered.

ShadowVampyre

Around 0:20 second mark in the attached video, he mentions that irregular idle, no cabin heat, and engine overheating can be caused by air in your heating system. Did you bleed the air after refilling?


Also, the hose in the reservoir is needed to prevent air from entering system when the coolant cools down. The bottom of that hose should always be covered.[/QUOTE]

****
I did not install the water pump or radiator, however i did replace the thermostat, and did not bleed the coolant system. The inner resevoir hose almost makes it to the lower min line. I think i will get a longer hose that goes down further. I will also bleed the system this evening.
Thank you very much for this, I am hopeful!!

twokexlv6coupe

No heat plus overheating symptoms are classic signs of air trapped in the cooling system.

Sounds like 1) there's def a leak somewhere. You can rent (or buy) a coolant system pressure tester from AZ/AAP to help you diagnose where the leak is coming from.
Once all leaks have been fixed, you can 2) properly bleed the cooling system.

Are you simply adding coolant when it gets low? Or actually bleeding it out? Those spill-free funnels are a beautiful tool!

ShadowVampyre

So, at lunch, I bled/burped the system the best I could. Heat on high, radiator full, resevoir pretty full, running at 2500 rpm for about 15-20 minutes parked. temp gauge was about 50%, a bit under.
The heat now works! No overheating either. I did have to add more coolant to the resevoir. I am guessing this is because the heater core is now open with the heat on high, thus taking in coolant that was not there before.

I have been keeping white posterboard under where the car is parked to see if any leaks, no coolant on the ground, or anywhere I can spot.
Next is to drive it and see...