I go to start my car yesterday and it wont start...so me and a friend roll start it and pop the clutch..it starts up. I drive to my friends house and it stalls out while I'm waiting for him to come out. We do the same thing and get it going again. On the way to the gym it stalls at a light so I roll down the hill and pop the clutch again and get the car started. I drive about 1/4 mile before I realize that the engine temperature gauge is rising steadily. By the time I find a parking spot its pointed all the way to the H. We let the car sit for about an hour with the radiator cap off and then come back to it.

We pop the clutch one more time and get the car started...I drive the car about 2 miles to my friends house and by the time I get there the engine temp is in the red again. I turned the car off and left it there.

I talked to my Dad and he thought it sounded like my thermostat isn't working...It seemed like there was plenty of radiator fluid in there...maybe it's not circulating for some reason???

 

You need to feel the radiator hoses when it reads hot on your gauge. If the upper hose is hot, the coolant is circulating. If not, the thermostat is stuck closed and you will end up ruining your engine if the coolant gets too hot. Have you ever replaced the thermostat?

 

Why are you push starting it?

Electrical problem? The cooling fans are electrical as well.

 

Stop driving it and letting it get that hot each time.

If your coolant level is not lowering, you have two possible issues, AFAIK:

1) Thermostat is locked closed
2) Water pump is not pumping.

To check the first, do you have heat from the car? I believe that the heater coil is behind the thermostat, so that even before the thermostat opens, the heater coil still has fluid circulating through it. If you are able to get lots of heat out of your vents, all the while your engine is overheating, well then you know your water pump works, and your thermostat is locked closed.

If that's the case, a new thermostat is like $20 give or take and pretty easy to replace. Of course that wouldn't explain why your car won't start - that could be the battery draining for some reason.

 

The heater core is behind the dashboard inside the ventilation ductwork. The easiest way to locate it is to follow the heater hoses to the firewall. You are right in saying that the heater can work before the thermostat opens though. Also right in the water pump theory.

 

Hi all!

I got 2 A32's 99 and 01, M/T and A/T respectively. I'm getting almost the same issue. But my question to this is Can the water pump be NOT pumping water/coolant as it is being tied with the timing chain?. I saw a video in Youtube on how it's really hard to remove the pump on the side. I even find it hard to remove while the engine is out (I got a busted engine on my old '99 a VQ20DE in the garage) I wasn't able to pull out the pump even when the tensioner is released.

 

1. Remove the tensioner

2. Rotate the crank pulley counterclockwise until there is enough slack in the chain to remove the water pump.

If all else fails, read the instructions and follow them .