Overheating out of nowhere

[SHO>*]

My 93 atx has never had problems with overheating in the past. If anything I've always thought it ran a little on the cool side. However, yesterday evening I took a friend of mine to go pick his car up from the dealer about an hour or so drive from here. I wasn't exactly watching for problems but didn't notice any performance issues on the way down there. However, on the way back after picking up his car we stopped at a gas station. When we came out we noticed a good amount of steam coming from under the hood of my car. When I got in to pop the hood I glanced at the temp gauge and, sure enough, it was pegged at the H. Looking under the hood I noticed my overflow was full to the top and had even sprayed a bit over the engine compartment. We were about halfway back home at this point so decided to try and limp home a little at a time and stop to cool down if needed. Not the greatest idea I know but neither of us really had the cash on us to pay for a tow from there. The car started a little hard but started none the less. By this point the needle had dropped to around the OR range. We didn't even make it half a mile and the needle was a good 1/4 inch above the H again and my car lost all power. Naturally at this point I decided to just leave it where it was and get a ride home with him. I towed the car home myself late last night and it's now sitting in the driveway. There doesn't appear to be any coolant in the oil, the overflow is now back down to a more normal level but the radiator is fairly empty now as well. Anyone ever have a similar problem or have any ideas what would cause such drastic overheating out of nowhere like that with no previous symptoms? Any ideas would be much appreciated.

 

[shoteen95]

catch a glimpse of any busted hoses? sounds a lot like my last overheating experience. not fun.

The only other things i could think of is if maybe your water pump self destructed or their was air locked in the cooling system..but does that even happen on modern cars anymore?

 

[greenbeanmtx]

catch a glimpse of any busted hoses? sounds a lot like my last overheating experience. not fun.

The only other things i could think of is if maybe your water pump self destructed or their was air locked in the cooling system..but does that even happen on modern cars anymore?

Ive been told that the airpockets are a farely common problem on these cars although now that i think about it i cant recall who told me so. Also if a water pump goes sour as in total sudden failure of the impellar or something shouldnt it be making some sort of racket? All i can suggest is to check all your hoses like he said already and also look at the hoses going to the firewall for your heatercore. Also the plastic on each side of the radiator is very common for cracking and creating wheep holes. They often times cant be seen and sometimes only leak at a certain temp, turned a certain way holding your breath a certain point..... well you catch my drift. Someone just recently had a leak problem on the plastic parts and it didnt do any leaking till it got cold outside and then it became a sudden problem for him. Hopefully he can chime in as ive forgotten who that was too......... I need some Ginko Biloba .......... good luck on it, im glad you saw something before it was too late.

 

[SHOtime2511]

if you heated a aluminum head that bad i bet you are now the owner of a SHO that has blown head gaskets and maybe warped heads!! however sounds like a thermostat to me,if the t-stat does not open for whatever reason(stuck) it wont allow the coolant to go into the radiator to be cooled but like i said the SHO has aluminum heads aluminum warps very easy i hope your not going to need new heads/headgaskets

replace your thermostat
refill your coolant
leave cap off and let it get up to temp.(purge air from system)
turn car off,put cap back on
start up and let run again,check for leaks especially at water pump area and heater core area,if it overheats after this...BAD NEWS!!...headgaskets/heads

 

[Fourcats]

Check/replace the radiator cap...

 

[SHO>*]

Well now I'm worried. Sat the car on the charger overnite (battery was low from towing it home at night with the lights on) and when I went to try and start it today...no luck. I've never heard a car make a more sickly sound then what came out of my poor sho. It's like it tried to turn over but wasn't able to. I heard it fire once but then it just degraded into this rattly, terrible sound that I can't really explain with just text. Towed it tonight to my mechanic for him to look at tomorrow. I'm no expert but I have a bad feeling I may be looking for a replacement engine. Here's hoping my mechanic calls me with news better then what I'm expecting.

 

[Sho-Driver]

When you turned it over, did it sound like it had lost compression? How new is your thermostat? Water pump?

I have seen SHO's over heat and be fine and I have also seen them warp a head.

 

[SHO>*]

To be honest I'm not sure what lost compression would sound like. I'm no mechanic by any means and have never had a car have that problem before. Only things I know about mechanically are things that I've had break before. Would losing compression cause the engine to not want to turn over?

As far as I know the thermostat and water pump may be the original factory equipment. I've owned the car just under a year now and the guy that owned it before me really didn't keep much of a service log.

 

[Fourcats]

A bad head gasket would explain the overheating & not cranking problems; coolant in the cylinder{s}. "What made it over heat in the first place?" {clogged radiator, bad water pump, radiator cap} Thats what your lookng for, in addition to the possible head & gasket problem.

 

[Cobraii976]

It was probably a stock T-Stat that failed in the closed postition that was causing his overheating. With any luck it will be a T-stat raditator cap coolant flush and fill and fire it back. I put in one of the fail safe T-Stats in my car so when it fails it fails open. I'd rather be underheated the overheated.

 

[SeanMc]

The problem sounds like what I went through not to long ago. $3600 later, I have a new engine, cams, bored cylinders, larger pistons, and ported and polished heads. Damn, the thing is fast .