Car overheating and radiator light on

[WhtMa71]

Something else...Have you looked at the under side of the oil cap to see if there's a milkshake on it? Or maybe try smelling the coolant overflow tank and see if it smells like exhaust....mine did. Milkshake on the dipstick or under the cap, white smoke blowing from the exhaust, boiling/losing coolant while running are sure signs of a BHG<

 

[Dopamine]

Something else...Have you looked at the under side of the oil cap to see if there's a milkshake on it? Or maybe try smelling the coolant overflow tank and see if it smells like exhaust....mine did. Milkshake on the dipstick or under the cap, white smoke blowing from the exhaust, boiling/losing coolant while running are sure signs of a BHG<

I didn't burp my system because I didn't see the water bubbling and didn't think there would be air in the system. I'll burp it anyways tomorrow.

No exhaust smell under the cap or coolant reservoir. Also there's no white smoke blowing from the exhaust and i don't seem to be losing coolant. My only guess is that something is restricting the coolant flow. I'm going to check out my radiator sometime next week. But from the looks of it, the radiator looks fairly new.

Another thing I didn't mention is that I think I did the compression test wrong. I only held the gas WOT for 4 seconds on each cylinder. So I'm going to retest that too...

 

[Bri7man]

I didn't burp my system because I didn't see the water bubbling and didn't think there would be air in the system. I'll burp it anyways tomorrow.

Yep, always need to burp the system after a coolant change. Remove rad cap, jack front of car up, heat on full blast and let her idle for I dunno say 30 secs to a minute with a couple of 1500-2000 rev's.

Another thing I didn't mention is that I think I did the compression test wrong. I only held the gas WOT for 4 seconds on each cylinder. So I'm going to retest that too...

Get engine to op temp, pull efi fuse, pull all spark plugs, make sure battery is fully charged or better yet hook it to another car that is running while you test.

Crank over 6 times per cyl with throttle wide open and then do the same thing with a tblspoon of oil in each cyl.

Post wet and dry results!

 

[Moy]

Check your radiator for blockage/damage (generally between a/c condenser and radiator).

Also do a radiator cap pressure test and a cooling system pressure test. The radiator cap test will tell you if the cap is holding the pressure that it is rated at, and the cooling system test helps you to determine if there is excessive pressure in the system (leak into combustion chamber)

 

[Bri7man]

Might as well also get a new rad cap from your local auto parts store, they're cheap and chances are yours is old and cracked.

 

[Dopamine]

I redid my compression test because I didn't do it correctly the first time. I obviously have bhg or bad piston rings.

Here are the numbers:
150 130 170 160 165 165

And here are the numbers after I added a bit of oil in each cylinder:
165 150 175 180 185 185 185

So now I need to either purchase a rebuilt short block or rebuild the one I have. I don't live in a house and don't have much time to rebuild it myself so I'm debating which route would be cheaper for me....

 

[hvyman]

burping the system is not always necessary since the rad cap in ALL cars is at the highest point in the cooling system. i have drained and refilled my cars(mk3) several times in the past 5 years and never have i had to "burp" the cooling system. if you have air in the system there is a reason why.

 

[Moy]

Cylinders one and two are your culprit cylinders, with 1 being just over the allowable limit and 2 being too far out. Next test to do is a combustion gas test to check for combustion gasses in your coolant. That is one of the best ways to tell if you are leaking.



To those saying "check for milkshake", just because a headgasket may be blown does not mean that it has blown both into the oil and coolant, it can also blow into one or the other.