My 1994 chevy cavalier is overheating mainly on hot days and when I work the engine hard. My coolant level hasn't dropped in a long time and the coolant cap is usually dry. I replaced the thermostat and checked the radiator hoses. They seem to be fine. My engine is leaking coolant.
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Car is a 1995 Chevy Cavlier LS. 2.2L engine, about 127,000 miles. Has a minor coolant leak (freeze-out plug) and a slow oil leak (if I forget to check the level, the oil light comes on about 3000 miles after an oil change). It's beat up, had a few years of poor maintenance (but limited use) before I got it from a relative 3-4 years ago. I do oil changes at 3-5k miles, keeping fluids topped off, and try to remember to change the air filter regularly (which reminds me, I think I'm due for one).
Problem history: About 7 months ago, I had problems with the battery going dead. Some of it related to stupid mistakes--lights on or door ajar. Battery was old, parts store suggested replacing it. New battery fixed the issue. About 2 weeks ago, I tried to start it and ran into the same problem after the car hadn't been run for 2+ days. Dash lights come on, the key-in/startup bell chimes, but turning the key to start leads to fast clicking from the engine and the chime sounding rapidly. I forget if it made any other sounds at the time. Attempting to jump it didn't work, but the other car had an old battery and the cables were kindof cheap.
Called roadside, and he was able to jump it. He suggested taking the battery to Advance, so we did that.Advance charged the battery, tested it, said it was fine. Suggested I bring the car over and they could test to see if it's charging the battery. I did that, and it seemed ok. Engine was a little rough, possibly spark plugs, but I haven't checked that out yet. I figured I had done something stupid again and left a door ajar or the headlights on.Today, same problem again. I last drove it 2-3 days ago. Headlights were definitely off. It's possibly the driver door was ajar causing the dome light to stay on, but I doubt it. Same noises when I turn the key as before, I hear the sound of the engine trying to start once (I think that it's trying to turn over), but it won't start. Haven't had a chance to try and jump it yet.
Possibly relevant: Back in the spring, it wouldn't start one day, but the engine wouldn't do anything, no clicking etc. Neutral safety switch was loose/misaligned. Mechanic was able to make a small adjustment, and it's been fine.
I drive a 2001 Honda Civic EX and have over 248,000 miles. Almost at a quarter million! Recently, the engine has been overheating. The coolant has been leaking and the coolant reservoir would becomes full. I've checked out the fan and the fan relay and both seem to be fine. The temperature seems to increase (to redline) during traffic jams and any times of idling. When I blast on the air conditioning, the temperature seems to decrease, but would later increase when the car idles. The temperature also decreases to normal when I sustain my speeds over ~60mph. Also, the temperature will fluctuate from cold to hot to cold. What does this all mean?
View 4 RepliesI had a leak in my water pump so we had it replaced and a new thermostat. Now it is overheating in just about 2 minutes and my heater is now not working. I was told that it is most likely an air pocket in the coolant. I have let the car heat up, not to the point of hot but over half way and shut it off, taken the cap of let it sit for a while and then trying it again. No luck so far. Is there another way to get it out of there? and would the cap have anything to do with it? it has been hard to take off in the past and now its coming off easy. It is the plastic kind. I am at the end of my rope here . the car runs like a dream, its just this one thing.
View 12 RepliesI have a 2004 Chevy Cavalier. I am having some issues with it.
When it first starts it idles really hard. The RPMs are up and if will try to accelerate without hitting the gas. This stops after the first minute.
The second part is that when stopped, but in drive, it idles hard. It does it though when the AC is turned off. You can see the RPM gauge go above and below the normal 500 RPM. If you turn the AC on then it levels out. It will occasionally idle hard with the AC on, but rarely and not as much.
The car drives well and is not overheating.
I just bought a chevy cavalier z24 2.4 liter engine. Yesterday my coolant light kept going on and off at different times so I added coolant to the overflow reservoir as shown in the car's manual. Today the coolant light is on constantly and it was smoking under the hood. I stopped and there was a big puddle of coolant was under the car. The car is not overheating. Did I put too much coolant in it or could it be a problem with the radiator?
View 14 RepliesLike I said, 04 cavalier automatic.. Bought it used over 200thousand miles, but in PERFECT SHAPE, engine is beautiful.. No leaks that I could tell from the ground. Just put on new rotors & breaks,.. Now the problem.. under neath my petals sounds like doo doo doo doo, like a really big fan, & Its hard to accelerate at 35-55mph.. When i do it has to like catch up with itself, as if not going into 2nd gear.
I know nothing about cars, so I am describing the best i can.. Its also been sucking gas like crazy.. but no leaks? All my lights are lit up.. ABS trac off, service, & check engine. One guy said the noise is someone impacted on my aluminum rims too tight & they could be bent, it was very hard for him to get my tire off to change rotors..
1998 ford taurus ohv is overheating and coolant is leaking out of fill cap takes forever for the temp gauge to read anything then after 6 or 7 minutes of driving it shoots up to about midway overheats and can hear serp belt squeeling from getting wet from coolant
View 6 RepliesSo i have a 01 LS and i love it so much. Ive only had it for 5months and since the 3rd month ive been having some overheating problems. Ive replaced the coolant reservoir it drove fine for about 3weeks then started to run hot again and leak coolant out the reservoir cap so i replaced that. Still ran hot.. so my brother got some air pockets out of the system but, it still ran hot. So i replaced the t-stat. After replacing that it did fine for a few days then started to run hot again. This time it seem to run hot one day and not the next until one day it ran hot constantly and steam would come from the reservoir and coolant would leak from under the car (behind front drivers side wheel.).
So when it leak i would check the overflow tank sometimes it will be full and sometimes not. When it wasn't full I would refill it until i ran ran out of antifreeze. Well i parked it after it leaked out the last of antifreeze that was in tank. So a few days later i got some antifreeze that was given to me by my brother which was red/orange all purpose antifreeze. I filled the tank up as it was dry and had leaked out all the green antifreeze. I started the car and let it run. It ran for about 20min without getting hot quickly like it usually do, air worked great but hea not so great.
Then I started seeing steam come from reservoir tank which was full of red coolant then its started leaking GREEN coolant instead of the red i filled the tank up with. Also the temp gauge never went to H while it did all of this. And the antifreeze drip from like 4 or 5 different places behind my left front wheel. Its a v8 3.9 engine.
I know one day i checked my coolant after it ran hot one day and it was low so i filled it up with water and forgot to put cap back on and i hopped on freeway. Soon as i got off it started smoking really bad i pull over and the coolant was boiling which i also forgot to mention. Thats another thing it has been doing. But the smoke came from the coolant boiling in tank and since i forgot to put cap on the smoke came out freely from tank. Could this have caused a problem. Although my car was running hot with coolant boiling in reservoir way before i did that and even after.
I have had my 2001 Alero since it was brand new off the lot. It has been a strong running car. It has had done work on it, most recently the mechanic I'm using has replaced the intake gasket, thermostat, hoses, and coolant reservoir because of the coolant leaking. After all that still having problems with the coolant leaking (but apparently not mixing in to the oil)....I've just been putting water in and I have to stop after driving about 10 minutes to refill the reservoir.
The mechanic was going to replace the cooling fans because he said they weren't working but then he hooked up a sensor machine and there were no issues, so he ended up replacing the radiator because he thought there might be a blockage causing the water to boil back up into the reservoir, and the car overheating. The car drives great, but after about 10 minutes there is a type of sputtering. The mechanic is saying that he has replaced everything that can be replaced in the cooling system and that he thinks the head gaskets are bad.
I have a 2001 Nissan Pathfinder SE with 160,000 miles. I took my car in for an overheating problem yesterday after I noticed the coolant was leaking out of my car. I needed a simple hose repair to fix the leak problem, but now they want to replace the temperature gauge because they say that it is still running hot due to: "temperature gauge is stuck and not letting the cold water in." He said that he fixed the hose and it is blowing the cool air to the motor, so the only problem could be the temperature gauge.
Within the past year, I replaced the radiator and hoses. He is saying the temperature gauge + labor would amount to around $300. The car is probably worth around $2250 for a dealer trade-in. I am planning on trading-in the Pathfinder towards the purchase of new one once I am able to present it to the dealer in workable condition. What to do?
I had overheating problem on the highway. Towed car to Automotive Clinic - They said I needed new radiator and hoses, so I installed. Couple weeks later, overheats again, this time said I need new head gasket, so I go ahead. Soon as I get back, my car overheats AGAIN. Now back in the shop, and they told me the head gasket blew again...they have taken all apart, and now say they can't find out whats wrong. The coolant is leaking, but they don't know why...it failed hydrocarbon testing. What can it be?
View 2 RepliesI have a 92 f250 4x4 351 windsor, so I had a hose bust the other day that ran from one side of the intake to the other, I mean completely split down the side. The engine overheated when this happened so i replaced the hose and everything seemed fine until i was heading home and it started to overheat. Being frustrated and angry i noticed that the heater was blowing out cold air when it was overheating and that the top radiator hose would run flat when i popped the hood, but no coolant would run thru it until it overheated and sucked it back up or something. But I then changed the water pump thinking it was that but it wasn't, so then i suspected a stuck closed thermostat. I changed that and coolant still isn't running thru top radiator hose and now I am leaking coolant from what could be the thermostat gasket or somewhere else im scared and want to fix this problem.
View 10 RepliesI have a 99 S10 4.3 2wd. Last week on a 5-6 mile drive it overheated, and it turns out the coolant was somehow almost a gallon low! I topped it off and all was well for nearly a week. This weekend I was driving and suddenly could smell a strong coolant odor. The temp gauge began to spike and when i pulled over and popped the hood it was clear the coolant was finding its way out but not through the overflow or radiator. When it cooled down and I added water/coolant I could see the coolant coming from the block or near the block. Also, when I let it run for a few minutes i could see the fluid "spraying" out from what appears to be near the pass. side valve cover maybe near the intake manifold...The oil looks good, so I'm not sure it's the head gasket. Not sure where to go with this.
View 9 RepliesI drive a 1999 Chevy Malibu. My car overheated the other day so I pulled over and realized the overflow was bone dry. So I added water and finished my trip. By the time I got there the car was overheating again and the overflow was again empty. I have changed the water pump, the thermostat, and the overflow cap. Whats happening now is when I crank it the car Idles fine until it gets warm, then steam starts to come out of the overflow hose coming from the cap. If I drive it not only steam but all my coolant just starts pouring out of this thing. I was told this might mean a busted head, but there is no coolant in my oil or water coming out of my exhaust.
View 1 Replies I've been fighting this almost a month now.2.2L Engine.
The engine turns over, but want start.
We have fuel pressure (55psi) and a spark.
Sprayed ether in the intake -- nothing.
Changed the crankshaft positioning sensor. Put a simple scanner on it, it stated no errors or faults could be found.
Tried another ignition module, checked the PCM fuse and ignition module fuse, both look fine.
Installed an anti-theft system bypass and followed the reset instructions. Didn't fix.
Just for fun we changed the spark plugs as well.
Now, the person I was with who saw the spark (I was inside the car) says the spark looked "weak" to him. Is this possible?
The leak looked like it was coming from a heater hose. The individual I bought it from said he fixed it and it wasn't leaking the day I bought it. Upon driving it home...cranked the heat up and windows fogged, switched to defog with no luck. Added some coolant and still the same thing and leak began again.
It smells like antifreeze inside and fog has oily feeling when wiping it off the window. Got in on the lift and no luck seeing where it was leaking from, even with it running. My previous experience with bad heater cores is that it leaks on the inside and smells like coolant... is it leaking on the outside or is it something else?
It's NOT overheating or blowing any kind of smoke. Temp gauge read normal! It's a 4.3L, 1994 Caprice LS .....
So I have a 1999 Cavalier..I drove it yesterday without issues but when I got up this morning to go to work, I turned the key to start it and it seemed as if there was a boom from the engine. The engine didn't start, but when I tried the key again, it started right up. I drove 35 miles to work, including some highway miles at 70 mph. What would that have been? Is it a sign of things to come?
View 13 RepliesThe car is 1985 Chevrolet Cavalier with automatic transmission.I had the engine stall several times and I coasted sometimes for a quarter of a mile with the transmission in gear. Can this cause damage to transmission?Later on I wised up and moved the shifter to neutral when the engine stalled.When I coasted in gear, I was getting some vibration that smoothed out when I put it in neutral.
View 19 RepliesI just purchased an 05 cavalier and today a loud clicking noise started right down by the glove box. I have full a/c and heat. If I turn the climate control to recirculate the clicking stops. But now the orange engine light is on. I've heard it could be the blend door actuator from what I've read online. Would this cause the engine light to come on? The code reading from autozone was coolant leak/coolant low/thermostat something along those lines. But the engine light came on 3 hrs after the clicking started so I am thinking it's related.
Oh also (the clicking stops after the car warms up a bit)? I would love to just buy the part online and have a small place replace part. I cannot afford hundreds of dollars in labor. If that is the right part does the dash need to come out in an 05 Cavalier or can it be gotten to under the glove box?
I recently bought a 2001 Chevy Cavalier with 85,000 miles in October 2014. Since that time, I've fixed the brakes, done emissions testing, etc. But recently the car started to act funny: the trac off and engine light would appear and then the shift between 1 / 2 gear or 2 / 3 would rev up high. I'd stop, pull over, turn off, turn on, and then continue. I was worried, so I took and the mechanic changed the transmission fluid.
However, the problem is getting worse. I was driving, the trac off and engine light came on, and about 30-secs later the oil and battery light appear and the car shuts off. I took it back in and they ran tests to check it, but what the problem could be. I don't drive my car very frequently, mostly weekends to visit my family who live about an hour 1/2 from me. But so far every time I drive it, the car stops.
Some suggestions I've heard:-- low fuel injection?-- wheel speed sensors