ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Discussion Forum => Technical Discussion - Beginner / Repair => Topic started by: exstreamski on August 30, 2012, 10:08:09 AM
-
My 94 1.6 16v sidekick is overheating when I go uphill. Around town and on the freeway (65+) it does just fine staying just a hair below the center of the temp gauge. I even spent an hour yesterday teaching a kid how to drive a manual tranny without ever getting past 20mph and it did fine.
Today, however, I tried to get into the mountains and 2 mile up the road(45 mph) and i was hot and boiling over. I stopped, added water and drove ten miles back to town and it was fine again on the flats.
Some older posts talked about a water pump issue possibly being the cause but i just replaced mine while doing a timing belt change and I would think that if the water pump wasn't working I would overheat in the other driving I have done. Am I off on my logic or is there something else that would be causing my issues?
I also just replaced my radiator because I broke my bottom hose tube with my own carelessness
-
Try replacing your radiator cap first. I have seen those cause more then one overheat issue and it's an easy/cheap first test.
-
My 95 1.6 16V drove me nuts overheating going uphill or crawling. Turned out to be a clogged radiator. Couldn't tell as water poured right through it during testing. Finally pulled the plastic cover off the top and found more than half the tubes clogged with some kinda stop leak crap. New rad and no issues since.
-
The radiator sounds like a good culprit. I got it from the local pick-a-part. I will give that a try, i probably would be safe to have a new one anyway. thanks
-
Do those have fan clutches, or electric fans? Have you checked that the fan is working properly? I guess if it's not overheating while traveling slowely, it's probably not an issue though.
-
It has a fan clutch and it is "fanning" :) when i the engine is running
-
"Fanning" as in you can see it spinning - or - "fanning" as you can feel the hot air moving?
Clutch fans usually operate at a percentage of the engine speed - up to a point - when they reach that point (a few thousand rpm), they don't go any faster, regardless of how fast the engine turns, or how hot it gets, and when they fail, that rpm drops.
A failed fan clutch will give you some on the symptoms you're getting - once the vehicle is moving, and the engine load is light, the forward movement forces air through the radiator, and will usually keep the engine cool, reduce that forward speed or increase the engine load, and you can tip the scale the other way, and now you need the fan to move more air to keep the engine cool.
Unfortunately the symptoms are not conclusive, a partially clogged radiator will have a similar effect.
Before starting the car tomorrow morning (ie with the engine cold), open the hood and try to turn the fan, it should turn but with a fair bit of resistance, and should stop as soon as you stop - if it spins freely, it's dead or dying - repeat the tes with the engine at operating temperature (but not overheating), it should turn with less resistance, and this time might spin a turn or two when you stop turning it. I know this might sound backwards, but with the engine cold & off the fan actually gets harder to turn, once the engine start and the fan turns for a couple of minutes it will free up considerably, and then become harder to turn as the temperature rises - ever notice that you can hear the fan quite loudly for the first 3~4 minutes after a cold start?
-
Just thinking, do you have a/c, I was having the same problem and found that the electric fan in front of the radiator was not working. It is only on a/c equiped cars.
-
Just thinking, do you have a/c, I was having the same problem and found that the electric fan in front of the radiator was not working. It is only on a/c equiped cars.
That shouldn't make the engine overheat though.
-
It was the radiator. After I drained the fluid it weighed almost five pounds more than the new replacement. coolant was going in but not coming out the bottom. I did some mountain driving yesterday and it did just great.
-
Yeah, it's the simple things we should check first. Glad you got it fixed. ;)