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Fast overheating, not sure what to do
Hi all. I've read the forums before posting, couldn't find exactly what I have.
From the beginning:
1987 Porsche 944 with over 200k mi. Was running perfectly since I got it 2 years ago, I never changed anything significant.
The temp gauge was always at 1st mark steady. Now a week ago I suddenly saw the red "!" and the temp was over the 3rd. I stopped the car, waited for it to cool down, refilled with water, drove ok for a day, then realized it had lost
all the water again and overheated. I went through a few cycles of filling it up and loosing all the water until eventually found a hole in the hose going from the container (with the cap where you put the coolant in).
Fixed the hole and thought that it was over.
But unfortunately not.
No what else (maybe) you should know about the car:
A/C doesn't work (makes the noise but doesn't cool, maybe just out of freon, I never checked)
Heater doesn't work (blows air but no heat)
Power steering behaives weirdly when it rains. Sometimes I loose the power steering when turning and the wheel gets stiffer. Have no idea if matters.
Now, on to the symptoms.
The car overheats very fast, I bleed the system numerous times and still it acts the same - when I unscrew the high-point bolt it releases a ton of hot air. Then when the water starts running from it in a steady flow,
I re-fill the reservoir, and close the bolt.
I also tried watching what happens with car running with the radiator cap off: The car heats up, the water runs up and overflows (a lot) with bubbles, then stabilizes. It still goes up and down and is "boily" but it seems like it's pretty stable. Then I put the radiator cap on and it still overheats fast. Unscrew the bolt - ton of air comes out.
Important thing: If I let it overheat a little bit the water flows from underneath the car. I couldn't locate the source where it's coming from.
What are the steps for identifying the problem further?
Head gasket (analyzing the air for exhaust gas? there's no heavy white smoke coming out from the exhaust) /
Waterpump? (water coming out of it? - should I lift the car and look from the bottom?)
T-stat? (I don't know the symptoms for that)
Any other valve there is that could be failing when the car gets hot (so I see the water flowing out?)
Appreciate your help guys.
- Peter
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