Overheating and lights surging problem!
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Overheating and lights surging problem!
Okay so I bought a 1989 iroc z28 camaro. I have just started driving it and I noticed temp gauge wasn't working so I parked it until found out what was wrong. It was the temp garage sensor on driver side between 1 and 3 spark plugs. So I replaced and put coolant back in. Now I noticed when I drive sometimes the temp goes up almost to the red and won't go down til I drive again. I also noticed the coolant level has dropped in the reservoir so I added more and I have seen it get hit about 4 times now and I have added coolant 2 times to the reservoir. What can I do to fix this overheating ? Also when I drive at Ight and turn my lights on I notice out of no where they will get really bright on the dash and radio and the lights pointing outside will get bright all at the same time and usually my radio stops playing. Then the lights will go back down and radio will play again. Why are my lights surging what can I do to fix this?
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From: Arizona
Car: 1998 Viper/1996 Bronco
Engine: 8.0/7.3
Transmission: T56/ZF5
Re: Overheating and lights surging problem!
For the electrical, I would make a new thread in the electrical section of the forums. It would be good to have the two problems you are having split up into two different threads because they aren't related and have a lot of potential reasons causing them.
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For the cooling issue, there are a lot of things you'll want to check. Apparently, the temp gauges on these cars are very inaccurate, so you can't always go by what the gauge is reading.
However, losing coolant is a problem. The first thing you need to check is to see if there are any puddles underneath your car when you park it.
Also, try and check under the car and in the engine bay when the engine is running to see if you can find coolant leaking. Sometimes coolant will only leak when the system is pressurized, and it can be quite difficult to spot these leaks because they don't always leave puddles.
Another thing you'll want to check is to see if the tailpipe is emitting any "smoke" and what it smells like if it is. Coolant burning up in the system will come out as white vapor, which looks like smoke. It will have a kinda "Sweet" smell to it. If you see this, then that's bad news. It would mean you most likely have a head gasket leak/cracked cylinder head.
One way to check if coolant is leaking and burning up into your exhaust (if you can't see any smoke or don't think any smoke coming out of your exhaust is coolant) is to rent a test kit at your local auto parts store.
This is the kit you get: http://www.autozone.com/loan-a-tools...er/391378_0_0/
And you pour this fluid in it: http://www.autozone.com/test-scan-an...id/391381_0_0/
First, start you car, then take off your radiator cap. You then put the kit over your radiator opening (where the cap goes but with the cap off) and fill it with the fluid to the fill line. When the car heats up, you squeeze the bulb and watch as air comes up through the liquid. If the liquid changes color to a green/yellow, it means combustion gasses are getting into your coolant and you have a head gasket leak/cracked head or something bad like that. If the liquid doesn't change color, then you can feel relieved and start looking elsewhere for leaks.
Besides checking all that, just do a quick visual inspection of your cooling system. These cars are old now, and if the original radiator etc are still in there, they could be on their way out. Look for rust/corrosion on or near connections to get an idea of where seepage or other leaks could occur. Make sure that you only put DISTILLED WATER or ANTIFREEZE in your system! Don't ever use tap water, or your system will corrode over time. I learned that the hard way our 88 F-150 and my 96 Bronco. I can tell the previous owners did that too with my 91 Camaro. Distilled water is cheap.. so don't skimp on it.
Once you get your coolant loss figured out, if there is still overheating then we can go from there.
-------------------
For the cooling issue, there are a lot of things you'll want to check. Apparently, the temp gauges on these cars are very inaccurate, so you can't always go by what the gauge is reading.
However, losing coolant is a problem. The first thing you need to check is to see if there are any puddles underneath your car when you park it.
Also, try and check under the car and in the engine bay when the engine is running to see if you can find coolant leaking. Sometimes coolant will only leak when the system is pressurized, and it can be quite difficult to spot these leaks because they don't always leave puddles.
Another thing you'll want to check is to see if the tailpipe is emitting any "smoke" and what it smells like if it is. Coolant burning up in the system will come out as white vapor, which looks like smoke. It will have a kinda "Sweet" smell to it. If you see this, then that's bad news. It would mean you most likely have a head gasket leak/cracked cylinder head.
One way to check if coolant is leaking and burning up into your exhaust (if you can't see any smoke or don't think any smoke coming out of your exhaust is coolant) is to rent a test kit at your local auto parts store.
This is the kit you get: http://www.autozone.com/loan-a-tools...er/391378_0_0/
And you pour this fluid in it: http://www.autozone.com/test-scan-an...id/391381_0_0/
First, start you car, then take off your radiator cap. You then put the kit over your radiator opening (where the cap goes but with the cap off) and fill it with the fluid to the fill line. When the car heats up, you squeeze the bulb and watch as air comes up through the liquid. If the liquid changes color to a green/yellow, it means combustion gasses are getting into your coolant and you have a head gasket leak/cracked head or something bad like that. If the liquid doesn't change color, then you can feel relieved and start looking elsewhere for leaks.
Besides checking all that, just do a quick visual inspection of your cooling system. These cars are old now, and if the original radiator etc are still in there, they could be on their way out. Look for rust/corrosion on or near connections to get an idea of where seepage or other leaks could occur. Make sure that you only put DISTILLED WATER or ANTIFREEZE in your system! Don't ever use tap water, or your system will corrode over time. I learned that the hard way our 88 F-150 and my 96 Bronco. I can tell the previous owners did that too with my 91 Camaro. Distilled water is cheap.. so don't skimp on it.
Once you get your coolant loss figured out, if there is still overheating then we can go from there.
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Re: Overheating and lights surging problem!
What you're describing with the cooling loss to me sounds like you were burping the car...basically the car is purging the air bubbles out of the system as it runs and heads up, cycling the coolant through the system. As the air bubbles come out, the system appears as if its losing coolant. It's not. Just fill it up until it stops doing this. It's perfectly normal. As long as your fans are running and air dam is intact, that sould solve your over heating problem. If it doens't, everything bubbajones just mentioned is good info!
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