cooling problem

[jaidedeye]

ok tonight i was waiting in the drive through lane at sonic. my car started running a little warm. well i left sonic and it cooled down a little down to the 3rd bar from the bottom. my car usually runs just above the second line. well i was sitting at a light on the way home and the temp shot up to half way and i noticed fog on the passenger side of the windshield...i turned on the heat to try to cool the car down and i smelled a rubber/radiator smell..when i started driving again the temp went down to the third bar again. well when i got home and shut my car off i noticed my electric fan wasnt running......my fan is set at 180 and i know my car was running warmer than that......

what do you guys think is going on with my cooling system?

 

[HISSIN50]

bad fan, fan switch, controller, etc. one reason to always run a manual switch on the fan.
check you fluid level and fix the electrics. then get a real gauge so you know what is goin on with the temps. then put a manual switch on it.
good luck.

 

[blk92stangg]

Fog on the windshield (on the inside tho) is a good indicator of a leaking heater core too, as well as the smell.

 

[windsor396]

Fog on the windshield (on the inside tho) is a good indicator of a leaking heater core too, as well as the smell.

That is what mine did...........

 

[ratrapp]

steam on the inside of the windshield,definite heater core.try bypassing it and see if the problem goes away to make sure that's your only problem.

 

[Michael Yount]

Before you go crazy with the heater core solutions, if your cooling fan isn't coming on, that's the first thing to remedy. Get your fan working again, and then see what you've got. As someone else said - check the wiring, fuses, relays, switches first. You can always jumper the fan straight from the battery to check and be sure the fan motor is working.

 

[jaidedeye]

well guys this morning i opened my radiator and to my surprise it was only half full....i filled it back up with coolant and water.....then i checked my black magic fan....BAD!!! would not even run straight off the battery!!! well i put my factory fan back on and started my car.....well it ran extremely cool wich was a good thing...i drove it around for a while and the temp guage stayed low where it should be. when i got back to the house i turned the heat on and i saw steam come from under the passenger side of my car. i poped the hood and coolant from a drain hole in the firewall had squirted on the h-pipe...i then looked under my dash and i had a little coolant on the floor on the passenger nad drivers side.......

so......this was just a train reck of things going on at one time.....i fixed the fan issue. im just gonna keep the stock one on there.....now i need to bypass the heater core...FUN!!!!

 

[jaidedeye]

ive done a search ..but i need close up pics on how to bypass the heater core. i just wanna see how everyone does it

 

[blk92stangg]

The previous owner of my car just got a length of tubing, bent it in half, and stuck it on the 2 ends of heater pipe coming from the block. A better solution would be to find a preformed tubing that comes as close as possible to the bent in half U-shape so you have good flow, since the ECT is tied into those heater pipes. ( not sure if it really matters, but its good to be on the safe side) If you really still need pic let me know and I can try to email you one...but it's really simple, just join the 2 together with hose clamps and its done.

 

[HISSIN50]

BLk92 said what most of us do.
i would recommend a good temp gauge too - since you are having issues, it would be nice to know exactly what is goin on.

BLk, nice catch on the core. i only focused on the fan not comin on, which i thought was most important. that is not to say that i would have thought of it anyhow. good call

 

[jaidedeye]

thanks fellas

i have like 5 autometer guages waiting to be installed in my car. one of wich is a water temp.
the bypass sounds pretty straight forward.

here is what i think happened to my car: fan quit working....car was running hot...increased pressure and heat caused heater core to spring a leak......make sense??