Glen Glen

After driving for about 3 or 4 miles my car starts to overheat. I checked all the fluids and there fine. Recently I flushed the radiator, change some hoses, and changed the thermostat. While I was on the side of the road I realized that cooling fan was not running, although I don’t know if that would be cause of the car to overheat so quickly, but I checked the fuse and it’s fine but the fuse that works the rear defog had melted into the panel.

Anybody have any idea on why all this would happen, or where do I start to look.

993Maineiac

Two choices-cooling fan relay on the radiator or you got a bad thermostat. I'd check the relay first as the thermostat is more of a PIA to switch out.

EricFeazel

Glen how are you determining that your car is overheating? Are you simply looking at the gauge? If so, it is possible that the guage might be wrong. This is common on our cars. Over time the grounds become bad and no longer provide proper grounding. The first ground to check is always the hardest to get to. It is the one in the driver's side footwell just above the fuse panel. After checking that one the next two would be the battery to engine and engine to body ground. I bet this is your problem.

led

did you bleed it? air in the cooling system can cause the car to overheat.

ahofam123

Find someone who can test the temp of the head. Although my guage sits at the top, the actual temp of my head is only around 180 deg.

Glen Glen

At first I thought it could be bad ground wiring because the engine really didn't seem to be hot when the gauge went into the red, but when it did it smelled like burning coolant. I only smell coolant when it guage goes into the red, but anytime in between that everything is fine. I also checked for any leaks and did find anything.

MichelleJD

Umm...I hate to even say this but, my car did the same thing and it ended up being a blown head gasket. The engine would shoot up to the top of the gauge, but the water in the radiator never got hot enough to kick the fans on. I hope to god that's not your problem <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

Kevin Baker

Bleed the cooling system, it is the bolt on top of the water neck. If you have air in the system, the thermoswitch in the radiator may not properly read the temp and not kick on the fans.

MachSchnell

Yeah, it sounds like (especially after having done all the recent flush stuff you mentioned) you might just have some air bubbles, especially if it isn't kicking the fans on. Search the archives, there are a multitude of posts on bleeding air out of the system, I'm going through the same pita, it's just a matter of patience to get them all bled out. Make sure you have the heater running on full when you're bleeding, you could have air trapped in the heater lines too.

Bri Bro

Bleeding the air sounds correct, if it starts to overheat again, turn on the AC. This will force the fans on. If it continues to overheat, the problem could be the thermostat.

ahofam123

Before you mess with the troublesome thermostat check the temp of the head. They sell a special laser thermometer gun that can take the temperature of various parts of the engine. Most autoparts stores could lend you one. My local mechanic was able to check mine free of charge. (it only takes five minutes) After my recent water pump change I went through the same problem as you are now. After replacing 2 thermostats, a thermoswitch, a radiator, and countless bleeds, my temp guage continued to rise to the top although the car wasn't overheating.