car is overheating at idle......

[sackingz123]

when iam at a stoplight, the tempature gaugue would go all the way almosst to the H, this happen today while going to work, it has never done this before, fan turned on after i turn off the car which means the fans work, but after work, i checked the radiator there WAS NO COOLANT IN SIGHT!! so i was like wtf and took a risk and drove home, had my heater full blast... ...now iam at home...looking at past threads about overheating, to my invesigation, i believe i need to Flush the coolant, first of all, i dont knoe how to do that????, i need do to this really fast because i have work tomorrow and i hope i can flush and refill, the coolant in the resisevor is pretty bad looking, since i got the car i have never flushed the coolant.....

hope you guys help me out...thanks

[NAiL05]

Fill it with water...run it...and see what happens. It could be your thermostat. When you saw your fans turn on were both of them on or just one?

[MikeW]

Had/having same problem..luckily for me i live like a mile from my job. I recently had my radiator replaced, new coolant and all, then my fans didnt work so i had to replace my coolant temp sensor, and its back to running hot..im thinking in both our cases its probably a thermostat...

[NAiL05]

Usually it is the thermostat in this case BUT he said his fluid level was low so it would be a good idea to see if he has a leak first. Since he said he had nothing in the radiator whatsoever when he checked. Filling it up with water is cheap and easy and it will suffice as a temporaray solution.

[MikeW]

True. Keeping in mind the word "temporary"...cracked the block on a plymouth i had a few years back doing that..filling it up everytime before i drove it somewhere..lasted me about 3 months surprisingly...but yeah, it should suffice.

[sackingz123]

i believe both fans were working, iam not sure tho, but i heard them working becuase i open the hood and saw them working, yeah i guess i will drain and refill, how i do i remove all that coolant from the reservior????

[NAiL05]

You wont need to drain it fill it up first with water. Drive it around to around normal operating temperature and see if you can find some leaks and to see if it still overheats. Best time to have a pressure tester now.

[sackingz123]

You wont need to drain it fill it up first with water. Drive it around to around normal operating temperature and see if you can find some leaks and to see if it still overheats. Best time to have a pressure tester now.

should i fill water in the radiator or resevior?? just water?? no coolant??

thanks for the help, i appreciate it

[NAiL05]

Fill it up in both if they are low or empty. This will suffice as a temporary solution until you have time to look at it. But best bet is to pressure test it to see if you have leaks. If not could be your thermostat. But fill it up with water for now and see if it keeps on doin it.

[sackingz123]

okay thanks man...i will do that and will tell you later on tha day when i come back from work, i just have a thought that it could be the water pump but I HOPE ITs NOT....but just having a thought about that...how much would a water pump cost if i take to a mechanic anyways??...there is some coolant in the resevior tho..not alot tho..so it didnt take that coolant into the radiator..is maybe low on coolant in the engine block?? should i just do a mix of coolant and water? i dont feel right just putin just water in the radator....i just boiled some water to become distilled...iam guessing you recommeend me using distilled then tap water from hose...

thanks man, you make this forum useful...

[HF22T]

if its only overheating at idle sit still and rev it and if the heat goes down nothing to do with a t stat it woudl be the pump try bleeding the system first though thats always a problem with these systems

['93EX]

This same exact thing happened to me about 1 month or so ago. Found out that one of my hoses had a pin sized hole in it. Check out the hoses and go from there.

[sackingz123]

UPDATE:i put coolant and water in the radiator in the morning before work, while driving to work i was paying attention to the tempertaure gauge and the needle was almost half point which made me happy ... ....ill be looking at the coolant for the next couple of days, thanks for the help for those who contributed....

[cb7dazz]

definitely get your system pressure tested, if you had no coolant that means its going somewhere, you might have a leak or could be going out the tailpipe. Just get it checked cuz you dont want it to overheat and cause engine damage

[sackingz123]

definitely get your system pressure tested, if you had no coolant that means its going somewhere, you might have a leak or could be going out the tailpipe. Just get it checked cuz you dont want it to overheat and cause engine damage

how much does it cost to do that??

thanks