overheating

[Riot]

Started last week, went to drive to MA to go snowboarding. Starts to overheat, pull the radiator cap off and its thick brown sludge. Put some water in it, get it to a place and have the flush the system. They flush it twice, and it continues to fill up with the sludge. So I end up getting it home that night. Meanwhile, The cap is remaining cool throughout all of this, I have no heat and instead of it gradually overheating, it goes 1 line above 210, then just shoots up to 260.
So we take out the thermostat get all the rust off it, and it drives fine without. Put it back in, and the thermostat works, but it still overheats. So finally, my dad brings it to a mechanic while I'm at work or something, the guy looks all through it decides it needs a good flush... flushes it, goes over everything and tests it. Works great.

Tonight, I decide to drive it, I drove maybe 15 miles, and I noticed it was running a little high, so I parked it in my driveway, and just sat for 2 minutes waiting for it to shoot up to 260, Sure enough, It Did.

I'll be going back to the mechanic on Monday, Anyone here want to give me ideas that don't involve "Flush it" or cryptic answers such as "Water pump."

Thanks...

[xjeeper]

how many miles does it have and has the cooling system been taken care of on a regular basis. I would say the fins on the water pump have totally rusted away so there is no coolant flow at all. i have seen it happen several times and twice on xj's

[Riot]

Thanks for the quick response, It has 94,000 miles or so, and I've only had it since April, I believe. Point is, I don't know, I've only put on about 8k.

[Rev. AL]

mine overheated really bad, like after 2 minutes. I did a thermostat and a waterpump (which really isn't all that hard) and it would last for like 15-30 minutes before overheating. Turns out my coolant bottle cap was shitty and stripped so it leaked as soon as the thing built up pressure then it leaked. New coolant tank and I was good to go. But that was on a renix with a closed system.

[xjeeper]

im still gonna go with the water pump even though it ha low miles maybe the previous owner treated it like shit and just used straight water.turn the heat on full bore and feel the heater hoses to see if you have any flow at all.

[Riot]

I forgot to mention, with the new flush and coolant, I DO have heat now, even when it over heats. And the cap is still cool.
And so the plot thickens...

[xjeeper]

maybe there is just air in the system still because they didnt burp it all out. try running it for a little bit until it is warm with the cap off.

[XJLI]

Dec 13, 2008 23:16:10 GMT -5 xjeeper said:

maybe there is just air in the system still because they didnt burp it all out. try running it for a little bit until it is warm with the cap off.

agreed.

oh btw, next time it overheats, dont pull the cap off. thats a hospital visit waiting to happen.

[Riot]

hah, It happened once, it was still pressurized, but the cap was cool.

[Rev. AL]

probably don't want to drink it either, although it does look delicious and tastes kinda sweet.

[XJLI]

Dec 13, 2008 23:26:25 GMT -5 Riot said:

hah, It happened once, it was still pressurized, but the cap was cool.

the fact that the cap is cool is confusing... it should be real hot if youre overheating that much. double check all the heater hoses with the heat on, the gay shit valve at near the firewall that connects all the heater hoses together is known to shit out. maybe the rad isnt flowing well. like justin said, if the previous owner didnt maintain the cooling system properly they turn to shit quick

[Riot]

Aye Captain, Will it be marked "gay shit valve" in the manual?
haha, I will try tomorrow, Thank you.

[xjeeper]

i change my answer to plugged up radiator or air in the system. if the radiator is plugged the coolant wont make it to the upper hose where the cap is and therefor leaving the cap cool to the touch.? or do i have that backwards??

[XJLI]

Dec 13, 2008 23:42:27 GMT -5 Riot said:

Aye Captain, Will it be marked "gay shit valve" in the manual?
haha, I will try tomorrow, Thank you.

its the heater control valve or something like that

something is definitely plugged blocking flow

[Chaos]

I'm vouching for the plugged and/or air in system theory......