Car Problems, Need Mechanic!
Thread Starter
Senior Member
SL Member
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 104
From: San Gabriel, CA
Car Problems, Need Mechanic!
Hi everyone
Well I have grave news for you all. My '04 Scion xA finally had its first major problem. It was 267,000 miles on it and a couple nights ago it overheated and the radiator hose came off and all the colant went everywhere. There are obviously some issues with my car so I was wondering if anyone new of any good mechanics around the Inland Empire area. It would be great if you guys could recommend a good mechanic with good prices around here,
Thanks SL peeps
-mike
Well I have grave news for you all. My '04 Scion xA finally had its first major problem. It was 267,000 miles on it and a couple nights ago it overheated and the radiator hose came off and all the colant went everywhere. There are obviously some issues with my car so I was wondering if anyone new of any good mechanics around the Inland Empire area. It would be great if you guys could recommend a good mechanic with good prices around here,
Thanks SL peeps
-mike
Senior Member
SL Member
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 246
From: New York
Well, I'm not a mechanic, but I have had cooling issues in past cars that I have fixed myself. I may be able to help you diagnose the problem so you can fix it yourself.
In no particular order:
- Coolant leak in the system causing the car to overheat. Check all connections and radiator/cap.
- Accessory belt fell off or snapped making the water pump inoperable. Just take a look.
- Stuck (closed) thermostat in the water pump. Remove the thermostat from the water pump housing - in order to check if it's still functional you need to slowly boil it in a pot of water with a thermometer. The temperature it should open up at is stamped on the thermostat.
- Bad water pump. You can remove the water pump housing and inspect the condition of the impeller. Some cars use plastic impellers which will commonly wear at high mileage.
- Bad relay or fuse that controls the cooling fan or coolant temperature sensor. I'm not sure what numbers the fuses or relays are, but you can figure it out with a little digging.
- Bad cooling fan. If the relays and fuses are good, you can check to see if the fan goes on when the car gets up to operating temperature. Or in your case, I guess you can just unplug it and run some wires from the battery to see if it works.
- Bad coolant temperature sensor. This is checked with an ohM meter to see if it's within spec. Not sure what the spec. is, but a little searching will turn up something.
- Excessive dirt or grime in cooling fins on radiator. Just take a look and see what it looks like.
- Blockage in the radiator. Rust and gunk can build up causing low pressure, you can flush the radiator with a hose.
Of course I would start with the easiest and work my way down to the hardest. Don't take this as gospel, I'm just an amateur.
In no particular order:
- Coolant leak in the system causing the car to overheat. Check all connections and radiator/cap.
- Accessory belt fell off or snapped making the water pump inoperable. Just take a look.
- Stuck (closed) thermostat in the water pump. Remove the thermostat from the water pump housing - in order to check if it's still functional you need to slowly boil it in a pot of water with a thermometer. The temperature it should open up at is stamped on the thermostat.
- Bad water pump. You can remove the water pump housing and inspect the condition of the impeller. Some cars use plastic impellers which will commonly wear at high mileage.
- Bad relay or fuse that controls the cooling fan or coolant temperature sensor. I'm not sure what numbers the fuses or relays are, but you can figure it out with a little digging.
- Bad cooling fan. If the relays and fuses are good, you can check to see if the fan goes on when the car gets up to operating temperature. Or in your case, I guess you can just unplug it and run some wires from the battery to see if it works.
- Bad coolant temperature sensor. This is checked with an ohM meter to see if it's within spec. Not sure what the spec. is, but a little searching will turn up something.
- Excessive dirt or grime in cooling fins on radiator. Just take a look and see what it looks like.
- Blockage in the radiator. Rust and gunk can build up causing low pressure, you can flush the radiator with a hose.
Of course I would start with the easiest and work my way down to the hardest. Don't take this as gospel, I'm just an amateur.
Senior Member
SL Member
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 117
From: Countryside, IL.
Re: Car Problems, Need Mechanic!
Originally Posted by lost1nceaga1n
Hi everyone
Well I have grave news for you all. My '04 Scion xA finally had its first major problem. It was 267,000 miles on it and a couple nights ago it overheated and the radiator hose came off and all the colant went everywhere. There are obviously some issues with my car so I was wondering if anyone new of any good mechanics around the Inland Empire area. It would be great if you guys could recommend a good mechanic with good prices around here,
Thanks SL peeps
-mike
Well I have grave news for you all. My '04 Scion xA finally had its first major problem. It was 267,000 miles on it and a couple nights ago it overheated and the radiator hose came off and all the colant went everywhere. There are obviously some issues with my car so I was wondering if anyone new of any good mechanics around the Inland Empire area. It would be great if you guys could recommend a good mechanic with good prices around here,
Thanks SL peeps
-mike
That's some crazy miles in 4 years.
Did your radiator hose come off before your engine overheated or was the overheated engine the cause of a disconnected hose? Maybe all you have is a bad thermostat or a stuck shut radiator cap.
Banned
SL Member
Scion Evolution
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 3,346
From: Fremont, CA
Originally Posted by FromThisSoil
Well, I'm not a mechanic, but I have had cooling issues in past cars that I have fixed myself. I may be able to help you diagnose the problem so you can fix it yourself.
In no particular order:
- Coolant leak in the system causing the car to overheat. Check all connections and radiator/cap.
- Accessory belt fell off or snapped making the water pump inoperable. Just take a look.
- Stuck (closed) thermostat in the water pump. Remove the thermostat from the water pump housing - in order to check if it's still functional you need to slowly boil it in a pot of water with a thermometer. The temperature it should open up at is stamped on the thermostat.
- Bad water pump. You can remove the water pump housing and inspect the condition of the impeller. Some cars use plastic impellers which will commonly wear at high mileage.
- Bad relay or fuse that controls the cooling fan or coolant temperature sensor. I'm not sure what numbers the fuses or relays are, but you can figure it out with a little digging.
- Bad cooling fan. If the relays and fuses are good, you can check to see if the fan goes on when the car gets up to operating temperature. Or in your case, I guess you can just unplug it and run some wires from the battery to see if it works.
- Bad coolant temperature sensor. This is checked with an ohM meter to see if it's within spec. Not sure what the spec. is, but a little searching will turn up something.
- Excessive dirt or grime in cooling fins on radiator. Just take a look and see what it looks like.
- Blockage in the radiator. Rust and gunk can build up causing low pressure, you can flush the radiator with a hose.
Of course I would start with the easiest and work my way down to the hardest. Don't take this as gospel, I'm just an amateur.
In no particular order:
- Coolant leak in the system causing the car to overheat. Check all connections and radiator/cap.
- Accessory belt fell off or snapped making the water pump inoperable. Just take a look.
- Stuck (closed) thermostat in the water pump. Remove the thermostat from the water pump housing - in order to check if it's still functional you need to slowly boil it in a pot of water with a thermometer. The temperature it should open up at is stamped on the thermostat.
- Bad water pump. You can remove the water pump housing and inspect the condition of the impeller. Some cars use plastic impellers which will commonly wear at high mileage.
- Bad relay or fuse that controls the cooling fan or coolant temperature sensor. I'm not sure what numbers the fuses or relays are, but you can figure it out with a little digging.
- Bad cooling fan. If the relays and fuses are good, you can check to see if the fan goes on when the car gets up to operating temperature. Or in your case, I guess you can just unplug it and run some wires from the battery to see if it works.
- Bad coolant temperature sensor. This is checked with an ohM meter to see if it's within spec. Not sure what the spec. is, but a little searching will turn up something.
- Excessive dirt or grime in cooling fins on radiator. Just take a look and see what it looks like.
- Blockage in the radiator. Rust and gunk can build up causing low pressure, you can flush the radiator with a hose.
Of course I would start with the easiest and work my way down to the hardest. Don't take this as gospel, I'm just an amateur.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermostat#Wax_pellet
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
cid_mcdp
Maintenance & Car Care
4
Jan 5, 2015 02:45 PM
pier0723
Scion tC 1G ICE & Interior
2
Dec 3, 2014 03:38 PM