Car overheating, appears to be burning antifreeze after thermostat change?
#1
03-10-2012, 09:54 PM
Car overheating, appears to be burning antifreeze after thermostat change?
'04 sedan was leaking oil first. Took it to Firestone, a gasket and a hose needed to be replaced. On the way home (no more than 35mph driving), turned on the heater (it was ~40*F degrees outside), ice cold... this issue has happened before and I fixed it by bleeding the coolant.
Looked at my temp gauge when i got home, noticed it was higher than usual but not red-lined. Drove around the block, got back, still climbing towards [H]. Got worried. Popped the hood, noticed the overflow tank for antifreeze was almost empty. Put coolant in the radiator. Ran the car, still overheating. Assumed it was the thermostat.
Bought a new thermostat, had a friend of mine install it, assisted him with the install... afterwards, car starts up, runs fine... initial exhaust smelt strongly of gasoline. After a minute or two, exhaust smelled strongly of anti-freeze. Later, exhaust smells not so strongly of anti-freeze but still trace amounts (definitely not burning clean), and the car still overheats. It does NOT overheat at Idle... stays in the middle, where it used to stay. Once the car is in motion, needle start climbing.
What happened here and what else can I check? And why would my AC be ice cold after they replace an oil gasket and an oil-related hose? I'm thinking this was a bad coincidence, but wtf -_-
EDITS: I don't think the car is burning anti-freeze now, it smells like oil, i think the anti-freeze smell was excess spillage that got on the engine when the hoses were disconnected. Also, I've been without a coolant overflow cap for like 3 months... car overheats, returns to normal at low speed (~15 MPH)... I think the radiator may be clogged, is this a high probability without the antifreeze reservoir cap being on? I checked the dipstick, it doesn't appear that there's any antifreeze on it. Would this be evident immediately after an oil change and thermostat swap?
Looked at my temp gauge when i got home, noticed it was higher than usual but not red-lined. Drove around the block, got back, still climbing towards [H]. Got worried. Popped the hood, noticed the overflow tank for antifreeze was almost empty. Put coolant in the radiator. Ran the car, still overheating. Assumed it was the thermostat.
Bought a new thermostat, had a friend of mine install it, assisted him with the install... afterwards, car starts up, runs fine... initial exhaust smelt strongly of gasoline. After a minute or two, exhaust smelled strongly of anti-freeze. Later, exhaust smells not so strongly of anti-freeze but still trace amounts (definitely not burning clean), and the car still overheats. It does NOT overheat at Idle... stays in the middle, where it used to stay. Once the car is in motion, needle start climbing.
What happened here and what else can I check? And why would my AC be ice cold after they replace an oil gasket and an oil-related hose? I'm thinking this was a bad coincidence, but wtf -_-
EDITS: I don't think the car is burning anti-freeze now, it smells like oil, i think the anti-freeze smell was excess spillage that got on the engine when the hoses were disconnected. Also, I've been without a coolant overflow cap for like 3 months... car overheats, returns to normal at low speed (~15 MPH)... I think the radiator may be clogged, is this a high probability without the antifreeze reservoir cap being on? I checked the dipstick, it doesn't appear that there's any antifreeze on it. Would this be evident immediately after an oil change and thermostat swap?
Last edited by RADRaze2KX; 03-10-2012 at 10:46 PM.
#2
03-11-2012, 12:38 PM
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