Engine Overheating Problem?

Hi Susan and thanks for using 2CarPros.

First, if you have no heat, check and confirm the coolant level is not low. Also, since they just replaced the radiator and thermostat, there is a chance there is an air blockage in the system. That should have been taken care of when the work was done.

Next, if the car only overheats when you drive slow or in stop and go traffic, it sounds like the cooling fan may not be working. Pay attention to see if you hear the fan come on when the temperature starts to go beyond normal toward hot. Since they replaced the radiator, they may have simply forgot to reconnect the fan. It would have been out of the car when the rad was replaced. Also, the coolant temperature sensor may have been left disconnected in the radiator.

Take a look through this link:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/engine-overheating-or-running-hot

I attached a picture of the radiator and components around it. It should help you to identify where the fan connections and the sensor is located.

Let me know if this helps.

Take care,
Joe

PS: If the coolant level is full, I would go back to the shop that did the work and let them know it is overheating and you have no heat. They need to bleed the system so you have heat. Also, an air blockage can cause it to overheat.

Took it back and they checked everything and decided it must be the water pump. Have not got the car back yet but I hope they are right because that was an additional $500.00. I showed them your response and they said that they had bled the system and they checked the coolant temperature sensor.

Hi Susan:

If it was only overheating when stopped, I question that it is the pump. It could be, but I feel there are other things more likely. Did the heater work prior to it overheating? Did you notice if the cooling fan was turning on when it started overheating?

Let me know.

Joe

We do not really know if the heat was working prior to over heating problem. In Arizona the heat is seldom necessary. When I got off the freeway and stopped at a light the car would get hot and I pulled into a parking lot and checked and the fan was running. The car would cool down pretty fast after I started driving.

Okay, if you heard the fan, then there is a better chance it is the water pump. I just do not want you to get taken.

Arizona. You have no idea how much I have always wanted to see the state. I am near Pittsburgh. Tonight, it is 23 degrees, snowing and blowing. Ugh! If heaters do not work here, we are in trouble. LOL I have always wanted to come there to find an old muscle car. Maybe someday. Until then, I will watch everything nice rust away here.

Anyway, I would like you to ask the tech one more thing. Take a look at this. It is basically the same as what you are dealing with. And the water pump was replaced, but the vehicle still overheated. They found a kinked hose was the problem. Read through this and consider asking the tech if the lower radiator hose gets hot and if he could check the specific hose mentioned. I attached a picture which shows hose number 2.

____________________________________

Replaced Thermostat and Water Pump Already, No Change.

When Run with Out Thermostat, Vehicle Does Not Overheat, and Engine Temperature Does Not Exceed 140 Degrees.

Cooling Fans cycle as Specified.

With thermostat installed the lower hose never gets hot.


Overheating

We found heater output was insufficient.

We flushed out the heater core and heater output improved, but not very much.

TECH-ASSIST
02/09/2017 | 09:56:37
1 Repair(s) Available
Verified Repairs(2)
TECH-ASSIST
02/09/2017 | 10:19:06
After multiple vacuum drain and fills, condition remains the same, doesn't seem to have an air pocket.

Vehicle doesn't boil over, just runs hot and warning light will flash. Fans come on.

We looked at the flow diagram found the #2 hose in the diagram hits squarely at the back of the Thermostat, because of the way of the outlet line back to Thermostat housing, it caused the overheat condition along with poor heater operation.

Replaced the Heater Core, over heat issue solved.

______________________________


Take care of yourself. Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions. Also, I wish you and your family a nice holiday season.

Joe

Thank you so much for all your help. The mechanic just called and said the car was ready and fixed. He said that it was the water pump and that he changed out the thermostat too just to be safe. He also said (this is interesting) that the car still will not have heat. I asked why and the said because it also needs a heater core. I suspect that is what it needed all along and now they have circumvented the heating system because they knew I would blow up if they told me that the water pump did not fix the problem. I will pick up the car tomorrow and pay the $550.00 but I am not going back there. In fact this car has seen the last of my money it maybe time for a new one. Again, thank you. I wish I had reached out before I took it to them. Live and learn.

Susan:

I wish I could have helped more. It is possible that the blocked heater core was the problem, but the pump may have been bad too. When you get the car, ask why the heater core needs replaced. Is it blocked, leaking. Also, and just for the heck of it, check that hose I attached a picture of to see if it was bypassed.

Take care and I wish you and your family a great holiday season.

Joe

I have two questions:

1. I have a 2005 VW Jetta Gli 1.8 turbo, it is overheating but not all the time. No sure what the concern is or where to start to see what the concern is?
2. Also we have replaced the battery in the vehicle twice within three months. The first one we bought found to have a dead cell. Well the replacement battery is not holding a charge either. The vehicle is ran/driven only about 1-3 times a week. but with a new battery should not have a concern. tested the alternator and had standard voltage. What else could pull such a large draw to kill the battery? Or what could be the issue of why not holding a charge?

Thanks

As far as the overheating, check the thermostat, make sure coolant level is full, and make sure the radiator isn't corroded inside.

As for the alt / att, check to see if there is a draw on the battery. There are directions on our homepage under the DIY section. If there is a draw, remove one fuse at a time to locate which circuit is causing the draw and check it.

My daughter just bought a 2003 Jetta. Two weeks later and now it over heats. She took it to the local Saab/ Volkswagon Dealer. The first trip in they said they could find nothing... She picked it up and it overheated half way home. It went back in today and they want to change the water pump.
My question... should I change the thermostat first, and if it still overheats then change the waterpump? My concern is they didn't really give me a good answer when I asked them why the water pump and not the thermostat as the problem. They kind of refered to this as a common problem with Jettas. What do you think?

well yes it could definitely be the thermostat sticking, this is why I never deal with dealers and one of the reasons why I went to school for this. It could also be your engine coolant temp sensor and or possibly a clogged radiator, I dont see how the water pump is the problem if the water pump is not leaking nor is it making any kind of foul noise. but if it is under warranty still and is gonna be Free and make sure of that, then go ahead, Ill take a free waterpump with installlation. and whatever else they are gonna change for free, I know that is not the issue, but yes, you are absolutely correct

Engine Cooling problem
2003 Volkswagen Jetta 4 cyl Front Wheel Drive Manual

my jetta is overheating while i at 60 miles an hour. When i stop the temp goes back down to 180. Is it the water pump or could it be sensor related?

are your cooling fans coming on? may be insufficient flow of coolant caused by dirty radiator. is the water pump leaking or making any unusual noise? they normally do this if they are failing.

The car overheat when driven faster than 65 mph or when climbing up a grade greater than 3%

Most likely a water pump. The water pump has plastic impellers and they start to break, actually break in half. You can tell if it is the water pump by taking out the thermostat and reaching in and feeling with your fingers. The water pump is located to the left, feel for anything that is not secure, it will usually be the broken impeller of the water pump. They typically go around 80 to 100 thousand miles. The only thing is that you should change the timing belt as well, as the pump is run by the timing belt. Kind of a big job, but I did it a few weeks ago and it actually was not that bad. Good luck.

I decided I was gonna show off my car one night and I go on it real hard. It started to overheat to I pulled over and turned it off for about 5 minutes. I started it and waited to see if it got hot again and it didn't so I started to drive it home. Then it started to get hot again so I pulled over again and decided to call my mom and just leave it there. What do you think the problem could be. There is no leaking fluid, so I don't think that it could be the water pump. And there was no smoke. My only guess is the tremostat. Whats your ideas?

Do easiest things first. Check coolant level and ensure it is correct. Make an extra effort to look for coolant leaks. If nothing shows up, then try the thermostat. You should also flush your system at the same time.

My 2002 Volkswagen Jetta had a cracked water distribution pipe and i replaced the part. fixed the leak, but then the car started running hot because the water will not circulate through the engine. Checked for trapped air, and replaced the thermostat and i still cannot get coolant circulation. What is my problem?

At the coolant reservoir there is a small hose that is connected to the top of it. remove this hose and take cap off of reservoir. have a second person start car and rev the engine to 2000-3000 RPM. if no coolant or water comes out of this hose then your water pump is faulty and will need to be replaced. Also if you replace water pump make sure you replace timing belt and tensioner since water pump is timing belt driven. let me know if any other questions

My car over heats but I have plenty of coolant and oil. I haven't heard the electric cooling fans kick on and there is also a leak from the big hose that goes from the engine into the bottom of the radiator at the joint connecting it to the radiator. It's just a few drops every so often. In not sure where to start. What would you do?

Thermostats and ECT sensors are very common. As well as water pump failure. It's possible that the water pump is flowing the correct amount. Those are the two places I would check

Car has no leaks and heat was working, temp would rather quickly rise to 190 and stay there for a short while and then would start to climb again rather quickly and alarm would go off when reaching about 245. Originally figured the thermostat was bad and changed it. Now the heat doesn't work, which I figure is air trapped in heater core, and the temperature is still doing the same thing. I have also noticed that the lower radiator hose does not even get warm but the upper gets hot, I also pulled a code P0117 that says engine coolant temperature circuit low input. Now I'm wondering if the engine is actually overheating or not and possibly just a bad temp sensor. Customer said that when it first did it that coolant came out of the degauss bottle but I have not seen this happen. Also the fans come on around 210 degrees and shut back down just over 190, I checked while car was idling.

If you don't have any heater, then you definitely have a cooling system issue. You can use vacuum fill to get all the air out but if it comes back again, you may have a blown head gasket.

my car overheated last night at highway temperatures, i noticed a puddle of coolant on the ground under the car and the radiator overflow cap had an immense amount of pressure. I checked the coolant overflow tube and coolant is flowing in there (waterpump) heat works very well, not sure what caused this any suggestions? (Car is holding coolant now and has been test driven 10 kms on highway speeds. temperature stabalizes at 90 degrees and doesn't rise (with the exception of the overheat.

Thermostats can stick intermittently... change it.

Water pump impellers can let loose intermittently... when was the last time the water pump was replaced?

What engine?

Thomas

my 2000 jetta is overheating with no leaks already replaced the thermostate and flushed the hoses what could cause this

You might have air locked the system. Did you just replace the thermostate or was this a little while back.

Check cooling fan is turning on and get the radiator cleaned, not a back flush but a full core clean by a radiator repairer.

mark (mhpautos)

2000 VW. Jetta with 146.000 miles 4 cyl. 2.0 manual front wheel drive.Now it seem after replacing the spark plug, air filter and gas filter that it is something to do with the temp.
after ran 30 minutes the instrument cluster display panel temperature gauges is in the hot range I did shut the engine off, I did turn ignition on and gauge reaches half , when open the hook everything was normal, no leaks .please help me
NOTE :Never replacing the timing belt and water pump
code p 1128
p 0172

Check the thermostat and the coolant temperature sensor-

Those codes don't have anything to do with your over-heating issue. So I'd push them to the side for now.

Over heating can be caused be a few things. First thing to test would be your coolant level/leaks. If the engine passes a coolant pressure test, do a coolant flow test. This will test the water pump. Your engine is famous for failing water pumps. You may also want to test your thermostat.

If all those parts pass the test, look into your cooling fans.

Engine Cooling problem
2000 Volkswagen Jetta V12 All Wheel Drive Manual

Yesterday my car suddenly overheated. I noticed the coolant level was lower than usual and was decreasing rapidly. I had a little coolant in the repair kit that I keep in the trunk. but since it was only a little, I needed to add water in order to bring the level up to the min. mark line on the coolant reservoir. Luckily I was close to home, and I turned off the engine and allowed the engine to cool. It was then that I noted that a small hose was out of place which explained why there was so much coolant around other parts of the engine. Will this be a complex and expensive job to fix? I am on a tight budget and am worried about the cost.

so a coolant hose just needs reinstalled is what you are saying? if so then it should be a relatively low repair bill. should only take a few mins to do this , so at the average of $70 an hour you may be talking about $25 - $30 for labor and maybe $5 or $10 if you need a new hose.

Car is majorly overheating and I can't figure out why. I am at a place where I am about to call a wrecker to come get it. Here is what I have done thus far trying to remedy the problem: Entire new cooling system including heater core,(that was fun), new heater hoses, thermostat, water pump, coolant temperature sensor and timing belt. while I was to the water pump. timing set 10deg BTDC, new timing belt tensioner idler pulley, verify water flow from the return line at the tank, so water is flowing through my system. Car runs sweet while it's cold, no codes. verified both inlet and out hoses to new heater core are kind of hot, again water is flowing. Water is also remaining in the system, not leaking out anywhere that i can see or find, or better said i am not having to refill the tank . What have I missed?

Okay. Couple things. Let's start with a pressure test. Put about 15-20 PSI on the system and let it sit. The fact that you don't see any coolant loss I expect this to hold for at least a couple hours. Let it sit over night and see what it is in the morning.

Next, get the engine hot and use an infrared temp meter and measure around the engine looking for hot spots. This would indicate a restriction. I understand you have flow, but we need the proper amount of flow.

Last, while you are testing this, make sure your radiator fans are coming on. Clearly don't let it boil over but let it go until the temp is about 230. If the fans don't come on then we need to chase this down.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/engine-overheating-or-running-hot

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-use-an-infrared-temperature-meter

sorry had to get logged into a PC. I'm here now what did I miss and did you get the text update?

I agree, we are on the right track. I am only looking for one fan to come on when the thermostat opens, right?

Correct. The other should be your AC cooling fan and comes on when the AC is on.

Engine Cooling problem
2000 Volkswagen Jetta 4 cyl Front Wheel Drive Manual 140k miles

egine temp gauge spiked suddenly w/ dash warning lite. no fluid leaks. radiator fan on driver side inop intermittently, starts working when tapped on fan motor. will run at normal temp for quite a while, then spike. will want to o'heat at idle, then run "normal" again for a while. Heater now inop. Engine passed block test for exhaust fumes in coolant.

hi, thanks for the donation, first we will need to hard wire the fan directly to the battery to see if it comes on and comes on strong. because, first thing I think of is a bad fan motor. check that first and come back with your findings, also, is there a check engine light on?