Car overheated...

[snicholmeister]

Was going through a drive through yesterday and I noticed my temp gauge was indicating near maximum. It was a hot day so I had the aircon at max. I put the window down and could hear something hissing. Unfortunately as I was in a drive through I had to wait to leave. Drove home slowly, seemed a bit different but okay. Got home, had a look under the bonnet to find the coolant overflow bottle bone dry (had fine dirt/sand in it too). There was also some sort of clear light brown liquid on the lower part of the motor. I filled the overflow with distilled water to hopefully relieve some of the heat.

I suspect a coolant hose has a hole or something and sprayed coolant in the bay, but I'm no mechanic - and haven't actually located any leaks. I really hope it's nothing more serious. Haven't touched it since.

What are the chances my motor is damaged? The gauge didn't get to absolute max so I'm hoping it'll be okay as it was within tolerance.

Anyone got any suggestions of what I should check? Also if my rad is empty will distilled water do til I can get it into the mechanic?

[dstocks]

I know its too late for this, but never put cold water into an overheating engine. Leave it sit for a while and cool down somewhat first. The cold water has the capacity to cause cracking in metal componentry from cooling down too fast. Best this to do is to replace the water and add some coolant and see what happens. Does it lose water?. If you take the cap off the radiator refil point and turn on the engine, can you see bubbles coming up through the water (if so, this is bad as air is leaking in somewhere). Once youve filled it back up, is there any residue in the water (this would be bad too).

Im no mechanic either, but I think this is right. If ive got it wrong, feel free to correct me.

[payaya]

How long did you keep driving for after it was running hot?

I would have pulled over straight away and stop driving the car.

[snicholmeister]

By the time I noticed I was waiting for the food so I turned the car off. Waited about 10 minutes before starting it and driving home which is about 2kms away.

I checked the engine bay and I'm convinced it's a hose. Most of the liquid is in an area just below a hose and there was a little liquid around the hose clamp as well. I'm going to get it into the mechanics as soon as possible.

Last time I had it in was for the 100,xxxkms service and he said that my radiator was on the way out (but fine for the moment). I've been looking at aftermarket aluminium options but Koyo don't seem to make one for the FTO unfortunately.

Anyone know of a brand that makes a bolt in replacement for the FTO?

[payaya]

Call any radiator/wrecker places and they have them for 250ish. I paid this a few months ago.

[spency]

edit: thanks to f**k head raging at me, i take back the "advice" i offered.

[aza013]

FTO's don't have fan belts as they are electric.

[dstocks]

Anyone know of a brand that makes a bolt in replacement for the FTO?

Ebay have an aluminium radiator on offer

[bduffman]

mine was worse my heater pipe broke when i was going threw hungry jacks coolant all over the drive threw lol ( i didnt clean it haha )

is aluminium radiators any better theres a bit or good and bad rep about them

[I8A4RE]

If you car is over-heating, I normally leave it running, park it somewhere in the open so it can suck in cold air and engage the fans for it to cool the car down a little. If its a coolant leak, then you turn it straight off.

Have you checked your fan belts and the fans, make sure they haven't died on you?

Dude seriously!!! If you dont know what your talking about you should keep your mouth shut. This is not the first time you have offered crap advice and if it continues you could cause someone major problems.

IF YOUR CAR IS OVER HEATING YOU TURN OFF THE ENGINE IMMEDIATELY!!!!

There are so many things wrong with your post that you clearly have no idea.

[spency]

By the way dickhead. If you think about it, he was in a drive through. If it was busy he would have been stuck behind other car exhaust. So before you rage at me, use your god dam brain. Leaving your car running would have been fine if you got fresh air into it.

[snicholmeister]

Ebay have an aluminium radiator on offer

Yeah I saw that one... ASI brand I think? I'm unsure about that one; some say they're great, others say they're crap. I'd prefer a Koyo or PWR but they don't make one and they're too expensive, respectively.

Anyway, picked my car up this arvo and apparently it's all fine. As I suspected it was a hose. He couldn't find one in town so he bought a Commodore one and adapted it to fit. Flush and pressure test, all good. Apparently there was quite of lot of gunk in there

He also said that replacing all the hoses in the near future would be a good idea. Got my eye on a Samco high-temp hose kit but apparently they only include the three major hoses, no smaller auxiliary ones. Anyone happen to know where I might find them? I want to replace all hoses to avoid any further issues.

[dstocks]

Well, I can get brand new genuine ones for any you cant locate.

[xj265]

no need for name calling....*runs and hides*

[snicholmeister]

I've just noticed that the Samco kit I'm looking at states it suits 94-96 models... mine is a 97' - does anyone know whether I'll have any issues?

I guess I could take my laptop out and compare the picture to the actual hoses...

[Storm]

They are the same hoses, just make sure you get either manual or tip, whichever your car is, cos the bottom hose is different.

[payaya]

By the way dickhead. If you think about it, he was in a drive through. If it was busy he would have been stuck behind other car exhaust. So before you rage at me, use your god dam brain. Leaving your car running would have been fine if you got fresh air into it.

If your car is overheating its most likely low of coolant. So no matter what fans you have running it won't do anything to cool it down.

If your car is hot the thermos would have been running or getting air as you said, so it would do nothing!

[Kustom]

SERIOUS BUSINESS.

[nvr2low]

hey man is the car still in alice or u in darwin when u going to come to darwin i will take u for a squirt in my car

[snicholmeister]

hey man is the car still in alice or you in darwin when you going to come to darwin i will take you for a squirt in my car

I'm still down in Alice lol; I can't come up anytime soon but I will definately let you know if I have any plans

I'd love to see a turbo FTO...