[coolclouds]

I had similar issue twice in two different cars. Both times, fan didn't work and temperature shot up before breaking down.

[vivc]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Engine overheating - could be possibly due to lack of coolant or fan not running. The last thing you should have done is start/run the engine, to avoid further damage.

Did you not notice any symptoms before the car stalled ? Did a/c seem to go off ? What about the temperature gauge ?
I am guessing the Civic also has the digital temperature gauge. Did it come on ?

No symptoms before the stall. The a/c was working absolutely fine. I later even checked for the fans, both of which did kick in as soon as the climate control was switched on.
That's correct, civic has digital gauge, which shot up at the end when I switched it off completely.

[dhanushs]

Wow! I guess only because its a Honda you could drive close to 10kms without any coolant, and after the first seziure.

Dear vivc,

Going by your description, the engine has overheated and seized. You should've stopped as soon as the temp guage lit up. Or atleast, when the car stopped for the first time with a lot of smoke and coolant spilling.

By driving it ~10kms you might have done much more damage to the engine. However, past is past, now, take it to the Honda Service, or any reliable mechanic, and evaluate the damages, and post it here. Experts might be able to help you with it.

Thanks.

[theMAG]

Check to see if your head gasket is blown or otherwise needs replacement. Honda A.S.S will be able to determine this.

[cotterpin]

@VIVC:It is beautifully described in the one of the threads "What if your engine overheats".I am sure your head gasket is ruptured and will be quite a job.Driving despite of temp warning is absolute fatal,both for the engine and purse.

[bhardwhu]

I have had very terrible experience with my Palio. I was driving with my family from Nainital. It was night and I did not notice that engine had overheated. The car stalled on the highway and we sought police's help to get it towed till Delhi.

I believed the gaskets were gone and after a poor ASS experience, finally sold the car in next couple of days!

[hitman1980]

Originally Posted by humyum

A leaking hose pipe is what they mean. Happens, not to worry. You already had signs of a leak in the system when you saw a pool of water below your car once, should not have ignored it the, but never mind, what's done is done, be careful next time.

The engine oil replacement part is a good initiative by the service station

Oil pressure has got nothing to do with the cooling system, nothing at all.

Ask them to do a compression test and give you the results, that will be a 100% sign of if anything has been damaged or not. A good compression in all cylinders = nothing to worry at all.

Do post the compression results too here, we can look if anything is wrong or not.

Don't worry too much, I am 99% sure, nothing has taken a hit in you car, the 1% doubt will be cleared by the compression test result.

Hi humyum,

I got my car couple of days back. It took them 23 days for fixing
the car. They say that it took hard time to get water pump from Chevrolet dealers, which they say is general case with GM. Is it true ? They don't give chevy parts that easily. Meanwhile the garage was Carnation (Chembur) where I had given my car.

This is what they replaced to fix the 2 issues I had:

1) Water Pump (to fix Engine Overheating). There was a leakage in water pump, which resulted in car overheating.

2) Oil Pressure Switch (to fix Oil Pressure warning).

3) Coolant.

The car is running fine, as I drove around 40kms. No issues till now. They had earlier promised to change engine oil as well ... but when I took delivery they informed that oil is fine hence no change needed. I don't trust them because since all repair was done under warranty, they may have not replaced the engine oil to save cost.

Also, as per your suggestion I asked them to do a compression test on engine to access if any damage done to engine. But since it was weekend rush they refused. And said that all is fine with engine.

This weekend I am planning to do a compression test on engine with some other garage and also check if engine oil needs to be changed.

Can anyone suggest me a good place in Mumbai where I can have this test done ? I stay in Kandivali (Mumbai) any good garage nearby ?

Will post the compression results as soon as I have it.

Thanks

[humyum]

Originally Posted by hitman1980

Hi humyum,

I got my car couple of days back. It took them 23 days for fixing
the car. They say that it took hard time to get water pump from Chevrolet dealers, which they say is general case with GM. Is it true ? They don't give chevy parts that easily. Meanwhile the garage was Carnation (Chembur) where I had given my car.

This is what they replaced to fix the 2 issues I had:

1) Water Pump (to fix Engine Overheating). There was a leakage in water pump, which resulted in car overheating.

2) Oil Pressure Switch (to fix Oil Pressure warning).

3) Coolant.

The car is running fine, as I drove around 40kms. No issues till now. They had earlier promised to change engine oil as well ... but when I took delivery they informed that oil is fine hence no change needed. I don't trust them because since all repair was done under warranty, they may have not replaced the engine oil to save cost.

Also, as per your suggestion I asked them to do a compression test on engine to access if any damage done to engine. But since it was weekend rush they refused. And said that all is fine with engine.

This weekend I am planning to do a compression test on engine with some other garage and also check if engine oil needs to be changed.

Can anyone suggest me a good place in Mumbai where I can have this test done ? I stay in Kandivali (Mumbai) any good garage nearby ?

Will post the compression results as soon as I have it.

Thanks

Well, the water pump taking it's time to come from Chevrolet might or might not be the case, but 23 days for one is too long me thinks for a car like the beat which has sold in good numbers. None the less, let's give them the benefit of doubt on this one.

Yes like i had told you in the first post, oil pressure switch will fix it. You are fine on this one.

Coolant replacement is fine, it had leaked out.

Engine oil should have ideally been replaced, if you don't mind, schedule one more appointment with them and get the engine oil/oil filter changed and a compression test done.

Drive the car around for some days and monitor the pickup and mileage. Fill up a full tank and after 200 kilometers or so, fill it up again and see what figures you get and are they similar to what they were before the fiasco.

Don't worry, as you say everything looks fine, it 99.99% must be.

[Jeroen]

Just to add a few thought to this discussion.

When an engine overheats the cilinder head and gasket might get damaged. It's been mentioned that a compression test needs to be undertaken. There are actually different kinds of testing that are relevant

A compression test will give you an impression of the overall status of how well the pistion/piston rings / valves and cilinder head are able to build pressure during the compression stroke.

A leak or leak down test as it is sometimes called test thest the ability to retain pressure.

This article explains it quite well in simple terms:

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/arti...n-testing.html

You know you have a problem with the headgasket if you see coolant pouring out of the engine, or find coolant in the engine oil.

But if its not that obvious, you just overheated the engine and want to check the overall status a leak down test might be a much better indication, certainly with suspected head gasket problems.

You do need different kind of instruments for these tests.

Jeroen

[Aroy]

One thing that I have noticed is that if the radiator water starts boiling over and steam ejects, there is still hope. Shut the engine and let it cool naturally. It may take between one and four hours, but time spent waiting is worth the money saved.

. Once the engine cools down and you can touch the block easily, slowly pour water (if no coolant is available) into the radiator.
. When the radiator is full, start the engine and let it idle for some time. Check if the coolant level drops and top it up if necessary.
. Check if the radiator fan is working. If it does not start, switch the AC on, it should start.
. In case the fan is not working, drive slowly, keeping an eye on the temperature gauge (or the light if it is not there). Stop once the engine over heats. Wait for it to cool down before proceeding further. Get the fan serviced/replaced ASAP.

If the fan misbehaves on a Highway, drive at the cruising speed - 60-70 km/h and stop frequently to cool the engine.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Aroy

One thing that I have noticed is that if the radiator water starts boiling over and steam ejects, there is still hope. Shut the engine and let it cool naturally. It may take between one and four hours, but time spent waiting is worth the money saved.

. Once the engine cools down and you can touch the block easily, slowly pour water (if no coolant is available) into the radiator.
. When the radiator is full, start the engine and let it idle for some time. Check if the coolant level drops and top it up if necessary.
. Check if the radiator fan is working. If it does not start, switch the AC on, it should start.
. In case the fan is not working, drive slowly, keeping an eye on the temperature gauge (or the light if it is not there). Stop once the engine over heats. Wait for it to cool down before proceeding further. Get the fan serviced/replaced ASAP.

If the fan misbehaves on a Highway, drive at the cruising speed - 60-70 km/h and stop frequently to cool the engine.

couple of additional thoughts.

When adding coolant you might want to start the engine, right away. It will ensure a better mix of the old warm coolant and the new cold coolant. Which will prevent shock on the engine block and cilinder head.

On most cars fans don't contribute anything to the cooling whilst driving at cruising speed. Its the wind that blow through the radiotor because of the speed of the car. Typically the fan is necessary to force cooling when idle or at slow speeds. Put differently, if you drive at speed and your engine overheats I would not suspect the fan immediately, but look at other things first. (cooling pump, thermostat, radiotor internal or external blocked etc)

Jeroen

[joybhowmik]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

On most cars fans don't contribute anything to the cooling whilst driving at cruising speed. Its the wind that blow through the radiotor because of the speed of the car. Typically the fan is necessary to force cooling when idle or at slow speeds. Put differently, if you drive at speed and your engine overheats I would not suspect the fan immediately, but look at other things first. (cooling pump, thermostat, radiotor internal or external blocked etc)

Case in point is my personal experience of 12 years ago

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

I recall in US I used to own a second hand Toyota Corolla- which I had picked up at 22K miles. In fact car is so dependable that let me relate an incident to you....
At around 80 k miles I had got my car "winterized" at Pep-Boys just prior to my planned trip to NYC with in-laws. winterized means that basically they flush the coolant and replace it with a coolant that has anti-freeze properties. As my car was old, it radiator had probably developed micro-leaks - which I did not notice when I had taken delivery from Pep-Boys after service. Anyhow, it was bitterly cold (at least -10 C) the next morning when whole family piled into the car and drove to NYC. Shopping whole day - and then we returned to the NYC parking lot to go back home to Pennsylvania (driving distance to our city was 200 miles).

I started driving, and the engine temperature rose - beyond the usual mark. I looked once and looked again - it just continued to rise - until I was at about 40 mi/hour - then it would settle down.
When we got to Hudson tunnel on way out of NYC- as usual it was bumper to bumper traffic. This time - I found the needle just would not settle down when car was idling in traffic but would continue to rise. Alarmed I continued turning - off , turning - on the ignition, as I inched forward slowly. Once outside the tunnel, I reached 60 mi/hr and everything was fine - all the way home.

Anyway, next day I took it to the Toyota dealer, and on examination he found that not a drop of coolant was in the radiator - it had all leaked. (I had about 1500$ as repair bill).He asked me, it is funny that you could drive the vehicle here - I related to him my previous night's story of driving 200 mi from NYC and he looked incredulous.
Next day called one of my american friends who actually worked in toyota somewhere on west coast - and he told me that some parts of the engine/engine bay had been designed to have a fail-over air cooled system. I dont know if he was fluffing - all I know is that I drove 200 mi on a very cold night w/o a drop of coolant in the car.

[wanderernomad]

Recently we were driving up to the Shillong Peak when noticed some steam rising up from beneath the hood. I stopped after completing the incline and checked the temp needle, it was till at the usual half way mark, but here I was having steam hissing out from under the hood. Opened the hood to see that coolant was spraying itself onto the firewall and the steam rising like clouds up a steep valley.
Let the matters cool down. Dark clouds and a cool breeze also helped. Opened the reservoir and saw that it was all empty. Crawled beneath the car and saw one of the return hose pipes dripping. Checked with the local drivers and the verdict was disappointing. It being a Sunday no mechanic would be available. Filled up some cold water and drove upto the peak and coasted down back into Shillong. The drive down was ok but the temp would crawl up with city traffic and small inclines. The key was to drive in as high a gear with the minimum possible rpm. Had no issues as covered about 20 kms that day and about 10 kms to the workshop the next day with only one stop for water topup. Got the pipe replaced and moved on.

[sundabs]

I have a 2006 Baleno with a heating problem. The problem started around 2 years back (2011). It heats only after I drive continuously after about 75 - 100 Kms. I then wait for around 30 -45 minutes with everything shutoff. Post that I can do another 60 odd kms. Never been able to test it beyond that because I would be back at my destination.
SO basically no Service centre has been able to resolve this issue, as they cannot simulate it.
I have checked the radiator and all pipes for leaks, non found. Replaced the gasket. No coolant found in the engine.
However in City, (CHENNAI) peak afternoon, drives with the AC without any issue. The Temp guage remains at the 1/2 way point.
Any ideas will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

[hitman1980]

Dear GTO, Humyum

Bad news ... after the water pump replacement, my Car again broke down yesterday ... after working fine for a month (Though short trips ... no long ones).

I was driving the car yesterday, it was afternoon ... extremely hot weather right now in Mumbai as you also know. I was stuck in traffic at Dindhoshi flyover near Oberoi Mall (Repair work in progress). It was just 4kms drive & my AC was on full setting. Suddenly the Car AC stopped giving cool air. The same symptom when water pump had failed last month. This time I immediately stopped the car, and open the bonnet without driving it furthur. To my surprise the coolant was all over the place around the coolant container. (See Attached Pics). And the car appeared hot.

I kept the car idle, called up the 'Carnation Chembur'. They arranged a mechanic from Borivali. After waiting an hour for him, he finally came. By that time engine had cooled off. He said it could be the fan issue ... which he wanted to test both when engine is cool & hot. Since engine had cooled off ... he first tested the fan. It ran fine ...

Then, he put some water into Coolant reservoir. He started the engine, with AC on ... cool air started from vents. Asked me to drove the car, so that engine starts heating up. We drove for about a km without AC ... then he turned on the AC. No cool air again ... so after about 2 kms drive we parked the car on the side. He opened the bonnet ... by that time we could see coolant bubbling inside the coolant tank. He checked the FAN ... it was running.

So, he ruled out FAN issue and told me it appears to be HEAD GASKET problem. He spoke with Carnation Chembur office, and it was decided to take back the car again to Chembur

After engine cooled off ... he made FAN to run direct. He dropped me off at home which was nearby ... about 2 kms more. And finally filled lots of water bottles that would help him take the car back safely to Chembur. Car reached their safely ... he made stops at regular intervals checking water.

So, with what happened yesterday I think GTO is correct ... something has gone with the engine for sure. But my question is why the car ran fine for last 30 days ? There was no issue with pickup ... no noise from engine bay ... it ran perfect with AC on.

If it is indeed HEAD GASKET ... how serious is the issue?

I bought the car on March 04 ... and till now 2 serious issue 'Water Pump' & 'Head Gasket'. And for water pump they took exactly a month to replace. One more thing, while my car was at their Chembur office for water pump replacement ... they broke the car rear tail light. It's been a month ... still not in STOCK. Called up 30 times ... same answer.

My biggest mistake trusting on these so called TRUE VALUE cars. They boost about 121 quality checks ... all FAKE. I hereby warn all prospective buyers not to buy any cars from CARNATION mumbai. Especially Chembur office ... pathetic. Don't waste your hard earned money.

I am going to write to Jagdish Khattar ... pretty soon.

Meanwhile, GTO could you please recommend me a good authorised Chevy service center here in MUMBAI. I am planning to take my car for a full check-up once it comes back from garage. I don't trust CARNATION anymore. I have a full year warranty that covers everything ... so want to make the most of it.

Also, one more question ... why is it so hard to get Chevy parts?

Originally Posted by GTO

Didn't you notice this indicator at all? It was rather careless of you to continue driving despite all these warnings, signs & sounds.

Modern cars are usually very reliable. However, they are also very delicate & complex. If things go wrong, it's best to err on the side of caution (in this case, you should've stopped driving the moment you saw / heard symptoms).

I think your cooling fan conked off & that's why the coolant ran dry.

Even if the workshop somehow gets your car up & running for now, I'm afraid that your engine could have suffered permanent long-term damage.

Originally Posted by humyum

Well, the water pump taking it's time to come from Chevrolet might or might not be the case, but 23 days for one is too long me thinks for a car like the beat which has sold in good numbers. None the less, let's give them the benefit of doubt on this one.

Yes like i had told you in the first post, oil pressure switch will fix it. You are fine on this one.

Coolant replacement is fine, it had leaked out.

Engine oil should have ideally been replaced, if you don't mind, schedule one more appointment with them and get the engine oil/oil filter changed and a compression test done.

Drive the car around for some days and monitor the pickup and mileage. Fill up a full tank and after 200 kilometers or so, fill it up again and see what figures you get and are they similar to what they were before the fiasco.

Don't worry, as you say everything looks fine, it 99.99% must be.