so since its been warm lately, my car has been acting different. It seems to get close to overheating like almost into the red. It seems to cool down when I turn the air condition. Also, when it gets running hot, it seems like it bogs a lot more in the lower RPM range of whatever gear I'm in. The fan switch in my car was hotwired so both fans are always working. Also, about a month ago I took my front air dam off. my car isn't lowered but I read that it might cause problems. Any ideas on what to do first?

 

Blown Head Gasket...

Sorry.

The best thing to do is to stop driving the car,

Find out what caused the Blown gasket.... bad radiator, wp, lack of coolant circulation, and get that taken care of first. Then go and Replace the gaskets.

 

How can you be so sure? I also believe I have a bad plug wire. Whats the best way to check headgaskets without taking everything apart? I'm going to check my oil for signs of antifreeze later today.

 

You need the front air dam and that can very well be the reason why your car is getting close to the red. I would re-install it and see what happens.

 

Definitely need the air dam, should be first thing on to do's...

 

How can I be sure....


Because I've been there before, had the exact same problems, did the exact same things. The air damn doesn't make much of a difference, when both fans are running. I run no air damn, I just keep my fans on... stays under 195 always. You car has probably been overheating for a while, but with the cooler air out side it just never showed up as badly... now that it's warm out, it's showing up. There's only a few reasons a car will hit the red zone.
Bad Radiator,Bad WP, BAd Coolant circulation, but a blown HG will cause your car to bog at low RPMS, at hire RPMS it will feel like a bad miss. You should avoid driving it untill you have it all figured out, because you don't want to warp the heads. I will give you a hint though. I had a blown HG for the longest of time... I never had the symptoms the other guys had... my oil always looked normal etc. What I realized was that I just wasn't leaking that much coolant for it to be noticable in my oil, but my radiator I had to fill constantly with coolant. THat was the hint.

 

Okay so I checked my oil and its normal. I took off the plastic cover and cleaned out some leaves/trash between the ac condenser and radiator. It wasn't that dirty. My car doesn't miss in higher RPMs. It runs like normal. Any manual transmission will bog if you dont have enough RPM for whatever gear your in. I was just saying that it seems to do it worse when the car starts over heating. What would a headgasket have to do with it cooling down when I turn the AC off?

 

"I was just saying that it seems to do it worse when the car starts over heating."

That's because the coolants entering your cylinder chamber and causing the engine to knock.

Pull your spark plugs today, and check the the ends of them... post pictures if you can.

 

I don't have time to pull all of them today. I could do one or two but I dont think that would be any help. Is there anything a scan tool could tell me?

 

A simple thing you can do is monitor your coolant level.

Fill it up, and check it periodicaly to see if it's dissapearing. That's the simplest way to start.


What temperatures does it cool down too, and how long does it take for it to over heat?

 

I took it out for a little bit today and kept the AC off the whole time. It warmed up to the center line which im guessing is 210/220 and stayed on that the whole time. That was a for a good 10 mile trip doing about 50/60 mph average. also, the temp outside was about 73ish. I think turning the AC on is what makes it overheat. Any ideas on a culprit?

 

I had a problem for about a year were the middle 1/3 of my radiator was cool to the touch and the bottom and top were hot after running the car up to temp.

I would run it up to temp, and check to make sure the radiator temp is even from top to bottom (obviously use common sense, it will be hot). Then check the coolant. See if it has evidence of rust or sludge. Maybe get the whole system professionally cleaned.

Just FYI, the ECM in these cars is set up to run way rich and pull timing in the event of an over heat in an attempt to cool the engine. This could be the cause for you car running rough when it's hot.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

 

I repeated the test I did earlier. It stayed near the same temperature until I turned on AC then the temperature rose afterwards. Also, I pulled cap off the radiator before the second test and the coolant was all the way up to the top so I have coolant.

 

Did you put your airdam back on yet? that can cause overheating problems just like what you're having.

 

no I haven't put the air dam on. Today I realized that it won't overheat with the AC off. It heats up a little when I turn the AC on regular. it touches the edge of the red zone when I turn the AC on max. I'm going to flush my coolant system and see if that makes things any better.