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Thread: Who here knows about cars (real ones :) )?

  1. #1
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    Default Who here knows about cars (real ones :) )?

    It all started yesterday afternoon on my way home from work (It's around 15km) when I noticed mid way that my temperature gage was rising. It never hit the red but it stabilized at about 3/4 before the hot section. When I was about 1.5-2kms from home I started to notice a strange clicking sound in the engine and when I stopped at a red light, it stalled. I was able to started up again and barely managed to get the rest of the way home as the motor was becoming louder and the gas pedal heavier.

    When I got off the car, I noticed a strange sweet smell coming from the engine and it was steaming. I called the NRMA and the guy came and told me that it was overheated. He added coolant water and ran a couple of tests with the engine everything looked good and it maintained a cool temperature. At this point the smell had stopped and there was no leaking at all so I thought that the problem was solved.

    The next day I drove all the way to work without any issues whatsoever, the engine held a cool temperature and I arrived normally. However by the afternoon, half way back I noticed the car overheating again only that this time it was much worse. The car stalled on me repeatedly but with some effort I managed to restart it until I got to the nearest service station (not even a KM from the first stall) and allowed the engine to cool for a few minutes and bought some coolant as advised by the NRMA the night before. I open the water lid and poured coolant into the engine. Despite the engine being off for some minutes, I could hear the liquid bubbling and stuff, I figured that it was because the cool liquid was reacting with the hot liquid inside.

    After a while I noticed a bit of water leaking from under the car, I figured this was my fault as I had spilled some water while pouring the coolant. I then tested the engine and it started off just fine, no strange sounds or anything. I tested it a bit and it seemed alright and maintained a cool temperature. I managed to get home without a problem and the car drove very smoothly.

    However once I stopped the car, I noticed a strange hissing sound coming from the engine that lasts 15-20 seconds or so before going away. I tried restarting the car and turned it off and the sound happened again, it seems consistent now. When I got off the car, I noticed that the car had continued to leak what appears to be coolant and there is a slight sweet burned smell coming form the engine.

    Anyone know what is going on and if it would be expensive to fix? I certainly hope it's not expensive as my car is not really worth investing any more money on and I don't want to go as far as buying a new car.

    Any help is appreciated.

  2. #2
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    Sounds like that coolant is dissapearing somewhere. At the least it could be a hose leak, at worst a blown head gasket? Never rule a welch plug out either they can be hard to notice if leaking. Where ever it going its going pretty quickly.
    Just a note though- never pour coolant into a hot engine. The extremes in temperature can cause cracking and warping.

    Im no mechanic- some of the guys on here might be qualified to give you better advice. Theyll probably need more information too.
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  3. #3
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    MV75 is offline Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
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    First of all, NEVER UNCAP THE RADIATOR WHEN CAR IS HOT. You can get some serious burns, and I mean really serious. The water is beyond boiling. You were lucky.

    Could be a few things.

    Could be stuffed hoses, could be leaking radiator, could be blown head gasket (most likely). Dunno, not enough particular info. What car and model/year is it? Was the radiator empty when putting more coolant in? It seems from the clues that you are running out of coolant through some place.

    The "sweet smell" is coolant (green stuff).
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  4. #4
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    a few random guesses

    check your heater hoses from your radiator the o-ring may have come loose or the hose is blocked full of dirt & other nasties

    or

    your water pump is getting ready to crap itself

    Bartrim may be a bit more help on this subject

  5. #5
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    Thanks for the advice and info, guys.

    It's a Daewoo 1.5i 1995 Hatchback.

    As mentioned, I let the car cool for a few minutes before I uncapped it and there was no steam coming out of it when I did. However coolant was not visible and at that point (just arrived at service station) there was no leaking so I figured that the rest of the coolant poured the night before may have gone deep.

    It only begun to leak after I added more Coolant into it. I will have to see how it goes tomorrow and will be taking it in for a check up (if mechanics near work are not booked).

    I hope it's not the head gasket as I heard that is very expensive (like $3000) and my car is not worth that.

  6. #6
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    I am a qualified diesel mechanic. Overheating can be caused by many things. Its seems as you have noticed that you are loosing coolant. The question is where is the coolant going? It can leek externally eg a radiator hose or internally eg into the engine oil. Overheating could be caused by so many factors. Like a faulty radiator cap that is around $10 to fix.

    Fan belts can slip or belts can break off. Water pumps can fail or a stuck thermostat or blocked radiator is not uncommon. Call into your local mechanic and get them to quickly test your cooling system with a pressure tester. That shouldn’t cost much and is a good place to start to ascertain what is going on.Also is your engine oil gone milky? Don’t open radiator cap until engine cool and don’t add coolant when engine hot. The more you drive it as it is the more damage you could do.

  7. #7
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    I've had this happen to me before as well and im pretty sure it was a blown head gasket but my car does like to do that.
    If this is the case try to make sure you get a felpro gasket set for it they are the best out there and not much more expensive than the cheap crap which ive had problem's with before.
    On another note i would highly reccomend using castrol corrosion inhibitor as your coolant because it doesnt corrode the alloy parts(i.e. water pump) of your cooling system and engine block for that matter as bad as conventiol coolants.
    I shall also put this question past my dad as he is the mechanic of the family and would have a better idea than me,but he doesnt get home until Saturday.

  8. #8
    Pulse is offline Rank 1 - New or Inactive
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    Reading over what happened, I'd put my money on one or more of your hoses having sprung a leak. If that's what is causing the overheating, it shouldn't cost very much to fix it...

  9. #9
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    Just a question, how much coolant have you been buying and pouring into the radiator? ie. how quickly is it loosing coolant?

    I'd suggest waiting for the engine to cool right down and pour in some coolant and then keep an eye on the engine, and see if you can spot where the leak is coming from. Hopefully it's just a hose, as they are inexpensive and rather easy to fix. If its the actual radiator that is leaking, then you could be looking at some serious costs to fix/replace it.

    If you cannot determine where the coolant is leaking from it could mean it is leaking into the engine, check your engine oil, if it looks diluted and leaves a chalky residue when wiped on a cloth, it means you quite likely have the leak entering the engine.

    The problem with engines overheating is the flow on effects to other components, fan belts, engine oil etc.
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  10. #10
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    Hi guys,

    This morning I drove to work and for 3/4s of the trip it maintained a reasonable cool temperature but when I reached the homestretch, it rapidly begun to climb and barely got to the Mechanics near work before it stalled.

    However this time I noticed that there was no leaking at all before driving and when I arrived at the Mechanics.

    I have left the car at the Mechanics for them to check what is going on, I seriously hope it's nothing serious otherwise I will have to spend savings in buying a new car and this will cause me to retire from the Transformers business .

    Thanks for all your help and advice, hopefully this will have a happy ending.

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