Hey everyone..

So two days ago I'm driving and after about 20-30 mins my car starts to overheat, I pull over and I see antifreeze under my battery all over the splash shield. I think the antifreeze came out of the radiator resevoir because it was full and wet on top.
I would like to know what can be the problem, can it be the water pump?
I would really appreciate any help.. Thank you in advance.

 

Is the radiator cap tight? The system is pressurized you know. Fill the thing back up with coolant and see if it happens again.

 

how did the temp needle act? run 3/4 ..went right to full hot?
almost sounds like thermostat stuck - no coolant transfer= gets hot =

you can borrow a pressure tester for the cooling system from parts stores
to ck for leaks
WP usually leaves drips from the bottem of it

 

current car miles? wp service done yet?

 

It's a 02 tl-s with 94,xxx miles, I dont think the WP service was done(bought this car in Aug. 2010).. And it didn't get to full hot, it slowly went up, I saw it right away so it only got up to about 60-65% up then I pulled over

 

u might have a leaking hose, a bad thermostat or just low coolant

u fan is prob running overtime too to coll it dwm............... ??? right..........

 

In the meantime when car goes hot turn on A/C with temp on hot. This will cut on 2nd fan to help cool down engine quicker. The heat will exhaust the extra heat off the motor

 

that also adds some cold coolant to the system- when heater core is opened, its a mini radiator

fill up rad and pressure test to find leak..could be rock in rad, hose leak, bad cap seal etc

does the driver side fan run at all? or full time
and recently after shut down- does it run more than 1-2 minutes
= fan temp sensor in rad is bad

you are not due for the 105/wp timing belt service yet on miles--but overdue on time of 7 years..so it likely has not been done
few used TL-s for sale had it done~

 

excellent save seeing temp rise and pulling over!!!
full redline means new head gaskets,,,, at the least

 

how does it look in rad? clean and shiny metal slots you can see thru easily?
or crudded up looking,,any sign of foam or brown?
thats oil from bad head gasket..something to watch for after an overheat event

 

side note: once you figure this prob out-
its due for new spark plugs and an egr cleaning thru the intake manifold--both needed approx 75kmiles

 

Inside the radiator it looks clean and shiny, but is the small spring supposed to be separated from the radiator cap or just sitting in the top because that's how mine is

 

Soo I just drove to autozone to get antifreeze and filled it up(was missing almost 1/2 gallon).. Then I got my check engine light checked and got this, P0113= IAT sensor circuit high voltage, can I have a bad sensor?

 

the rad cap is bad

the whole thing is supposed to be together tight-
so when its on the rad its depressing the rubber seal and spring slightly
Compare to new one- 10$ that sounds like your problem

no sweat on half gallon and 3/4 temp

What you need to do right!!- is burping the system fully
Open heater- to HOT and cabin fan ON
see owner book or search here for exact method or run with cap of x minutes/temo indication, then rpm at 1500 until fan cycles, add as needed- put cap on loose, rpm till fan cycles one or two times, close rad cap

the point being to make sure the thermostat opened and closed a few times so any trapped air in the block has gotten out

when cold again- ck level in rad is to the top and res bottle is ~halfway--at the `full cold` mark

 

could be a false code as temps were not what the system expected thru the mainfold
Or sensor got wet from coolant spray

clear it with the CLOCK fuse removal-- on pass end of dash
and drive it

 

I bought the radiator cap but it didn't come with the spring, do I use the old spring? And the old old one had the rubber part broken off so I definitely think this was the problem. I will burp the system and drive the car for a while and see what happens.

 

the new cap should be a complete unit- no parts swapping

doesnt sound like the right part~

 

The car is not overheating anymore after replacing the cap.. 01tl4tl thank you very much and everyone else that helped, really appreciate it!