My baby is running hot! Too HOT!!

[Calico_NC]

Last night while on the prowl for some Krispy Kreme Donuts, I noticed my temp gauge moving fast towards the red zone. I was driving the car for about 30-45 minutes prior to this happening. I pulled over and popped the hood, lots of steam and bubbles were coming out of the radiator. It has been working fine for a while now, but something is wrong with it. How do I find out if it has air in the system?

[markus]

i think u need a new radiator my friend.

[BigTed00]

cooling system woes :(

i feel your pain brother, lately the 535 has been slurping down the coolant......looks like ill have some fun ahead of me before summer hits.........hell it cant be worse the the e36 radiator replacement can it?

[Calico_NC]

i think u need a new radiator my friend.

i probably do, seeing that the rubber neck had broken slightly when installing the aux fan about a year ago. Could I do anything else besides getting a new radiator? This is what happens:

When driving, the car starts off fine. I can drive for at least 4-5 minutes b4 anything starts to run terribly wrong. Then, the needle starts to work its way up to the red zone. Then I have to cut it off and wait for it to cool. When it cools to about half way, i can go about another 2 minutes or so.

I got stuck at the mall, which is about 10 minutes out from my house, took me about an hour to get home.

[Dave M]

Your engine has overheated (at least once). What to do? Don't let it happen again. You have a major cooling system failure. You should feel lucky that you've home-jobbed a cooling system and lived to fight another day.
All engines "start off fine", because they're cool. You apparently have a failing rad, water pump or hose. Replacing the rad, water pump, thermostat and fan clutch is cheaper than replacing your M50 cylinder head or block.

When "lots and steam and bubbles" are being generatd by the engine, it means that something is terribly wrong. Let us know exactly what is happening.

Dave

[stargazer_61]

Calico,

If you need some help replacing that rad, let me know. I'm in Kernersville.

[etcetera]

4-5 minutes seems really quick to get that warm. Bleeding the system might be worth a try. As long as the cooling system is full with no bubbles it should take longer than that just to warm to normal, radiator or no. Sounds like you need to replace the radiator anyways, but you'll never know what the problem was if you don't bleed first.

When I drive to my office It's just barely warmed up, 10-15 minutes. The thermostat probably hasn't even opened yet. That's with the temps in the 60's to 80's.

[genphreak]

A bleed will fix the symptom, not the cause.

Don't mess with it too much, you risk blowing your head gasket. Diagnose some tests and ascertain the exact reason with a book and/or this board. If it fails in these cars you don't wanna keep drivin them at all. They are performance designs that rely on their cooling systems completely. Nick

[rickm]

I had the same thing last summer. The overheating came *very* quickly (I was driving down a twisty mountain road and looking at the temp gauge was the last thing on my mind). Finally noticed it and pulled over. Popped the hood, it was a steam bath. Part of the radiator had cracked (the plastic part up top). Let it cool for 20 min then drove 2 minutes down the road until I had (a) a flat place to park and (b) a cell signal. Had it towed since I was a good 40 minutes home.

Replaced the radiator, water pump (metal impellers this time) and the hoses since they were off. Not a problem since. I was scared that I had cooked the engine but when I had my mechanic check it out he said it showed no visible damage.

[Calico_NC]

thanks everyone for the input,
To Stargazer:
Do you know of any good mechanics around this area besides the dealer?

Rickm: I think the plastic part at the top of the radiator is broken as well, because i noticed something cracked with steam and bubbles coming from it.

Overall, what radiator would everyone recommend? Just a regular Behr or something different?