Overheated while sitting at idle

TheJawsOfDeath · **Joined:** Sun Nov 05, 2006 3:56 am **Posts:** 305

I was at the park the other day grilling some burgers. We were taking turns using our cars to listen to music because nobody thought to bring a boom box or something. Anyway I had my engine running so as not to drain the battery, and after a while (dont know how long) I noticed a little steam from under my hood so I pop it open and my coolant reservoir is boiling over and steaming and whatnot. Temp gauge was pegged too, but no light on or anything. It wasnt even a very warm day, we were in sweatshirts and stuff. So what gives? I've never heard of this happening to cars, except maybe old crappy ones and my jeep is neither.

tommudd · **Posted:** Wed May 14, 2008 6:19 pm

depends on how many miles you have on it, maybe the thermostat sticking, hose sucking shut due to being bad, fan not kicking on when it should, low antifreeze to begin with

VTNomad · **Posted:** Wed May 14, 2008 7:45 pm

Check your coolant level. If coolant is fine it could be the thermostat. I had a 1995 Ford Ranger that had the problem, it turn out to be the thermostat, $30 and 15 min to fix.

jason thompson · **Posted:** Wed May 14, 2008 10:58 pm

Thermostat stuck or Fan not running
both are easy to find out

Go out side start your Jeep and let it run
watch your gauge when it gets up to temp turn on the AC max cool then let it go a while and see if it gets worse or
hotter if yes then pop your hood and look to see if the fan is on if not then there is the problem
if yes but not blowing like crazy still your problem ,if you have a mechanical fan then the fan clutch is bad
If it is blowing like crazy then grab the top radiator hose and see if it is boiling hot if not then Thermostat stuck or bad

Now the complicated part comes in if the top hose is hot and the fan is blowing
could be a water pump or a bad hose but it will be hard to tell which with out seeing your Jeep

Oh and as far as the "old crappy car" thing
90% of what I know about cars I learned from driving old crappy cars
but I learned how to figure out why my car over heated from driving them and I also learned how to fix them
I also learned that it can be 30* out side your car ,if it is a hopped up '65 ford, can still over heat but if the heater works
then you dont even need a fan just run the heat a full blast with the windows down to get home

Rush345 · **Posted:** Thu May 15, 2008 12:37 am

Replacing the Thermstat is a cheap fix, not to mention there are brands of thermostates designed that if the fail they fail wide open as not to cause damage to the engine. When was the last time you had you system checked, there could of coarse be other problems in coolant issues.

sleeve84028 · **Posted:** Thu May 15, 2008 7:30 am

Jason has some real good trouble shooting tips for you to try... I'd also suspect the fan or thermostat

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Thu May 15, 2008 11:52 am

Yup, probably a fan. Did you hear or see the fan running?

One way to see if the fan is bad is to turn the A/C on. It should always come on when the A/C is on unless its really cold out.

Overheated while sitting at idle

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