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ok here is my problem, my car will overheat with like 20min of driving well the gauge willl go to hot and my overflow tank will fill up my thermostat opens because the rad hoses presurize and the waterpump is working too. could it be bad coolant possibly

sounds like a head gasket,or thermostat stuc shut

the first thing to check si to see if fanis coming on..then thermostat..check radiator and water pump.

the thermostat is opening because the coolant is pumping through and the fans are comming on has this ever happend to anyone i dontunderstand bcause the watherpump is rine too and the thermostat is working i am so lost

radiator cant be anything else mine was doing that..got me a niceall metal one from radiatorworld.com

First, my car is a 1993 GS. Well, my car is overheating. I was cruising down the road with three girls in my car (no, they weren't obese, so don't suggest shedding some weight ), when all of a sudden, my temp gauge shot up and my check engine light came on, and my car was vibrating. No, I wasn't running my a/c, either.

So, I pull over and shut the car off immediatly (she has 195k miles on it, don't want her to explode on me!) I'm not mechanically inclined, so I didn't really know what to check. I just got an oil change the day before, and the guy asked me if I wanted him to top off my engine coolant, and I told him yes. When I checked today, my coolant was full, as well as the overflow resevoir. So it doesn't look like I'm leaking coolant or anything.

I was curious to see just how hot my engine was, so I spit on the valve cover and it boiled away in seconds, so I can assume that it was quite hot.

Anyways, I'm hoping that this is just a thermostat issue. I've NEVER had any problems with heating before this point, and this was very sudden. My water pump was changed at 130k miles, but I have no idea how long those things last in our cars.

Oh, after letting it cool down for a half hour with the hood up, I was like 1 mile from my house, so I decided to risk it and drive home. The engine overheated in like 2 minutes, so I know something is broke and it's not just a fluke of some sort. But, I have a huge hill that leads to my house, so I just shut it off and coasted half a mile to my driveway!

Might be an idea to check your radiator cap (the pressure cap going to the overflow container. I had a similar problem and it turned out it was a dodgey pressure cap not keeping the pressure in the system, therefore all the water was being pushed out of the engine into the overflow. You'll need to do a pressure test to be sure.

With these cars being as old as they are, it'd be smart to just dump the coolant and replace all the old parts at once to eliminate all the obvious, and the cheap. So first, I'd dump the coolant. Take out the radiator and stick a hose in one end and flush it, making sure water flows through (i.e. no clogs.) Replace the upper and lower radiator hoses. I was able to get an OEM fit upper for $25 and a universal fit flex hose for the lower for $6. Change the thermostat. If you haven't done the water pump, do it now. It'll go eventually anyways. Then replace the harder to get to hoses like the throttle body coolant lines, and the hoses going from the block to the heater core in the firewall. You'll use generic lines for those. If you do this all yourself, it shouldn't cost more than $125 USD or so including a water pump, and it'll be piece of mind that nothing on the cooling system goes bad later.

lakersfan1 wrote: If you do this, it'll be piece of mind that nothing on the cooling system goes bad later.

Couldn't have said it better LF1, you covered it all. Too many newly acquired MX's by younger peeps who, if don't have all the previous service records/history are at a higher risk of having surprises like this. Not to mention that usually it's their first car and have yet to establish good preventative maintenance habits, not to say that this is your case "scooter".

Thanks for the tip. However, I think I have a bigger problem now. White puffs of smoke out the exhaust on the way to the shop. We're thinking the high temps of the engine harmed the head gasket. *sigh*

Well, it was the water pump. That was what was leaking. So, I replaced that, put in a new thermostat, flushed the rad, and, since I had to take off the timing belt to get to the pump, I went ahead and replaced that. Hopefully I shouldn't have any problems in the next few months, when I leave for Germany for a year. And when I get back, it's KLZE time! w00t.

ScooterBovine wrote:Well, it was the water pump. That was what was leaking. So, I replaced that, put in a new thermostat, flushed the rad, and, since I had to take off the timing belt to get to the pump, I went ahead and replaced that. Hopefully I shouldn't have any problems in the next few months, when I leave for Germany for a year. And when I get back, it's KLZE time! w00t.

So I guess your safe on the head gasket possibility? Hope so. Germany? - Army?

Yes, safe luckily. They did a head check or something. Yeah, Army.

What? We invading Germany again? Shouldn't we keep that a secret?

well be a s--- load safer to invade Germany as at least the beer is
drinakable not like the crap in Iraq.

Well scooter have fun not to much frauline chasing, and go and have a good look around Munich and Berlin, its rather beatuiful yet gothic.