overheating rapidly

I checked my coolant it was extremely low. I filled it up and the temp is still right at the red. I havent burped the system but I thought that actually having coolant would make some sort of difference. Not spirited driving of even speeds above 40. Replaced timing belt water pump and put in grimmspeed thermostat 10k ago. I have heard bad things about the thermostat.

 

As of right now my plan is to replace the thermostat with oem but probably cant do that until monday. Am I going to ruin my engine doing in town driving this weekend if she stays hot like that.

yes, potentially, you will. At the very least, you only want to drive a couple blocks at a time.

 

changing the thermostat is basically just two bolts, drain the coolant, then redo the two bolts and fill with coolant. Do it NOW.

 

 

One way to tell if it is your thermostat, feel the hoses after your car is hot (not too hot for too long, dont want to do damage). The upper hose will be warm, but the lower hose will be noticeably colder. That is because the thermostat is not opening and letting the hot coolant out of the engine.

I've heard problems with aftermarket thermostats, don't know why but I'd start there. If there's air in the system it will cause you to overheat. Don't let it get to the top of the temp gauge! Bad juju'

Try to burp the system first. You may just be low on coolant.

yes, potentially, you will. At the very least, you only want to drive a couple blocks at a time.

 

changing the thermostat is basically just two bolts, drain the coolant, then redo the two bolts and fill with coolant. Do it NOW.

 

 

One way to tell if it is your thermostat, feel the hoses after your car is hot (not too hot for too long, dont want to do damage). The upper hose will be warm, but the lower hose will be noticeably colder. That is because the thermostat is not opening and letting the hot coolant out of the engine.

I did feel the hoses and I was noticing hot side on the big hose and cold on the small hose.

So I wont be driving today then. Tomorrow morning I will buy an oem thermostat and replace.

 

Just for clarification I unscrew the bolts to the thermostat elbow and the coolant will drain? and then I replace and refill? or do I need to pull a hose to drain my coolant?

 

Thanks

There's a drain on the bottom of radiator if you'd rather not make a mess lol. Drain it that way, I'm sure there's a ton of DIY on google for this. Once drained go ahead and replace thermostat, refill coolant. Make sure it burps!

remove the thermostat elbow, fluid will drain out and splash everywhere...it happens. The thermostat will likely be "stuck" to the block, pull it off....more fluid will splash everywhere.

 

reinstall everything, fill will fluid, let engine idle until coolant cycles, add more. Rinse and repeat.

burped it just now and the temp climbed nice and slow like it used to. Did not replace the T stat. There was some smoke coming from below my turbo but i contributed that to coolant being burned off that dripped when it expanded and contracted during idle. Can anyone confirm that happens?