Good morning.

As the title states, my engine is overheating. I got plenty of coolant in the system and other than a top radiator hose that may need to be replaced everything else is in order so I am thinking it's the thermostat.

My question is, can I operate the car safely without the thermo? I had to do it once before when I was stationed in Cuba, (due to a lack of available parts). It would only be until Monday when I can take the car in for service at Hyundai.

Thanks.

 

kind of a help forum topic but driving without a thermometer is ok as long as you dont want that car on monday. If you drive it for any amount of time the engine will overheat, things will self destruct and your shark will sink to the bottom of the ocean

 

That's a little extreme, huh? The engine is ALREADY overheating due to a bad thermo.

I've had to drive my Toyo p/u without a thermo for 8 months because I could not get one shipped to Cuba.

When I finally got back to the states, I installed one and it ran for another 50k miles.

Nothing personal, Relic, but can someone with experience offer some insight on this without the mellow-drama.

[ December 14, 2002, 11:03 AM: Message edited by: Hootie ]

 

I can... wink

Is the car overheating very quickly, or does it take a while? Does it overheat only when you stop the car and leave the motor running?

If the engine is overheating because of a bad thermostat, that means it's stuck closed.
If you take it out and drive without it, it'll be like having it stuck open... all that will happen is the car will take longer to get to max operating temperature.

Driving without it for a short time (couple of days) is okay.
Hootie, do you still get heat from the vents? If no, then there could be a blockage in the cooling system preventing coolant from circulating properly. That's unlikely, but check the heater's performance first.

Next, is the radiator fan coming on? If the thermostat's failed, then the fan should be on almost all the time once the car's fully warm.

Check to see if you get heat from the vents (I bet you hardly ever use your heater in Hawaii *lol*) and check to see if the rad fan comes on.

If both of those things check out, then it's prolly the thermostat, a cheap and easy fix. If it's the rad fan, it's mostly likely the switch, which screws into the radiator, I think on the driver's side.

 

Radiator fan is almost always on now. Which led me to think it was a bad thermo.

Thanks for the THIRD opinion. Much appreciated.

I am dropping the car off at the dealer Monday morning and let them handle it, under warranty. wink

[ December 14, 2002, 02:43 PM: Message edited by: Hootie ]

 

You're welcome. Glad I could be of some help. smile.gif

 

If you wanna make sure its the thermostat, take out the thermostat and put it in hot water to see if it opens

 

Well it's either the thermo or the engine coolant temp. sensor. I'm more than positive it's a bad thermo though.

Plus I need a new top radiator hose. I'll just wait until Monday.

 

Heya Hootie.

Yeah, like da mang said, it's ok to take it out for a bit. I think all 5 of my Humvees over here had them out all summer. We take them out all the time because of overheating problems.

 

It sure sounds like a bad thermostat.

In Hawaii (or any other warm climate), you can run without a thermostat with no adverse effects other than slow engine warmup.

[ December 15, 2002, 07:16 AM: Message edited by: Random ]