More radiator issues.(don't just look, post)

[TheMajesticking]

I posted a thread about a crack in my radiator but now I have another problem. When I raced my friends c280 I forgot to mention how low my coolant was. Well it was an emergency so I put some of his coolant in (not red stuff). Last night I noticed that while I was idle for about 3mins that my temp gauge was a tiny bit over half way which is not good. If I have plenty of fluid would this be due to the coolant that I used or the radiator itself.

[BLUEMEANIE]

Shouldn't be...
People say not to mix the types (red and green) but I honestly don't know what ill effects it would have. To my knowledge my Cam has always been on the green stuff and my over flow tank is almost always dry so when I top it off I use the green since buying the red requires going all the way to the dealer. ...not to mention its quite a bit more expensive.

My honest feeling is the red is a ploy to keep you servicing at the dealer.
...imho of course.

[Hajoca]

Hmmmm... well I'll post.

What about coolant temperature sensor? when you were low, did the engine over heat? and possibly damage the sensor? or thermostat?

I would suggest the coolant be flushed, and filled with the same type, and at the same time take out the coolant temp sensor, and usa an Ohm meter and test. Boil some water, dunk in and test values... while your at it, take the thermostat and put it in boiling whater to see if it opens up, gradually or with a sharp pop.

if the opening speed is abrupt, then that may explain the condition you had.

[TheMajesticking]

So if I have plenty of coolant what would cause this. One day I noticed the temp was low and then last night after sitting it was kind of high. WTF?

[Lumberg]

First of all the red is long-life coolant. You can get it at auto parts stores. It's 5-year instead of 2 year coolant. You can mix the two, but as soon as you mix the two the long-life properties are lost and it's just like having a cooling system full of just the green stuff.

As far as why the temp is high, could be air pockets in the cooling system due to not bleeding it out when you refilled it. Also could be a leak which is why it was low in the first place.

I hate to tell you this but it sounds like you should take it to a qualified mechanic so he can figure out exactly what is going on.

[luisitol]

i run on the green stuff all the time and my guage sits right at the middle all the time, no exception. I drove down to FL from NY i nmy car and that needle still didnt' move from the middle spot. So you dont' have to get that red stuff.

[TheMajesticking]

I think I gave the imression that I had red stuff to begin with. It was green when I got the car. But this happened so soon after I got the the car that I wouldn't know if it has always been a problem or not. When the coolant was low, the engine never overheated. It wasn't until I added the coolant that I had this problem. That's why I was wondering could it be the coolant itself.
I just wanted to know if I swithced to red would I still have this problem. I don't think your engine would overheat going on long trips because it is constantly catching air. Sitting still is the problem.

[luisitol]

yea it was catching air but going 90+mph for 16hrs negates that air, lol. Also i drive in NYC traffic and still no overheating

Have you replaced the radiator yet? If you haven't then I think the crack just might have gotten worse.

On a side note, My car never overheats but my freaking overflow tank is always empty lately. I'm replacing my radiator in 3weeks and hopefully having some custom radiator hoses made so i'm hoping that should take care of the problem. Any ideas why that would be that my overflow is always empty, but i never overheat?

[Lumberg]

Majestick have you checked your fan? Your fan should come on when sitting still and the car reaches a certain temperature. Overheating in stop and go traffic but not on the move is a classic symptom of a bad fan relay or fan motor.

Usually you can tell if it's the motor cos you wait until the fan is supposed to kick on and if it doesn't, you give the fan a nudge with your finger and it starts.

They way to force your fan to turn on is to turn on the AC.

luisitol you have to check for leaks. If you don't find any after ispecting under the car and every hose and part that contains antifreeze, there are three possibilities:

heater core--your car woudl smell like antifreeze every time you turn on the heat

some gasket inside the engine (like head gasket) is allowing coolant to leak into the combustion areas. If this is the case you should see while smoke in the exhaust. Also there is a test you can do to detect combusiton gases in the coolant at the radiator cap

a gasket inside the engine has failed and coolant is getting into your oiling system. this is easy to spot because your oil starts to look like a chocolate milkshake.

luis take the time to do a proper diagnosis. don't just change parts and "hope that takes car of the problem."

also luis understand that under normal operating conditions the cooling system is under pressure. there is a tool you can buy to pressurize the cooling system to make it easier to find leaks. you can also buy a fluorescent dye to put in there, and use a black light to find the leaks. this is actually true for any fluid in the car.

[luisitol]

Lumberg...thanks for the tips.

I wasn't changin my radiator just cuz, it has to be replaced for certain reasons so i'm not just doing it to hope it fixes the problem.

I previosuly checked for leaks and none are present

After looking through the three possibilites that you mentioned I dont' have any smoke from my car and my oil is fine, changed it a month ago after i got back from FL.

I am pretty certain that it is the heater core because i wanted to change that out as well since i was getting a slight coolant smell when i would turn on the heater.

[cam2Xrunner]

Originally posted by Lumberg
Majestick have you checked your fan? Your fan should come on when sitting still and the car reaches a certain temperature. Overheating in stop and go traffic but not on the move is a classic symptom of a bad fan relay or fan motor.

Usually you can tell if it's the motor cos you wait until the fan is supposed to kick on and if it doesn't, you give the fan a nudge with your finger and it starts.

They way to force your fan to turn on is to turn on the AC.

luisitol you have to check for leaks. If you don't find any after ispecting under the car and every hose and part that contains antifreeze, there are three possibilities:

heater core--your car woudl smell like antifreeze every time you turn on the heat

some gasket inside the engine (like head gasket) is allowing coolant to leak into the combustion areas. If this is the case you should see while smoke in the exhaust. Also there is a test you can do to detect combusiton gases in the coolant at the radiator cap

a gasket inside the engine has failed and coolant is getting into your oiling system. this is easy to spot because your oil starts to look like a chocolate milkshake.

luis take the time to do a proper diagnosis. don't just change parts and "hope that takes car of the problem."

also luis understand that under normal operating conditions the cooling system is under pressure. there is a tool you can buy to pressurize the cooling system to make it easier to find leaks. you can also buy a fluorescent dye to put in there, and use a black light to find the leaks. this is actually true for any fluid in the car.

/\ agreed dc knows what he's talking about.

Majestic in your case i'd just save up and replace the t-stat and hoses while you're putting in the new radiator. Radiators for our cars are pretty cheap too, you can prob find one for 100 bucks. The thermostat and hoses shouldn't cost more than 15 bucks each.

[Hajoca]

There is another possibility

The 'mix' has different heating/ cooling characteristics, thus the higher temp, was the stuff you added already diluted with water?

What was that concentration? Coolant does not release heat as well.

[92CAMRYGTS]

majestic i think you have air pockets in your system now that you refilled your system. now with the air pockts its harder for the fluid to move throughout the system.

luis i had the same problem by overflow was always empty. this happened after i painted the top of the overflow. i found out i put it on backwards. try to take bother hoses off the top of your overflow, turn the top around 180 and put the hoses back on.

[luisitol]

hmmm never thought of that. I'll give it a try

How did you realize it was on backwards?

[TheMajesticking]

I think I am going to try some of that spray stuff to seal the crack but I don't where to get it.