So, I was driving my car home from work today and noticed my heat wasn't working. So, I started looking at the front passenger corner of the hood, and sure enough, I could just barely see steam coming out a little. Get the car home, shut it down and I can hear the coolant boiling in the tank. Then it starts steaming like crazy.

I really need to get my temp. gauge fixed. Needle doesn't move at all. Anyway, the coolant was spilling out of the tank and I also noticed it spilling (just a little) out of the radiator cap. I originally thought it would be the thermostat because of the no heat issue, but after seeing it coming out of the radiator cap, I'm thinking I need a new cap. Any one care to verify for me?

 

I believe your cap is rated at 15psi so if the pressure was above that it could have spewed out some. I would make sure your fan(s) are working. One should definately kick on at 220 degrees. I would also take it to a radiator shop and they can check your cooling system as well as your cap. Thermostats are cheap so that would be a good place to start. If you have no heat it could be pointing to:
A. Low antifreeze.
B. Blockage in the cooling system Plugged radiator, plugged heater core.
C. Frozen t-stat or frozen heater valve.

I am not an expert but these are some things that happened to me in the past.
Hope it helps.

Kevin

 

Fans are wired to a switch which I always turn on when start the car. They were on and working.

Collant has been right at tthe line on the bottle where it says it should be.

Should of mentioned, car is an 87 with a 350.

 

Sounds like you either don't have enough pressure (see radiator cap) or your thermostat isn't opening to allow fresh coolant into the engine. Check your radiator hoses (inlet and return) to see if either of them are cool to the touch after the car warms up. That'll help us find out whats going on with the car.

 

So...Now I'm really stumped. Changed both the cap and thermostat for new ones yesterday. Drove the car around for 2 hours and was fine the whole time. Bring the car to work today, fine on the way there. On the way home I notice heat isn't working again. Yup, same problem again. When I got home I felt all the hoses; Every one was hot except the lower radiator hose. Was warm, but def. was not too hot to hold like the rest. Also, seemed like coolant was spilling out of the radiator cap again. However, this time overflow tank was not full, but right at the line where it should be.

 

just a thought, possible head gasket pushing pressure through the coolant passage or bad impeller on the water pump

 

Any way to check the water pump, or diagnos a problem with it?

How about the radiator itself. Do those things fail? I really don't know how a radiator works, so...

I am hoping it's not a head gasket. Haven't had a chance to pull the oil
It does smoke (white) at startup, but goes away after a min. I will check again to verify it's not constant.

I just bought this thing and it isn't going so well.

Got it home and it leaked about a quart of tranny fluid all over my garage floor. Took care of that.
Been fixing/Re-installing the things needed to get it to pass a safety inspection.
Guy was supposed to drop off a new nose/hood and seats that were to be included in the sale last Weekend; called and said he couldn't make it...Hasn't been answering/returning any calls since then...

 

overheat w/no heat usually indicates poor system flow.definitely would be suspicious of pump or system is air bound.air in system could be result of low level or head gasket failure.

 

I just don't understand why it would run fine last night.

I did top off the system with water from the hose, but I don't think that would cause this

I will flush the system this weekend and fill it with 50/50; just didn't have any coolant on hand.

 

after you replaced the thermostat and cap did you burp the coolant system to get rid of the excess air? This stops air pockets from forming and causing issues