Car overheating, need advice

[Mivec9]

Hey guys, my 92' Swift has started to overheat recently. Thus far the needle hasn't hit the H mark yet, but as my usual temp is about 1/3 of the way past the Cold mark, this worries me. Yesterday evening in bad start-stop traffic in town, I saw the needle spike up several times to almost the H zone. Luckily it behaved itself later the entire way home on the CTE, maintaining its usual 1/3 reading.

 

Less than 1hr ago though, I drove to the Library in my neighborhood and when I'd almost reached my home carpark after, I saw the needle spike up again to almost 3/4 mark or so, then it went back to normal.

 

I'm quite worried, does anyone have any idea what could be wrong? I recently changed my water pump and flushed/replaced coolant when i did my timing belt, oil change. I left the upper and lower radiator hoses unchanged though, and they do seem a bit worn out to me when I check now. Could this be the case? Or could it possibly be the quality of coolant that the mech suppplied me with?

 

Finally I have a spare radiator with me, should I just get it changed? Really appreciate all advise, cheers!

 

bro,when the needle goes above half mark,u shd start worrying...not until it rches the redzone...

maybe u can check if ur radiator fan is working or not...

maybe the motor is spoil....

check early before u have to overhaul ur engine....

maybe one thing to take note..swift temp is slightly higher ...hence around 3/4 reading in temp gauge then the fan will take into effect

[Mivec9]

those from shell ah? confirm it's 0.9 or 1.3. coz i went around to check. and you never know can fit onto yr radiator or not...

 

so in the end, i just bought mine from stockist. confirm can use!

oh cos only 2 type...either the big size or small size...i took small size..

[Mivec9]

Hehe I am worried liao, but so far heng heng its never touched the red zone before. I will be changing the radiator cap first tmr to see if theres any improvement, then will send to my mech. Thanks for your advice

 

hahah,,,mine touched red zone alot of times liao...but managed to resolve at yew tee/sin min workshops

[Mivec9]

I will do that, anyone can confirm that a 0.9bar rad cap will be more suitable for my car? What I thought was that higher pressure cap would allow the water to boil at a higher temp, but maybe it doesn't really matter in my car?

 

Hi Decibel, just checked, I'm using the 0.9 Bar and it is working perfectly and have not been topping up coolant for months. Previously was using one from autobac..always need to top up.

 

The brand i'm using is something sankei..bought from shell station

[Decibel]

Thanks Sam, I bought the same one as you have just now at Shell for bout $8 bucks. Now just have to monitor, hope it helps

[Pisces69]

hahah,,,mine touched red zone alot of times liao...but managed to resolve at yew tee/sin min workshops

=====================================

 

So is it normal for Swift temp needle to go from 1/2 to 3/4 to red often???

 

If it's normal then guess Decibel cannot do much leh.

 

My toyota goes to the 1/2 mark & stays there all along.

 

Hard or normal driving also needle move only very slightly to a little more than 1/2.

 

Or cud it b that he had his temp flow valve removed?

[Pisces69]

Sankei is the most popular brand for rad cap.

 

I got the gold one.

 

Also check that the coolant can flow from the rad to the reservoir & back when the coolant heats up & cools down.

 

Good luck.

[Decibel]

"So is it normal for Swift temp needle to go from 1/2 to 3/4 to red often?"

 

 

No way this can be normal for any car leh...This is the 2nd Swift I've owned. First one would stay at 1/2 mark, current one used to stay at 1/3 mark.

[Pisces69]

That's what I thought too.

[Pisces69]

The only time I drove car with temp needle going hot & cold & hot again was when the mech removed the temp flow valve.

 

This caused it to b impossible for the temp to remain constant when the car was moving or ststionary. Or even when it was very cold outside, the temp needle wud drop to very low & sometimes I even had difficulty as car had no power.

 

I then told the mech to put the valve back which solved my problem.

 

This was very long ago when the mech wud do this to prevent the engine from overheating.

 

I don't think they do this anymore as it's bad for the engine.

[Mivec9]

Thanks Sam, I bought the same one as you have just now at Shell for bout $8 bucks. Now just have to monitor, hope it helps

 

hmmm welcome..u manage to take out the old radiator cap? Great!

 

Btw, wonder ur water pump was working...

[Mivec9]

swift one is quite diff from other rides...even simon mech also know..the needle will be around 3/4 mark b4 the fan kicks in..

 

If temp flow valve removed..his temp would always be zero or less than half..i scolded simon for doing that...cos he wanna play cheat by doing so and telling me my overheat solve..which is a workaround solution..but this would mean my ride wouldnt be in optimum condition - the temp shd be near boiling point so that the engine can work best in this temp

[Mivec9]

Sankei is the most popular brand for rad cap.

 

I got the gold one.

 

Also check that the coolant can flow from the rad to the reservoir & back when the coolant heats up & cools down.

 

Good luck.

 

Yo bro..gold one how much..

 

regretted buying those fancy ones from autobac..ended up need to top up often..maybe those leaks..hahaha

[Mivec9]

wah..then this means diff swift..different mark

[Mivec9]

yah agree..dun ever let mech bypass the temp valve..it is there for a reason

[Pisces69]

Gold one also less than $10 leh. Only look abit swee.

 

Bought long long ago but never use till I found it in my car 1 day.

[Pisces69]

Oh so u also know about that shortcut that some mech do to "solve" the overheating problem.

 

Happened to me many years back when my mech suspect it was stuck. I later re-installed a new valve myself.

[Pisces69]

So far all my Jap & korean cars have temp at 1/2 mark.

 

Dunno about others though.

 

Anything other than 1/2 & I wud suspect something is not right.