my car was slightly leaking antifreeze from the water pump area. i used some prestone stop leak to stop the leak. after i used this product my engine started overheating but it stopped the leak. it would reach pretty close to the red line. so i drained and flushed the radiator three times. every time i drained it i looked for oil or anything else in the fluid but it was perfectly fine. then i changed the thermostat and radiator cap and it is still over heating. both fans turn on. any ideas as to what can be causing this? the timing belt and water pump were replaced about 45k miles ago.

 

make sure you got oil check radiator and make sure the fan is moving really fast just cause it turning doesn't mean its working right my car had similar problem where my fan would get stuck at times and i had to tap the back of the motor to get it on if not it would not move as fast as it should and i would over heat

 

fans are moving super fast. i can feel the wind they create.

 

Get the leak checked out, you may be low on coolant, fix the leak, and top off your coolant, if it's still giving you trouble, have your thermostat checked

 

Unless you have trapped air in the system or a steady leak, you may have a bad head gasket. Fill w/ coolant very slowly w/ air bleeder port open to be sure engine is full. Closer bleeder when coolant begins to stream out.

If engine has white smoke (steam) at times, or you experience engine miss on startup after a hot shutdown, head gasket is indicated. Oil doesn't have to be contaminated to have a bad head gasket. Coolant is going somewhere, and leak must be traced. Hopefully, something else besides head gasket.

good luck

 

bleed your coolant system of air pockets. When you turn the car on, turn the air to the highest fan level on the hottest degrees for about 20 mins and it should be able to clear the system, then keep topping it off. Mine had the same issue after my swap and after i replaced the radiator and did this bleeding excercise and topped it off with more coolant. it was fine.

 

thanks for the replies! they're very helpful. where is the air bleeder valve located on a 2.2?

 

my mechanic said the symptoms sounded like a circulation problem. he recommended a new radaitor especially since the old one had 162k on it, it was time for a new one. so i bought a new radiator, installed it, and it fixed the problem! apparently the prestone stop leak clogged the pores of the radiator.

 

Glad you figured it out!

 

EvenI replaced my radiator at aournd the saem time but I hope you did not go with the OEM one where the top and bottom part of the radiator are plaztic with aluminium fins sandwitched inbetween???? I went with complete copper one as an upgrade where the top and bottom are made of copper and are soldered to the main cooling fin assmbly

Well Mine started leaking from the joints that is the reason why I went with complete copper ones....

 

thanks dainfummus1...

jfkhan, i went with oem radiator. im not too worried if it goes out again. it was only $100.