Ok this is a bit of a long story but I will keep it short. I put off wiring in my fan controller due to my own stupidity and I've been getting a **** ton of overtime since I already am a work at home employee and coronavirus has given me more money. Anyway, on Thursday I was driving to the ice rink maybe a 60 mile round trip mostly highway driving. About 15 miles in, halfway there I ran into gridlock caused by an accident at the freeway exit. I sat in bumper to bumper traffic for about 15 minutes until I was able to U-Turn and sure enough my temp gauge started creeping up. It's normally at the first line (180 i'm guessing for highway driving) and it crept passed the 220 mark. I u-turn, I race back towards the old backroad highway about 5 miles down the road and despite going 60 my car isn't getting any cooler. I turn on to the old backroad and the temp is at 240 at this point. The problem with this old backroad is it's a 1-lane highway with very few places to pull over. It's basically swamp and mud on the sides of the road. If you pull over you're car is going to have to be pulled out. I drive maybe half a mile up the road to one of the few emergency pull off points. The temp is red line at this point and I kill the car. I pop the hood and sure enough coolant is overflowing in my overflowing tank. I let the car sit for 45 minutes a good chunk of coolant spilled out. I had a gallon of water with me and I poor it into the overflow and sure enough all if it cold soaks into the radiator.

I make it too a convenience store that's 10 miles up the road and the car is hot again (this is driving at 60). Sure enough I pull over, the overflow tank is full and boiling but this time it did not overflow. I go into the store to buy a few gallons of water but... the damn coronavirus he's freshout. So I buy a few small bottles of water and fill the overflow tank. Sure enough all of it cold soaks into the radiator.

I manage to make it 16 miles about a 20 minute drive to a 7-11. The first 15 minutes, the car ran cool. The temps stayed at about 180-195 (180 stat is in the car), after 15 minutes the temp started creeping up to 240-245. Luckily I made it to 7-11. Pull in and kill the car. Thankfully they had two gallons water (last two) and ice. So I purchased two bags of ice and threw them on the cylinder heads to cool the engine down and two gallons of water. I put both gallons in the overflow tank. The first completely cold soaked into the radiator, the second stayed just below the full cold line. I got the temp down to 180 degrees after about 30 minutes.

Then I managed to make it 10 minutes and 5 miles to my parents house. This drive the temps did not surpass 200-215 or so despite catching two long lights. I pull into my parents driveway, kill the car and it's at full cold.

Now today, the car started to overheat again after about 30 minutes of driving. This was mostly highway driving at 60-70 MPH with a few lights. I didn't have any coolant or water at home so I stopped at Autozone to pick up two gallons of 50/50. The first time it got hot was 30 mins after that stop. I stopped at the ATM and my temp was at 245. I verified this with both my gauge (both gauge it's self and sender were replaced less than a year ago) and a OEM tools temp gun I own. This time coolant was overflowing again.
I let the car cool for 30 mins down to 180.

I make it 15 minutes down the road, the car is at 245 again and I make it to an O'Reilly's and after I kill it, I pop the hood and the coolant explodes out of the overflow tank. It shot my cap off. Still don't know where it went. I must have lost a full two gallons because it leaked all over that parking lot. It was the most coolant I have ever lost. It went everywhere! The coolant left in the radiator boiled for a while. You could feel the heat from the overflow tank itself too.

I waited over an hour for my car to be completely cold, opened the radiator and was able to add over a gallon directly. I did a quick parking lot burb and added more until it was full. I topped off the tank. I drove 15 minutes home at mostly 40 mph traffic (since everyone got off work early today, rush hour was at 2pm) and the temps got just about 220 (227 with temp gun on sender). I parked my car, killed it and the overflow tank was at full cold but no boiling. A few hours later after the car cooled, I pulled the radiator cap off and the radiator is still full. I drove it once after midnight for 15 minutes and the temps stay at 180.

If it helps radiator was replaced 7 years ago, the water pump was replaced 3 years ago, thermo was replaced 6 months ago, lower radiator house was replaced 3 months ago along with coolant flushed at the same time. Radiator cap was replaced last week with a delco unit. Oil was changed 4 days ago and I have no milkshake on the dipstick or oil cap and no white smoke out of the exhaust.

Do I have a more serious problem or did the car overheat today because of low coolant/air in the system?

 

What year and model car do you have? Verify your fan is working. How is the front airdam? Make sure your water pump is working. Also check to see if your lower hose doesn't collapse under throttle (they use to have a spring)

 

You never mentioned adding an more coolant; so I'm guessing that you've got almost all water in your cooling system at this point. If you jusdt kept adding water I wouldn't driver the car again until it's been flushed and filled with the proper mix. If you added 100% coolant once you got to O'Reilly's than you might be OK,.... but if you added a 50/50 coolant mix when you were at O'Reilly's your coolant mix is going to be mostly water.

There's a chance that you had an air bubble/pocket in the system somewhere; letting a car sit overnight will usually free up a pair /bubble/pocket. It sure seems like your going to need to verify the coolant mix that's in there at this point.

 

It's a 1986 Camaro IROC Z, 305 TPI, Van does not work (which is why it over heated in traffic), Front Air Dam is on the car, as far as i know my new lower radiator hose works (It's a Gates, a Dayco was on the car when I brought it. The spring house was long gone) and as far as I can tell the Water Pump works. (It spins fine and comes on).

 

It was 50/50. How much coolant do our cars hold total? I typically try to run a 60-40 mix since I live in Florida and it's regularly 100 degrees in the summer. When I was at O'Reilly's it looked like the radiator was empty.

I'll flush it again later. Should I do a full coolant flush using distilled water or can I just use 50/50? The only reason I ask because of this coronavirus everyone is panicking in my area and none of the stores have gallons of water/bottled water. Everyone keeps buying it all.

 

You can run water in it for a short time, maybe a few days-week max. Distilled water is best.

Test your fan and relay first by shorting the green-white wire to any ground point. If it comes on then you can manually control it there. Don't avoid it, it's really easy to do. I think all the wires/relays are right next to the battery.

You can also run your heater at full blast and it acts like a mini-radiator and fan. It can be surprisingly effective.

Now that the engine has gotten hot you should be vigilant for new leaks. Aftermarket heater control valve is notorious. Unless it really overheated, you shouldn't have any serious problems.

These are from a 1989 manual but yours should be similar if not the same.

 

Ok so I did a poor man's coolant flush at O'Reilly's. I used distilled water (found 4 gallons), flush chemical and refilled with 50/50. I burped the coolant the best I could.

When I burped the coolant it seemed like there was smoke coming out of the radiator and the coolant was bubbling like so:

The water pump seemed normal and was spinning like this but now I am not sure if I hear a squeaking noise or not. Let me know if it sounds normal. That water pump is only two years old. Maybe too much distilled water weakened it?

After flushing the coolant, I took it for a 30 minute drive. It was mostly at 50-55 MPH with a few stop lights. I pulled into a plaza, temp was at 220 on the needle and 225 with temp gun on the sender. When I shut the car off I heard a bubble noise. Sure enough I open the hood and the overflow tank looks like this

and this

I let the car cool for a half hour and drove the 2.5 miles back home. Now the car is cold.

The car was not overheating when it bubbled that last time. What could it be? Should I replace the thermostat? Water Pump? I'll replace the radiator cap again since they are like $5.

 

I don't want to panic you but you may have a head gasket blown out. Those bubble and foam coming from the return did not look right. The engine doesn't need that much to "burp". If you have a blown headgasket, the cooling system can become extra pressurized with leaking combustion gasses and it will vent this pressure past the radiator cap into the reservoir tank and out. Your engine does not need to be warm.

If I were you, I would let it cool down, check levels and start it up and observe it while it warms up. You should really get that fan running.

 

That is my biggest worry. I wonder if the head gasket cracked in traffic. No oil on the dip stick or smoke out of the exhaust but I've been told when it cracks the symptoms usually aren't as bad.

I'm going to try and get the fan running this weekend. I'm wiring in the controller.

 

Cooling system isn't clogged,... Thermostat is opening,.... Radiator cap is functional,....... looks like too much water and not enough coolant. ( boiling before it should. ) A coolant tester is about $4,.... Stop screwing around and test the mix before you blow a head gasket.

If you didn't remove the 2 cooling drain plugs in the block than the engine itself was still full of water when you gave it a "poor man's coolant flush" in the parts store parking lot. you only drained what was in the radiator and a couple of the lines; Then you re-filled with 50/50........



I did say:


Get the fan fixed.

 

I'm a noob. I didn't realize the car had drain plugs in the block. I'm not going to lie I learned to flush cars from watching Chris Fix. He only just used the radiator plug.

I'm not driving the car tomorrow. I am going to get a coolant tester tomorrow and a friend of a friend who owns a hot rod/classic car shop in the next town over said he would be willing to pressure test my coolant system on Monday. I'll test the mix tomorrow and see what's up. If not I might have the car towed to shop (free from AAA) on Monday and have him pressure test it.

I'm assuming you mean this tool.
https://www.autozone.com/heating-and...ter/525881_0_0

Thanks for the help man.

 

Nascar engines run straight water, not an issue with the lack of coolant. Actually water cools better than antifreeze mixture. The last engine I saw that puked water and frothed in the radiator, had an issue with the head gasket leaking from the cylinder to the water jacket....

 

Don't drive the car until the fan is fixed.

 

The one thing we do agree on: FIX THE FAN. Lol.

 

what year and make is the car?

 

Took this pic last fall,... was working on a guys car that thought 'mostly water' was OK: ( Mostly water is not OK ) These cars run hot,.../



After proper flush and re-fill:




Too much antifreeze is also NOT a good thing; This is what too much antifreeze will do to aluminum:







Let not jump the gun and start pulling the heads just yet. At least get the cooling system back in proper functional condition FIRST & and then get the dam fan working again !

 

So I flushed the coolant (the block too this time) and I got the fan working with the controller!

Right now fan controller seems to be adjusted wrong that the fan is coming on at 180 and is staying on. I haven't had a chance to run the car in traffic too much thanks to the Coronavirus but I haven't noticed any bubbling. I used that Blue Devil Coolant Flush/Degreaser. I didn't notice anything strange in the flushed coolant. Nothing still on the dipstick or oil cap. I'll keep driving it and see if it bubbles. John you may be right. It could have just been too much water. When I flushed the coolant I replaced it with two bottles of pure Antifreeze and two gallons of distilled water (the last two on Earth).

 

PS I drove once yesterday for 30 or so minutes. I sat in maybe a good 10 minutes of traffic. Temps got up to 190-200 (the space between the first line and 220). I pulled into my destination, left the car running, popped the hood and used my temp gun. Sure enough the fan was on and the temp gun hovered between 195-200. No bubbling in the overflow tank.

 

Done RIGHT !!!

 

Saves money two. I know a lot of guys will buy four gallons of 50/50. I think that's about $60-$80. I spent $46 since water prices are gouged right now. Even the Great Value water is $2.50 a gallon instead of $0.75 or so.

 

That's great! Sound like the fan did the trick. Imagine that! ;-)