Please Help Me. My Car Majorly Overheated And I Am Freaking Out. I Dspratly NeedHlp

[ArcaneParadise]

(I need help very badly.) To preface, I had a Whipple installed with all supporting mods about 15 days ago. Everything has been working perfectly for those 15 days.

Yesterday, I had the car dyno'd. I did two runs and I the AF dipped below 10 (the minimum). I figured that is is a bad tune (I had an EMail one done.) The dyno person said to just not drive it hard until I get it fixed, so I have been complying.

Also, yesterday was very hot (102 degrees) and I drove it a lot and nothing happened.

But, today, I drove it about 3 miles to get Chevron gas. After I filled up, I drove back home. About half way there, I smelled something funny but I thought it might be the car in front of me. Little did I know it was the smell of coolant.

So I kept driving, and then I saw the temp needle get farther than middle. Then I immediately pulled over. It got to about 3 / 4 of the way to "red." After I pulled over, I saw smoke come from the front of the hood. >_<

So I stay there for about 10 mins (enough for the temp to go to middle and then I drove it home.) I parked and turned the car off and got out. I noticed two REAL bad things.

1. I heard this weird and loud *CLUG* *CLUG* *CLUG* noise coming from engine.

2. There was a trail of coolant to were I parked.

Basically, all the signs of an overheat. I do not know what it could be!

The thing I do not remember is if the radiator fan was on when I was driving the car. If that was not working, could that cause it?

If anyone could tell me any ideas of what it might be and what I could do, that would be great... (All the connections look good and I have a LFP radiator but it has been working great for 6 months.) I am totally freaking out. Plz help.

 

[redsvtcobra]

It might be air trapped in the coolant system. Was the coolant drained and refilled? Was the coolant leaking from the radiator cap? That glug glug glug may have been coolant filling the void left by the trapped air.

 

[ArcaneParadise]

Ok. I opened up the bleeder valve and put coolant into the system at 25 / 75 coolant, water mixture. I made sure that the system is full and I added about one gallon of the mixture (IE about a gallon of mixture left the system.) Then I turned on the car on and datalogged with the predator. I am not sure when the fan is supposed to come on, but I think it is around 190F.

So I turn the car on, and let the *Engine Coolant Temp* get to 190F, and at exactly that temp, the idle dropped a bit, not a lot, but enough to notice, and then a billow of smoke came from both sides of the car the middle of the car. At that point, I immediately turned the car off. No other smoke came out and engine temp rose no higher than 190F. I did not hear the fan come on.

I have no idea what the HECK is going on but I am freaking out so much it is unimaginable. I am definately going to get 0 sleep tonight and I feel that I am so MUCH TROUBLE that I cannot even speak.

I am begging for any insight or help please. Other than that this is going to be a sleepless night.

 

[ArcaneParadise]

It might be air trapped in the coolant system. Was the coolant drained and refilled? Was the coolant leaking from the radiator cap? That glug glug glug may have been coolant filling the void left by the trapped air.

1. That is what I thought too. An air bubble of sorts.

2. The installer drained, refilled, and bled the coolant system after the install, 15 days ago.

3. I did see coolant leaking from the radiator cap, but because of the extreme temp of the coolant. IE, coolant boiled out of the cap.

4. The glug glug glug could be very easily heard, ie, very loud. I sure hope that you are right about the coolant filling the void.

 

[djtyau]

I will take a shot at this. I have read in the past that somebody had a problem similar to this and it turned out to be the radiator overflow tank and also the cap. Just a thought.

 

[ArcaneParadise]

I will take a shot at this. I have read in the past that somebody had a problem similar to this and it turned out to be the radiator overflow tank and also the cap. Just a thought.

I am hoping that you could please elaborate a bit? Could you tell me what part of the radiator overflow tank and also the cap that became defective?

 

[djtyau]

I believe that the tank was warped and the cap would not fit on correctly, thus causing a overheating problem. Let me try to find the post.

 

[oldmodman]

When the "billow of smoke" came out did it linger like smoke would, of did it rapidly vanish. If it vanished really fast it was steam. Probably from a coolant leak that sprayed or splashed onto your exhaust manifold or pipes, maybe even the cats. I would wait until tommorow when it is totally cool to test anything.

First check your coolant level, if it is way down you probably have a leak somwhere. See if you can borrow a radiator pressure tester from an auto parts store. It is a hand pump that takes the place of your radiator cap. You put it on and pump pressure into your coolant system and see where coolant pours out.

It is also possible that it may have been intercooler fluid. You may not have the intercooler lines correctly installed into the back of the blower manifold or you may have knicked one of the "o" rings. If there is no engine coolant missing but you are low on intercooler fluid then you will know that is where the problem is.

 

[redsvtcobra]

Maybe you should have kept the hood open so you could see exactly where the smoke was coming from.

 

[ArcaneParadise]

When the "billow of smoke" came out did it linger like smoke would, of did it rapidly vanish. If it vanished really fast it was steam. Probably from a coolant leak that sprayed or splashed onto your exhaust manifold or pipes, maybe even the cats. I would wait until tommorow when it is totally cool to test anything.

First check your coolant level, if it is way down you probably have a leak somwhere. See if you can borrow a radiator pressure tester from an auto parts store. It is a hand pump that takes the place of your radiator cap. You put it on and pump pressure into your coolant system and see where coolant pours out.

It is also possible that it may have been intercooler fluid. You may not have the intercooler lines correctly installed into the back of the blower manifold or you may have knicked one of the "o" rings. If there is no engine coolant missing but you are low on intercooler fluid then you will know that is where the problem is.

1. The smoke did rapidly vanish, so it must have been steam, which is a good thing, lol. The idea about it splashing onto the exhaust makes perfect sense.

2. I did see a large puddle of coolant under the rear part of the engine (ie, not anywhere near the coolant tank), so I think there must be a leak back there somewhere. I probably will just bring it to a dealership to have them fix it rather than me screwing it up at all.

3. No intercooler fluid was missing, so it looks like it is an engine coolant problem rather than an intercooler fluid problem.

Thank you very much for ur help. I think u explained the billow of smoke that was freaking me out beyond belief.

 

[ArcaneParadise]

Maybe you should have kept the hood open so you could see exactly where the smoke was coming from.

I did have the hood open. The smoke, which I found out is steam, came from the radiator cap bc the coolant inside became so hot.

 

[ArcaneParadise]

It looks like it is a leak near the rear of the engine and the coolant only comes out when it is pretty hot, like near 190?

I think I am going to take it to the nearest Ford dealership and have them look at it and fix it.

I feel much better since it looks like it is not a problem with the engine itself, but that it is probably a leak. I think I can actually get some sleep tonight. Thank you everyone for your prompt help.

 

[FireRed04Vert]

The "glug glug glug" noise was the coolant boiling in your block. Once you've heard that, you'll never forget it.

Try turning your a/c on and see if the fan comes on. Your fan should come on with the a/c regardless of engine temp. If it doesn't, you know you've got fan problems. If it does, it doesn't necessarily mean your fan is ok...you may still have a sensor problem turning it on at the proper temps.

 

[ShelbyGuy]

these engines are pretty tough. overheating wont kill it.

 

[CobraBob]

I assume you're going to have the car towed/trailered to the dealer? Do you have AAA?

 

[96BlackSnake]

You don't have a local performance shop were you live? Fords not gonna like that your modified and will probablly blame that

 

[solidsnak3]

good luck man. i hope you get eveything fixed and let us know what caused the problem.

 

[redsvtcobra]

Ditto on not taking to the dealer and taking to a performance shop. They won't cover it under warranty anyways.

 

[ArcaneParadise]

FireRed - Oye. Is it bad if engine is boiling in the block? Also, I am not going to be messing with the car anymore. I am just going to take it straight to the dealer.

CobraBob - Indeed. I am having the car towed to the dealer. I do not have AAA but our insurance will cover the towing.

96BlackSnake and Redsvtcobra - I'll try to see if I can still get the dealer to do it even if it costs more money.

Snak3 - Thank you, and yes, I will definately get back to everyone on that.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Jdaniel]

Good luck with your car, man! Ive been having coolant problems, myself. It kills me. I just found out that I had a 10 psi cap on the overflow and its suppose to be a 16 psi. So Im hoping like hell that was the problem. I filled it up not too long ago, so I need to check it again.