Kia - Optima :: 2003 2.4L Engine Overheating Occasionally While Stopped In Traffic
Aug 1, 2016
Have a 03 Kia Optima with a 2.4L engine with 120K. The car recently started overheating occasionally mainly while stopped in traffic. Both fans are running and as soon as I get rolling, the temp gauge goes down. I've noticed that it only happens while the trans is in gear. if I put it in neutral, the temp will drop to normal.
I replaced the thermostat and radiator cap thinking these may have been contributors. I also replaced the temp sensor because it controls both the gauge & the cooling fan. Both fans operate with the a/c on but the single fan will not come on with a/c off. I tried another pcm from the salvage yard but still get the same operation. My next thought is to install a separate trans cooler to the radiator which is only 2 to 3 years old.
What could be causing this overheating & how can I fix it? When it does over heat, I usually turn the heater on full blast to bring the temp down. Car is in great shape and would like to get it back to normal.
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This has been happening intermittently for a little over a year now. When sitting in traffic, my car begins to overheat. I've had two different mechanics look at it - the first swapped out the radiator cap.
The second said my coolant levels were low, but he pressure tested the system and found no leaks. He recommended I check my levels before taking long trips - so this weekend, before driving 380 miles to Phoenix, I checked my levels. They were a bit low, so I topped everything off with coolant and everything was fine on the drive out.
On the drive home, however, stuck in traffic, the car began to overheat. I pulled over and checked the reservoir and it was mostly full of coolant, but I added a little more, let it sit for a while, and then made my way through the traffic and home.
Also, I tested the fan, and it comes on.
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Every once in a while in heavy traffic the engine overheats. I can't get out to check on the highway bit I suspect a an isn't on. I can drop the temp in the usual way of blasting the heat but I can also drop it precipitously by turning on the AC! It seems to stay down even if I turn the AC off - at least for a while. The radiator is new and it has plenty of fluid.
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My 2007 Accent just quit running setting in traffic. Checked fuel pump fuses and relay, all ok. What else could it be? Has 100,000 miles on it. Just turned over yesterday.
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Was in town stopped at a traffic light when my 2003 Santa Fe just shut off. No warning, started right back up again, no CEL, no DTCs. Scary. I'm happy it happened with me driving the car instead of my daughter driving. Also happy it didn't happen on the highway.
I've had hard starting issues for a while now. Replaced crank sensor, it's fine for a few starts, then goes back to hard starting, but I hadn't had a problem in a few weeks.
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We had my son's water pump replaced in his 97 F150. It is now occasionally jumping to completely hot. If you turn it off and back on it returns to normal. The power to the engine is cut when it shows to be overheating. The check engine light has now come on.
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Sitting in stopped traffic for about 45 minutes and AC slowly starts blowing warmer air. Temp about 95 and very humid. Felt like AC just freezing up, but no frost on anything when I looked under hood. Hoping freon problem. About to start looking at it this morning.
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My engine is overheating, plenty of coolant but fan stopped working. Not sure whether to check fuse first. Dont actually know which fuse box to look in.
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My 2006 Hyundai Tiburon is having issues with the AC not working when the car is idling. In addition to the AC not blowing cold air, the engine is running hot, almost overheating,however when I get up to speed and start moving again the engine cools back down and the AC blows perfectly. I can smell the sweet smell of antifreeze coming from some where when I get out of the car and I can see that it is leaking under the hood somewhere but I don't see anything on the ground. What is going on?
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So i replaced everything, Crack pipe, thermostat, greentop CTS, water pump... still getting 1 or 1.5 bars past the vertical in traffic after about 10 minutes...
The fans work... atleast they are both on when i shut off the car...
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A couple weeks ago, I noticed the a/c air warming up while I was in traffic. Later the car started overheating while the a/c was on in traffic, but cooled back to normal as the a/c was switched to econ. As of a few days ago my a/c air is not cold at all anymore, in traffic or moving. And now today, my car overheated in traffic without the a/c on, but returned to normal after I waited out the freeway blockage and drove home when the traffic speed was higher.
I've been reading threads on here for about three hours now and going out to run tests. It appears that neither fan runs on low or high speed. I want to check the fuses, but the fusecard is like reading hieroglyphics. It appears that slot 25 (with a picture of a fan) might be the right one, and after checking it appears intact. Questions:
- Is there a fan fuse? Is it #25? Are there more than one?
- If the fuses aren't the issue, is there something else to rule out before removing the fans for inspection and cleaning or replacement? (controller module, thermostat, relays, etc.?)
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So recently my car has been starting to over heat. not to the extreme but the temp needle is going past the middle. only happens when stuck in traffic but as soon as I start going it goes back down.
As far as iv noticed only thing getting me puzzled is my fans are not running when running and starting to overheat. they run when I shut the car off though. The radiator is less then a year old. fresh oil change and the coolant is fine
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My 2002 Jetta VR6 is overheating. The car only overheats when the car is not mobile. If I get stuck in straffic or just let it idle it will over heat. What could it be?
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I was slightly overheating in traffic, watching the gauge creep up a little. So i bought a new fan, swapped it in this morning, and still no Big Fan.
Fuses on top of the battery are all good. Does this mean my FCM is gone?
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Today is the first day I noticed this problem !! driving regular hit traffic I notice my fans come on so I look down at my cluster and my temp gauge is a quarter pass 190 ?? Happen 3 times with in 10 minutes of each other no air condition or heat fans on ??? Get to my destination stay there for 2 hours then drive home but no temp issues ??? 74000 miles I hit today on the car completely stock ?? Thermostat , housing ??
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I have a 2000 Subaru Outback with a little over 162,000 miles. About 3 years ago I had the head gaskets replaced. This past March the car started over heating while on the highway driving back to Boston from New Jersey. It has been doing this intermittently since then, and I have had two mechanics look at it.
The first mechanic, who is my beloved mechanic in Maine (where I am originally from), checked the sensors and relays. He even replaced the relays for free, and it still overheated on the way back from Maine to Boston. Needless to say I did not give him enough time to really look at my car to figure out the problem.
I then went to my back up mechanic in Boston, who kept the car for about 4 days. He said there are no leaks and the car did not actually over heat while with him. He had one of his guys drive the car home at night and back to the shop in traffic in the AM, and had it run for hours while on a lift, and on the ground. Still no overheating. However, he did say that the car was eating up coolant, which indicated to him that there might be a head gasket problem.
I was a little upset by this diagnosis because I had them replaced already, and also because I am getting married this summer so this obviously is not the right time to be buying a new car. I should mention that both mechanics looked at my car at the end of August. I have still been driving and watching the coolant.
The car is still randomly overheating but i tend to notice it happen more while in stop and go traffic and when I accelerate. The needle will go all the way up to red, stay there for a few seconds and then slowly creep down. This happened this morning, and I had checked the coolant yesterday and it was full! I checked it again at lunch time to see if it had used all the coolant during rush hour and it was still full. This chain of events seems to keep happening and I constantly check the coolant. Since August I have only had to fill it once. I have also noticed that when I open the radiator cap the coolant is not sitting level like I've been told it should. I've put a decent amount of work into the car and everything else runs perfectly.
Is it possible that this is a pumping or air bubble problem, and not a head gasket?
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I have a 2002 1.8t with 90,000 miles on it. I have it serviced for new Timing belt and water pump (metal impeller, according to the shop) 3 months ago at this shop. The overheating problems never went away. The problem is that it overheating at heavy traffic or idle after a while or after heavily drive, but it cools off quickly when I rev up the engine a little bit, or after getting out of traffic again.
I have another shop diagnosed, they first told me the cooling system is leaking and may trapped air inside so they did replace thermostat, coolant housing assembly, flange seal, pipe sealing o-ring. they re-test and turn out there is no coolant flow and suggest that is it the water pump that fail and ask me to go back to the original shop for the Water Pump warranty. Additionally, they flow test radiator and its fine.
I did return the car back to the original shop and they tested and said the heater core is clogged with debris and that would cause the overheating. They asked me to replace the whole heater core that would cost $1500. But I know for the fact that I have heating in the car and it is hot!
Is there any other reason than what have been replaced or tested (thermostat, radiator, air trap, new coolant)? I think it could be the aux cooling fan since its never turn on when overheating, only when AC is turn on, is it supposed to work this way? Spent too much on this car and hopelessly the problems went away but it's not.
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I've been driving a 96 Corolla into the ground for the past 5 or 6 years and recently it's been having overheating issues. It has overheated to the point of steam twice now, and I'm worried at this point I've fried the engine or transmission.
I regularly check the radiator fluids and oil thinking that these would solve the issue, but alas it happened again today ten fold.
While driving home in hot southern california today I first noticed my transmission slipping in traffic. It was slipping when I started moving in stop and go, and settled in once I was going 30 or 40 miles per hour. I had my puppy in the car and was only a few minutes from home so I thought it would be fine, otherwise I would have pulled over immediately.As I got closer the problem got worse to the point where I could no longer shift and move forward. I over revved the engine to get it into a safe spot and it overheated. After waiting 40 minutes I checked on the Transmission fluid (checked unrunning) and it was bone dry. The radiator was full with coolant and oil levels looked good. I put as much transmission fluid as I had in my trunk (not much) back into the car, started it and got the car up the few more blocks I had to go. On the way it was still slipping, at the severity it had to begin with.
My question to you is do you think the transmission is totally shot and I need an overhaul? Or is there some hope that it may have been overheating because it needs a flush/drain and new transmission fluid? The car is at 136k miles and has had a replaced radiator in the past year.
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My 2000 Ford Ranger over heats when I stop at traffic lights. I took it to Tire Kingdom and hey suggested a new thermostat and a radiator flush. I did both and it continues. What is the issue?
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So i have a 2002 1.8t that i got in december. Everything has been great so far untill the other day the car overheated on me in traffic. It was a bit warm out maybe 75-80 degrees. I saw the needle start to climb and then the light went on so i through the heat on full blast and it dropped the needle a bit and turned the light off long enough to pull off the highway. I let it cool down and checked things out. I am not low on fluid, an the fluid was changed within the last year with the vw recommended stuff. The radiator hoses are pressurized so i believe that the pump and thermostat are working. I am thinking it could have something to do with my fans. I tested them in my driveway by supplying them with 12v and the spun perfectly. It only happens when the car is standing still for a period of time. Driving at any speed is fine. Is there some sort of switch that tells the fans to turn on?
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Run my lexus around in traffic or up hills the temp gauge goes into the red, leave it running in the driveway it overheats and yes the fans work using the a/c so i know its not the fan motors the wires from both the fans go into a fan computer in the middle of the fans near the top of the radiator.....searched all over for a fan temp switch does it have one?
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