wtf i'm boiling over?

[americanjebus]

ok this has been getting progressively worse over the past few days and it ONLY happens when i drive up this bigass mountain to go to my friends house wich is pretty much 2 miles uphill.

anyway after doing about a mile or so uphill i mean pretty steep uphill enough for me to get 50mph in neutral on the way down i finnally reach the top and i park the car and when i turn it all off i walk out and i can hear my coolant boiling, i pop the hood and i can see the overflow just shaking arround from the boiling and as it sits it just keeps boiling and boils over spilling the red koolaid. it's been pissing me off and it ONLY does it on that uphill grade, my temp guage is ok and nothing else is wrong asside from the car being a bit sluggish but im blamming that on dirty air filter and ic pipe leek.

ANYWAY what i think the culprit may be is the radiator cap or my thermostat. the car runs at the proper temp but its still boiling uphill. anything else i should look for. and on a side note if i turn off the car and put the key back to the on postion without actually starting the car my a/c fans kick in and cool down the coolant in like 2 min to the point where it stops boiling.

what is going on, my rad cap is at 13lb and its old and im on a new radiator right now.

 

[sathu]

How high were you up the hill? Maybe altitude has something to do with it.

 

[turboa7mgte]

I would say you might have air in the system.....

 

[Mr. Y]

Your coolant boiling in overflow bottle only or in whole system? If only in overflow - forget it. Air pressure in mountains is less, so water starts to boil with less temp. But if your system is still pressurized - coolant should not boil there.

 

[mcpcola]

when i got my car i had the same problem if you the pull the lid with the hose on it from the overflow tank it will be 95% air coming out. i replaced the entire cooling system and still have not figured it out i believe its the Head gasket on mine. I removed the thermo and mine stopped now it only happens after long interstate runs.

parts i have replaced rad cap, hoses, radiator, water pump, fan clutch, fan, shroud, and thermostat

 

[drunk_medic]

I'm telling you, man, you need that turbo timer...

 

[tlo86]

i would suggest quit driving up hill with such an amazing car..

i had an 84 or so mx-6 that would do that, get a turbo timer or go by what toyota says and let your car idle for a few minutes after "hard driving". this includes: Towing, Racing, DRIVING UP HILL..

if you think its your cap have a shop test it.

head gasket.. check for water or metal deposits in your oil.

check your rad hose to see if the water pump is working (squeeze it while engine is running should feel a surge of coolant) there is actually a long list i can go through to check for faults in your coolant system

also automatic or manual? cruising in neutral in an automatic is bad...

make sure your coolant is at the full line.. check the drivebelts

 

[GrimJack]

I'm telling you, man, you need that turbo timer...

This is it. You need to let the car cool down after driving it hard - leave it on for an extra minute or two, and I bet it won't be a problem.

 

[americanjebus]

yea i bassically live in the middle of the rocky mountains so im up there, my belts need changing soon and my rad cap is same from factory so i just need a fresher one allong with a good ol burping.

 

[americanjebus]

ok its getting worse omg im getting pissed after finnally saying "im done with my maintenance for a while" it hits me again. i am having a slightly noticable wobbling in my tach at idle and im not boosting as well as i was.

i stil boil over after letting the damn thing cool,

i found a pretty good size oil leek coming from bellhousing!!!! OMG THATS FREAKIN ME OUT.

and i am getting a rattling sound from my underside/tranny/cat converter area i talked to a friend and he said that if the clutches are going bad in your auto tranny you can sometimes hear them rattling slightly at low rpms and thats pretty much what i have, sound like i have little bits of metal in my dp. but there is none.

k&N somehow got really really dark so i must fix.

and i still gotta find my minor boost leek.

this car doesnt stop does it.

 

[tlo86]

coolant level too the f line? check lines to the turbo.. spacifically the oil lines? how does the exhaust sound you might as well have an exhaust leak while you are on this bad luck streak

 

[Boostedstr8six]

Be careful around your overflow jug.....a couple of weeks ago I was looking at mine for a second and the cap blew off in my face....not cool at all. My e-fan had died and I drove uphill behind slow a$$ tourists and of course overheated.

What are you running for a fan(s)?

 

[boost fiend]

im also having the same issue. ive burped the system and put in a better thermostat and still have the same issue after driving for a while. im about ready to loose all sanity trying to figure it out. i let it cool down for about 5 minutes religlousy and its still there!!!! i run a electric fan thats on ALL the time when the keys on. still no better........

 

[americanjebus]

ok my coolant system is totally stock asside from just newer hoses and newer coolant. i have the stock a/c fans that kick in when the key is in the on position and they do the job when i idle of letting it cool back down but when i leave im geussing heat soak is getting the temp back up a bit to the boiling point cus get this

i left the car idling after doing that same uphill drive (i do it allot im doing a head gasket with a friend up there and i have to drive up to help) i let it idle with the a/c fans on and i look at overflow and its at the full mark but not boiling the fans turn off from the temp sensor and i go inside to work, i come back and i can see where the coolant overlowed so its acutally getting hotter after sitting.

and on worst note, today the temp passed the 100 mark, and yes my coolant got hot, not to boiling cus i drove w/ a/c on low so the fans would run but my auto tranny i think is heading towards the shitter, i can feel shifts, and i touched the shift handle on the metal part and it was FREAKIN hot. if the handle is that hot im assuming the tranny is much hotter so i hit my auto parts store and am putting a 15 / 7 inch tranny cooler on it. there must be something that our cars have in common that would cause us to boil like this. i just hope its not the a BHG.

 

[Dirgle]

It sounds like you coolant system is working the way it is supposed to. If the temp gauge is saying your ok, then you’re ok. When pressure in the system reaches 13psi some of that pressure is bleed off. Now where does this pressure come from (I'm sure you know americanjebus, but this is for others.)? It comes from (in a properly working system) the coolant reaching a boiling point. When this happens the coolant changes from a liquid state into a gas. As this gas is heated from the engine it expands, as it expands inside a sealed cooling system it will generate pressure. This sealed system keeps the gas from expanding too much because of the limited space inside the cooling system this effectively raises the boiling point. However once the pressure reaches 13psi(what your cap is rated at) it must be released in order to protect the cooling system components. So it goes in to you recovery tank at over 200 degrees, that stuff is going to boil and boil like mad. It's going to boil any coolant already in the recovery tank. Then once the car cools and the gas turns back into a liquid it is going to create a vacuum inside your system thus sucking back in any coolant that was displaced into the recovery bottle. And if you have a little extra coolant in the recovery bottle that will be sucked in, in place of any air you had in your system. This is a good way to get air out of a cooling system, and the main reason car companies have you put a little coolant in there. So if your temp gauge says it’s ok then it sounds like your cooling system is doing it’s job perfectly.

Edit: Just reread and you said it boiled all the way out of the recovery bottle.
Like mentioned earlier a turbo timer would help. You need to keep that water pump going and moving coolant through the radiator until it stops boiling. The worst thing you can do with an over heating car is shut it off. This shuts the cooling system down and the car will continue to overheat for a period of time. So let the car idle for a few minutes. That should take care of your problem.

 

[boost fiend]

if it gets over 85 degrese here (n. il.) it starts to overheat. the gauge goes really high and it boils in the tank and the radiator. i have 2 electric fans and all new fluids and it stilldoes the same thing. me and the guys i work with at the shop are still looking for a answer. im thinking about getting a bigger aluminum radiator and trying that.

 

[bluemax]

I got a bigger radiator. That didn't solve the problem. It only delayed the overheating. The problem is that the cooling system cannot cool enough for the heat that is being produced. So eventually you overheat.
You really need to find the problem.
It could be the thermostat, radiator clogged, hose colapsing, radiator cap, leak in the system, water pump, BHG and probably a whole lot more things. You just have to go through everything one at a time.

 

[boost fiend]

i did a block test to see if im getting exaust gasses in the coolant yesterday and im not. just put a new rad cap on and burped the system AGAIN!! it's supposed to be about 90 out today so well see if anything changes. i really dont want to tear the head off again. i know of a collector that works for toyota, i might just have to call him up and see if if he has any clue as to what might be wrong.

 

[bigaaron]

Bhg

 

[boost fiend]

im starting to think that too..... im just not looking forward to doing it again. if i do i guess ill have to have it milled and port and polished. might as well just put a lil larger valves in it while im at it.