My van overheated

[Bryce C]

At the end of a job I heard my coolant bubbling. Seems like I got lucky and came out right when the engine was beginning to overheat, so I hope. It's still cooling down now.

I replaced my water pump, thermostat, and heater core several months ago, but I did not replace the radiator. Maybe I should have. I'm not even sure if my radiator is clogged and caused this overheat. Or if I somehow lost enough coolant without seeing any leak at all that the cooling system lost it's prime and overheated. I'm leaning towards a clogged radiator.

Dwain-o, I was looking for the post where you told me your recommended replacement intervals for every part of the cooling system. Would you mind sharing that with me again?

Whats your guys favorite color and type of coolant? My 2013 chevy express 2500 recommends orange dex-cool, but I have read some folks say it's the worst of all coolants and leads to clogs and other problems... what do you think? What is the best coolant ever?

I may have a faulty radiator fan, or some other problem. This sucks, the weather is still tough over here for outdoor mechanical work

 

[Bryce C]

I read the Great Oz say that the fan clutches become faulty and the engine fan doesn't spin enough, but that there is someway to pin it so it is always fully engaged. Have any of you guys done that?

I also read that Butler replaces the stock engine fan with a racing engine fan to improve cooling performance when idling. Have any of you guys done this on your direct drives?

 

[Dwain Ray]

At the end of a job I heard my coolant bubbling. Seems like I got lucky and came out right when the engine was beginning to overheat, so I hope. It's still cooling down now.

I replaced my water pump, thermostat, and heater core several months ago, but I did not replace the radiator. Maybe I should have. I'm not even sure if my radiator is clogged and caused this overheat. Or if I somehow lost enough coolant without seeing any leak at all that the cooling system lost it's prime and overheated. I'm leaning towards a clogged radiator.

Dwain-o, I was looking for the post where you told me your recommended replacement intervals for every part of the cooling system. Would you mind sharing that with me again?

Whats your guys favorite color and type of coolant? My 2013 chevy express 2500 recommends orange dex-cool, but I have read some folks say it's the worst of all coolants and leads to clogs and other problems... what do you think? What is the best coolant ever?

I may have a faulty radiator fan, or some other problem. This sucks, the weather is still tough over here for outdoor mechanical work

Do you have electric fans or fan and clutch. If fan and clutch, bring engine to temperature in gage the pto and bring up to speed look at fan. Is it spinning at what looks like a fair speed or does it seem slow? If you can reach thru the grill,Can you feel air being thru the radiator?? . Is there alot of crap in your coolant (i assume you put new in reasonably ) can you lower the radiator coolant level enough to inspect the first few row in the radiator? If coolant is clean, i would be leaning more towards the fan clutch or thermostat. I know you said you replaced the thermostat. But that doesn't mean you didn't end up with a crappy Chinese defective one. I would tell you how t try to stop the fan to test the clutch but it is far to dangerous to tell someone how to do. If your coolant is clean and the first couple of rows of radiator core is clear i would say clutch or thermostat. As far as throwing out and replacing cooling system parts i really dont do that. I replace systems as a part goes bad like you waterpump,thermostat, hoses. But not radiator heatercore fan clutch ( unless fan clutch is 10 or so years old and i have it off while changing waterpump) . When i get back to the shop i can pull the factory repair manual fot my 1998 chevy and see what official test process and or procedures are to test the fan clutch for you

 

[Dwain Ray]

I read the Great Oz say that the fan clutches become faulty and the engine fan doesn't spin enough, but that there is someway to pin it so it is always fully engaged. Have any of you guys done that?

I also read that Butler replaces the stock engine fan with a racing engine fan to improve cooling performance when idling. Have any of you guys done this on your direct drives?

As far as coolant color goes newer engines use specific colors/coolants because of the additives requirements of specific engines. Long gone are the days of green coolant. Generally speaking gm is orange,ford is yellow, and asian is pink. I don't care what anyone's opinion is on this. Theres guys that say use 30w non detergent oil in your blower too. Do it at your own risk and when you have a problem its all on you. When all else fails consult your owners manual. Im pretty sure if it says only use 91 octane gas you wouldn't run it on 87 or would you??

 

[Dwain Ray]

Now might be a good time for me use this situation to defend and explain why the installation of a 25' retractable hose reel hooked up to my fresh water system is an important and handy if for nothing else.... when seconds matter..... no un hooking, fumbling to remove disconnect and_or removing quick connects. Just grab and spray

 

[Bryce C]

Now might be a good time for me use this situation to defend and explain why the installation of a 25' retractable hose reel hooked up to my fresh water system is an important and handy if for nothing else.... when seconds matter..... no un hooking, fumbling to remove disconnect and_or removing quick connects. Just grab and spray

View attachment 134280 View attachment 134281

Good tips Dwain-o. In what situations would you need to rapidly spray fresh water?

I have a drain hose with a ball valve coming off my water box I use for everything. And if I need to spray something off I can use my solution line with a nozzle attached to a male quick connect..

 

[Dwain Ray]

Good tips Dwain-o. In what situations would you need to rapidly spray fresh water?

I have a drain hose with a ball valve coming off my water box I use for everything. And if I need to spray something off I can use my solution line with a nozzle attached to a male quick connect..

I would say if my van was over heating???? Off the top of my head

 

[Dwain Ray]

I read the Great Oz say that the fan clutches become faulty and the engine fan doesn't spin enough, but that there is someway to pin it so it is always fully engaged. Have any of you guys done that?

I also read that Butler replaces the stock engine fan with a racing engine fan to improve cooling performance when idling. Have any of you guys done this on your direct drives?

Another way to test a fan clutch i can share with you is with a contactless tachometer. They work by reading laser light off a reflecting tape target. You would put a pice of reflecting tape on a fan blade and another on the shaft connected to the waterpump and see the difference in rpms from cold to hot. But that requires you to have or have access to the tool

 

[they live]

Have you been burping your heat exchangers?
Have you been keeping your overflow tank level?
You have to get all the air out of the system and keep it out before you can rule anything else out if you are not seeing any leaks.

 

[Dwain Ray]

Have you been burping your heat exchangers?
Have you been keeping your overflow tank level?
You have to get all the air out of the system and keep it out before you can rule anything else out if you are not seeing any leaks.

How many times do you have to burp your heat exchangers? Frankinstien's were purged of air once and checked after about 10 hours of use and that was it and now has 1538 hours on it haven't touched um. If you're continually having to purge air from your system id be asking myself where is the air coming from ,and/or how is it getting into a closed cooling system

 

[Bryce C]

My coolant reservoir was filled really high recently and it remained that way even after the van cooled, whereas it normally pulls back into the system. I hadn't added any coolant in a while. I figured it may of been from all the times I had topped off my system with coolant coupled with a temperature change outside or something that caused there to be an excess of coolant.

But in hindsight that may of been an indicator of a problem. I think I discarded the possibility of a problem because I have a brand new radiator cap, and regarding partial clogs I never see the engine temp fluctuate at all when I am driving, it is like laser locked in at 210 degrees.

Once my van cooled yesterday I added fluid and drove home and it went 12 miles without overheating, the engine temp didn't fluctuate even slightly, it was exactly locked in at 210 degrees.

 

[Bryce C]

I haven't been seeing any leaks, and I check under my vehicle often. Although a missed leak would explain what happened yesterday, the system got so low on fluid that it lost its prime and overheated. But that wouldn't explain why I saw the coolant reservoir filled really high and remaining that way starting a week or two ago...

 

[Bryce C]

I used a coolant burping kit with with fitted funnel and properly burped the entire coolant system months ago, also using the bleed valve on my heat exchanger, and there was no air in my system. And I hadn't seen any leaks, nor was my engine temp fluctuating at all. Seems like in light of all those conditions there isn't any point in continually burping my system.

 

[they live]

How many times do you have to burp your heat exchangers? Frankinstien's were purged of air once and checked after about 10 hours of use and that was it and now has 1538 hours on it haven't touched um. If you're continually having to purge air from your system id be asking myself where is the air coming from ,and/or how is it getting into a closed cooling system

I had trouble with mine after a mechanic used the wrong coolant to top it off. It took me awhile to get all the air out to where I could stop worrying about it.
I would bleed it 3 or 4 times until no air was present then a few days later I could do that again. Not sure how many times I went through that but eventually I stopped getting air.
Opening the radiator cap to fill it makes you start all over again. That was one issue I had to learn.
I mentioned this all before to Bryce.

Because his overflow was full and not drawing back into the system I would guess its air causing it. My experience anyway.

Air gets trapped and when you go up and down hills it gets back in the rotation and settles somewhere else until it becomes a problem.

If it was anything else it would keep overheating i believe.

 

[Dwain Ray]

I had trouble with mine after a mechanic used the wrong coolant to top it off. It took me awhile to get all the air out to where I could stop worrying about it.
I would bleed it 3 or 4 times until no air was present then a few days later I could do that again. Not sure how many times I went through that but eventually I stopped getting air.
Opening the radiator cap to fill it makes you start all over again. That was one issue I had to learn.
I mentioned this all before to Bryce.

Because his overflow was full and not drawing back into the system I would guess its air causing it. My experience anyway.

Air gets trapped and when you go up and down hills it gets back in the rotation and settles somewhere else until it becomes a problem.

If it was anything else it would keep overheating i believe.

I don't know the specifics of your vehicle, but when i was building frankinstien the gm service manual and cleanco whos installation guide i referenced alot during the installation both strongly recommended vacuum filling the cooling system. And that was the way i did it and didn't have the air pocket problem. Here is some information i pulled on vacuum filling radiators. Mind you, im pretty mechanically inclined and till i got frankinstien id never heard of this. And when told about it was skeptical and formed opinions like ,it'll collapse the tubes in the radiator and heater core (you pulling basically the same vacuum as a tm 15") i thought it was snake oil voodoo. But after talking to a few mechanics i respected and watching several videos i bought and used the system and found no problems. In fact it detected a small leak in the hoses to my heat exchangers before filling. So i was abale to correct the problem before going any further.

 

[Dwain Ray]

If your interested, this is the vacuum purge kit i bought. I bought this particular one because mishimoto is a respected name in performance cooling system components and it was a complete pressure testing and vacuum purge system all in one. But if you find yourself wanting a vacuum purge system there are plenty that will do the job for a fraction of what I paid. Happy successful burping. Dwain

 

[Bryce C]

I had trouble with mine after a mechanic used the wrong coolant to top it off. It took me awhile to get all the air out to where I could stop worrying about it.
I would bleed it 3 or 4 times until no air was present then a few days later I could do that again. Not sure how many times I went through that but eventually I stopped getting air.
Opening the radiator cap to fill it makes you start all over again. That was one issue I had to learn.
I mentioned this all before to Bryce.

Because his overflow was full and not drawing back into the system I would guess its air causing it. My experience anyway.

Air gets trapped and when you go up and down hills it gets back in the rotation and settles somewhere else until it becomes a problem.

If it was anything else it would keep overheating i believe.

Last fall I was watching the coolant level in my overflow and it was level all the time, and then my van overheated due to low coolant. This time the coolant reservoir was full and staying full after remaining level for months, then it overheated. I see how this latter instance should have made me look for issues before the van overheated.

But my experience last fall tells me that the only way to tell if my coolant isn't running dangerously low is to open the radiator cap once in a while. Or else my van may suddenly overheat and if I don't catch it soon enough it will destroy my engine and cost me thousands of dollars.

Yet in light of that, I should never open my radiator cap? I see how opening the radiator cap can introduce air into the system, yet if I don't open it I may run low on coolant and overheat my engine. I have no idea where I am slowly losing coolant. I don't see orange evidence of it anywhere. Maybe I need Dwain'o's pressure test and vacuum purge kit...

 

[Dwain Ray]

A side note mic

Last fall I was watching the coolant level in my overflow and it was level all the time, and then my van overheated due to low coolant. This time the coolant reservoir was full and staying full after remaining level for months, then it overheated. I see how this latter instance should have made me look for issues before the van overheated.

But my experience last fall tells me that the only way to tell if my coolant isn't running dangerously low is to open the radiator cap once in a while. Or else my van may suddenly overheat and if I don't catch it soon enough it will destroy my engine and cost me thousands of dollars.

Yet in light of that, I should never open my radiator cap?

I open my radiator cap on a regular basis, probably at least twice a month.Mind you this is in the morning before i start it and the van is cold never when warm. I don't see any problem at all doing that.if the radiator is full to the cap, its full no air can get in. If it needs to be topped off(it shouldn't) then top it off but if it requires more than a cup or so question yourself, where did that coolant go?? Slight changes (very slight) in coolant levels in the expansion tank can and will be caused by weather ie: barometric pressure but that is maybe ¼" or so. Ever morning before starting my van i open the hood check oil,coolant, powersteering, brake fluid& overall conditions under the hood. When ever i get into my van i peek under it. Several times ive had to get down and look because i parked on someone else's leak and didn't notice when i parked. Most the time its condensate from the last vehicles air conditioning. But i don't assume, i check small problems become big ang expensive if not caught in a timely manner