Our Community is 940,000 Strong. Join Us.


Overheating 91, Fan probs


Dorkula
07-20-2004, 02:38 AM
First problem.

My 91 Geo loves to get warm. I thought perhaps it was the thermostat, bought one new, seemed to help, but now it seems that whenever I reefill the radiator the water goes bye bye after I drive for a while, and the engine slowly starts to heat up. When I stop at a light or something, the tempature seems to drop slowly.

I do not think there is a hole or crack in the radiator, so not sure where the water goes :-/

Problem 2:

The fan settings (for heater and A/C) only seem to work on top speed, and the fan makes a really loud noise. When I accelerate the noise gets quiter and it seems to blow more air out (the air amount is faint when first turned on). Any idea of why this is happenning?

Thank you for any help.

- Anthony

RossT
07-20-2004, 03:18 AM
You just might have air in the cooling system. Here are some things to look at:

Worst case, is you have a cracked head or blown head gasket and coolant is leaking ino the oil. If you see no coolant under the car when parked, Pull the oil dipstick and see if there is
a seperation of fluids, or milky white substance on it. If so, then your coolant is going into the oil.

More than likely you need to just get the air out of your cooling system.

Are you adding the fluid to the overflow tank, or to the radiatior thru the
radiator cap? When the engine is cold, add fluid to the radiator until full, then add to you overflow tank. Run the car until the thermostat opens, then let it cool down and check the radiator again and the overflow tank too. It could take several cool down/heat up times to get the air out.

Dorkula
07-21-2004, 11:51 PM
There is no irregular substance on the dipstick when pulled out. Also, there was air in the system. Did what you said, the car now holds all the water. But it still gets hot. It is different from before though, it will work for a while, the car will stay cool, but for some reason, at some point of time when driving, I guess something goes wrong and the car doesn't stay as cool as it should, and soon rises to HOT.

Any ideas?

- Anthony

RossT
07-22-2004, 01:09 AM
Well the good news is that your coolant is not going into the oil!!

You could still have an air pocket in the coolant system. Withe th car cold, keep checking the level in the radiator thru the cap and also top off
your over overflow tank too. If the radiator is full (when you look with the cap off) then you just add to the overflow tank.

Your radiator fan should com on when the car gets close to overheating, if you don't hear the fan kick in, than you have a bad fan or temp switch that controls the fan.

You could also have a bad water pump that is not moving the fluid thru the sytem.

Your radiatory could be partially clogged, not allowing the air flow to cool the coolant.

You may need to take this car to a mechanic. to diagnose it the problem it it continues to overheat. But it may be cheaper just to get another one. I paid $500 for my 91.

Good luck

Dorkula
07-22-2004, 03:54 AM
The fan does turn on. I can see and hear it turn on when the car comes close to hot.

Where is the water pump located? How hard is it to replace? How much will one cost me?

Thank you so much for your help so far too :)

- Anthony

RossT
07-22-2004, 06:51 AM
Find the belt that goes around the altenator on the passanger side of the engine. The waterpump is located directly in front of the altenator on the same belt. Make sure that this belt is tight. If it is slipping your water pump and altenator may not be working correctly. You tighten the belt by moving the altenator twords the firewall (alfter you loosen the hold down bolt).

The waterpump is cheap and easy to replace. But I would first make sure that this is your problem before you replace it. You might be able to grab one of the hoses when they are warm (not hot) and feel for fluid moving thru them. You can also remove the radiator cap, start the car and when the thermostat opens coolant will flow out the radiator cap opening.

If you can, when the car is hot, gently touch the radiator (not the fan side, but the engine side) to see if all parts are hot. If the center section is cold and outer section is hot, then you might have a partially clogged radiator.

You may want to have a mechanic look at your car for a diagnosis.

Add your comment to this topic!