help overheating

[rowhard]

just noticed the air conditioner was starting to blow out hot and look at that temperature and it was hot.

did this just happen once? what you describe here is the ac freezing up and that will cause overheating. If you were stuck in traffic and running the ac, that will happen

[zadam123]

happend a couple of times. if i keep it at aroud 50 mph i can last a half hr from start befor i have to pull over and let it cool down. at least thats what happend today with no traffic

[zadam123]

Well the mechanic said it was the clutch fan even though it didn't spin freely 4 me when I spun it or seem loosening . He said it is not spinning fast enough when the temperature gets hot.I guess well wait and hope this is the problem. Total is 175

[lasturbo]

I assume that is parts and labor cuz I got my fan clutch for under 90 bucks with a lifetime warranty. At least u are fixed now!!!!

[zadam123]

At least u are fixed now!!!!

WRONG! He replaced the fan clutch with the aftermarket one ( when you guys said it sounds like a semi you werent kidding) so i throw on the ac and head home and 20 minutes later its still overheating WTF! i turned off the ac and it cooled down to like half way maby a little more so I called him back and he is trying to tell me it may be my head gasket.

I thought if a head gasket goes the car looses power and smoke comes from the exhaust. I am tired of this guessing game, im out $600. Is there anyway it can be a themostat, he told me if it was no good it would get hot really fast which it dont.

[jdm monkey]

WRONG! He replaced the fan clutch with the aftermarket one ( when you guys said it sounds like a semi you werent kidding) so i throw on the ac and head home and 20 minutes later its still overheating WTF! i turned off the ac and it cooled down to like half way maby a little more so I called him back and he is trying to tell me it may be my head gasket.

I thought if a head gasket goes the car looses power and smoke comes from the exhaust. I am tired of this guessing game, im out $600. Is there anyway it can be a themostat, he told me if it was no good it would get hot really fast which it dont.

Maybe the thermostat is only partially opening... who knows.

[PK]

WRONG! He replaced the fan clutch with the aftermarket one ( when you guys said it sounds like a semi you werent kidding) so i throw on the ac and head home and 20 minutes later its still overheating WTF! i turned off the ac and it cooled down to like half way maby a little more so I called him back and he is trying to tell me it may be my head gasket.

I thought if a head gasket goes the car looses power and smoke comes from the exhaust. I am tired of this guessing game, im out $600. Is there anyway it can be a themostat, he told me if it was no good it would get hot really fast which it dont.

Well, it certainly could be a head gasket, or a cracked head.
But that should have been the first thing your mechanic checked and eliminated.
The engine would only loose power if it is real bad.
And it would not blow smoke, only steam like when you first start up on a cold day.

1. Check for water in your oil. (Oil goes milky like creamed honey).
2 Remove radiator cap and run engine at idle, revving up and down a bit as you watch water in radiator.

If the oil is milky, or you see bubbles, or water squirts out, then the head or gasket is gone.

Good luck.

PK

[lasturbo]

Well the mechanic said it was the clutch fan even though it didn't spin freely 4 me when I spun it or seem loosening . He said it is not spinning fast enough when the temperature gets hot.I guess well wait and hope this is the problem. Total is 175

Maybe the fan clutch was the ultimate cause and the subsequent damage to the vehicle continually getting hot is something else like the head gasket now or t-stat etc. Aluminum does not like to get too hot and/or the next weakest point goes. Good luck on your diagnosis.

BTW-I put a Hayden fan clutch and it is quiet. When I posted my thread, the group who had Torqflos seemed to like them but the drawback was they were loud so I tried the Hayden and was happy.

[zadam123]

Just wondering if theres a warrantee on a water pump since i know they should be replaced at 100,000 miles which mine was and now only has 40,000 miles on it? should it go this fast?

[IndianaVX]

I feel your pain.....why you ask? Because I'm having a lot of the same thing happening to me.
Here is what I know and what I've done.
I have replaced my thermostat, and am right now in the process of doing a step by step on how to replace it, including pictures!!
It is a big job, but if taken slowly, and pay attention, its not too bad of a job. But vx still overheats in town driving with ac on, and even with the heater on
It takes a lot to get it to cool down.
Befor replacing the thermo, my theory was. While driving, the resevour was filling all the way up with. Coolant, and then blowing the coolant out the top of resivour
Which then left me low on coolant. However, even after thermo replacement, and even when the engine isn't overheating, when I stop and shut the engine off, I hear the resivour bubbles, and it fills up to the top.
I replaced my orange coolant because it looked extremly dirty, and even had little tar ball looking things in it. This tar ball residue also stained my resivour. So with this in mind, I wonder if the lines in my radiator are also covered in this tar all residue, which would constrict the flow thru the radiator.
My mechanic buddy told me that the orange coolant breaks down luke that, and gets all mucky. So now I'm running the green coolant.
But I'm still overheating.
I also replaced my radiator cap, which I suggest you do also. If the cap is bad, nothing else works proper
Still overheating, and by overheating, in my case, I can drive for hours withac on and. At highway speed and not overheat, or even get high. But if there is a stoplight I have to stop for, within a minute, I am getting hot. Then its windows down, heater on full blast,
And then even at highway speeds, it does not cool down where it should be. This is the point where I. Think I'm loosing coolant thru the resivour. Because I am always low on coolant when I check it after I get home.
Sorry if this is hard to follow. With this blackberry, its like I'm typing on a postage stamp! Lol
Hard to stay cohesive.....
Something else you need to check is that you don't have a ton of debris on the front side of the radiator. It wouldn't take too many butterflys plastered on the front side to restrict the flow of air over the fins.
But that is where my next step is, and that is to replace the radiator.
I may need to check the fan clutch again. I had the water pump replaced a couple of years ago (or it was SUPPOSED to be repaced, I ought the pump) with my timing belt debackle.
I don't really know anymore. I am watching this thread closely. OH, my oil is not milky.
That's about all I got right now, get a new radiator cap. Its cheap, and easy to do, and you will probably be repacing the one that came with the truck.
Hopefully my mini novel may shake something loose in someones head and we can get this problem fixed.
I will try and finishthe thermostat replacement how to soon, so you can do that. The shop here wanted 500 to replace mine!