need help with overheating problem

[Excursion745]

i was driving home from a job interview (which i got the job) and i looked down to notice that my temp gauge was reaching the H.. i popped the hood when i got home to notice that a pipe was smoking.. so i jumped on my comp to find out what that pipe was.. i found out its my egr tube.. and as im reading up about it im not really understanding why that would make my car over heat.. if you guys could shead some insight on what u might think it would help alot.. and also my 91 ka has 204k on it.. shes seen alot but i need her to last the winter b4 i can get any real progress done.. so if u can help PLEASE DO lol..

[slider2828]

Did you check your coolant level and oil level?

[Excursion745]

i changed the oil just over 1500 miles ago and thats good.. i toped the coolant fluids last time i changed the oil.. i just am hoping she can hold up the drive to school and work the next few days while i try to figure this out..

[slider2828]

So coolant is all good? and a good levels during the overheat?

[burnsauto]

the egr pipe is prob just leaking, hence the smoking.

are the fans kicking on? Granted I know its a bit cold up in mass right now, but it would be something just to check. Also, is the thermostat opening at all? Water pump? Get a hold of zane and see what he replaced on the coolant system before you bought the car.

If its overheating, I wouldnt try to push it. you can cause a world of damage if you ignore it.

[Excursion745]

well i kno if it keeps over heating thats going to fuck shit up.. but like the 15 min drive to school this morning it didnt overheat at all the temp stayed normal the whole time.. and awhile back i thought that teh fan belts were fucking up but i just boiled that down to scott putting the power stearing belt on way to tight so now my power stearing is pretty much dead again.. i figure since its a high of 30 these days as long as i only drive no more than the 20 min drive to work ill be good till i get a pay check..

[carnagexxxx]

I didn't want to start another thread on a similar problem that I've been searching for. I found out a few things but nothing what I'm experiencing. Car is a 93 coupe with stock KA.

After driving normally for about 5 minutes the temp guage will start to creep way up to H. Sometimes I'll flip the defroster on and within about 5 - 10 seconds the guage will drop to normal and remain there. It has been pretty cold here and it usually happens about 5-10 min after start-up.

It will sometimes creep up to H and then back down on it's own. I would check to see how hot things are getting but it is so brief that by the time I can look under the hood everything is back to normal.

[slider2828]

Maybe coolant temp sensor on that... if it goes up and then down... Could be your thermostat too... could be air too, so bleed your system...

[surreybc]

check coolant level in rad before doing anything else. where on the egr is i smoking? the connections

[Excursion745]

the egr tube was what was smoking.. like next to the connection under the exhoust manifold.. i rechecked my fluids this morning b4 i left for school and everything was fine.. my coolant fluids are at the max level.. idk but she needs to hold up till i get paid..

[Vision Garage]

Did you bleed your cooling system?

Jack the front of the car up, turn it on, and slowly keep pouring more coolant until it's topped off. Keep it running for a bit and give it a bit of gas to get the coolant flowing and having the bubbles rise to the top.

-Soooshi

[surreybc]

the egr tube was what was smoking.. like next to the connection under the exhoust manifold.. i rechecked my fluids this morning b4 i left for school and everything was fine.. my coolant fluids are at the max level.. idk but she needs to hold up till i get paid..

did you open up the rad and look in? your reservoir is going to be full if it has been overheating.

park car on hill and run engine with rad cap off and heater on. this will bleed the system. if you have been overheating the coolant is going to the reservoir and then spilling out.

[idlafie]

Use the SEARCH function here on Zilvia to find a link to a Factory Service Manual for your model year S13. Download the appropriate year Factory Service Manual & check out the section for Radiator / Cooling System.

Since your car has well over 100K miles on it, chances are the heater hoses coming off your engine block & going to your firewall have never been replaced. It's possible the leak could be coming from there. There are also a couple other coolant hoses that connect to your fuel rail / intake manifold to keep it cool and are not easily visible / seen while standing on the passenger side of the car looking at your engine. Those can leak also. Check the Factory Service Manual for the location of those hoses.

You also might want to check the Check valve on the heater hose - it's the valve that controls the coolant flow into your heater core. It's in the engine bay next to the EGR tube. That can also go bad & leak also.

Problems I've usually seen on older higher mileage cars are clogged radiators due to calcium buildup within the radiator core. This is due to people not flushing their radiators every year or so. Other problems could be due to a leaking headgasket, a bad water pump, or a bad fan clutch, bad thermostat, bad radiator cap, or a failing freeze plug.

Best bet is to perform a Cooling System Pressure Test to help isolate what your problem is. Although rather rare for our KA motors, I have known of a freeze plug failing on a KA. And this was on a KA motor that NEVER spend a day of it's life in cold freezing weather...a SoCal based car!! Improperly mixed or old coolant can corrode the hell out of the freeze plugs. It cause a friend of mine to have continuous overheating problems till he figured out what his problem was...and that was after practically replacing everything on his cooling system. A Cooling System Pressure test would have spotted the problem right away.

Anyhow, I've attached a link explaining how everything in your cooling systems works.....It should give you a better idea of how the components in your cooling system works. Hope it helps...

Automotive Cooling Systems -  A Short Course on How They Work (http://www.familycar.com/Classroom/CoolingSystem.htm)

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