Plz help me get the festiva back and running(large amp draw and overheats)

[Nickb1907]

So let me give you the run down of how my stiva went from perfect(well good enough for normal driving) to the way it is now.

1) It is dead one morning when i need to go to work, jump it and i drive it for awhile(2-3 weeks) and it needed a jump once or twice.

2) Put a new battery in it driven for a week

3) Then it overheats, i get it home look it over. No belt to alternator and waterpump. Put a belt on, it overheats.

4) Ordered a new thermostat(motorcraft) in and then a thermostat housing(cracked the first one). And put new hose clamps on upper hose. Fill it up with coolant. Jump it because the battery was dead (.83volts) Start running it to check for leaks and get shocked. It was arcing from the distrubutor cap to the hose clamp on the upper hose. This was friday (7-30-10)

5) Today i put new plugs, wires, rotor, and cap on. Jump it cause it was dead (1 volt) again. And run it and it gets at about 90% on the heat guage after driving around a little bit. A friend recommended i check the amps on the battery, then pull fuses till one makes the amperage drop at the battery. Well my cheap meter goes up to 10A and i put it on there and it went over 10A and started heating up my leads on the voltmeter(once again its cheap).


I need help to get this to stop overheating, hold a charge, and I am running out of ideas. Is there anyway to know if I need to do the waterpump and what should I check for with that large of an amp draw?

Thanks, I really need to get this fixed tomorrow as I have driven the wifes car for 3 weeks now.

[TominMO]

If you aren't hearing the water pump bearings make any noise, it's probably OK. I'd suggest flushing the radiator, many times. Drain it, fill it with water, let it run a minute, drain it again. Then use Radiator Flush or something similar.

I drained my 323 about 8 times, and still got some stuff that looked like mud accumulating on the inside of the radiator cap; just kept cleaning it off until it stopped appearing.

Can't help on the electrical issue, sorry.

[BrianFestiva]

One good test on the radiator is to disconnect the lower hose and fill her up and see how fast it comes out of the bottom connection. It should come out reasonbly fast. I bought a Festy 2 weeks ago and the radiator was completly blocked, not draining through at all lol. Blew hoses and then the head gasket by the time I almost got home. As for the electricals lemme think on that one some more


Edit:
Maybe a short at the starter motor? As thats pretty much what takes the most amps. You will have to pull fuses and check for amp drop cos something is shorting somewhere. Check all positive wires that you can find as the cars body is negative and would cause the short anywhere a positive is near it. Or even remove the fuses and replace it with the multimeter and see what it says.

[Nickb1907]

thanks guys, i think im going to try a water pump today. I searched over the forums and someone had said with the car running i should see water moving in the radiator(with the cap off). Well it looks like nothing is happening. I am just getting tired of buying coolant, I have gone through 3 bottles now pulling things on and off.

[batstiva]

Okay, as far as the electrical issue, have you verified that the alternator is good? Two ways to do this. One is with a volt meter, but you will need one that can read higher than 10 VDC. The other way is to pull the alt. and take it to Autozone/Advance/whatever you have where you are at, and have them test it. Also, humor me and double/triple check that the cable connections at the battery are tight, and free of corrosion.

As to the radiator/overheating issue. After you replaced the thermostat, belt and t-stat housing, does the car still overheat? Are all pulleys turning? Have you drained the oil and verified that you have no coolant in the oil, and or oil in the coolant?

Maybe I am misunderstanding what you are saying about seeing movement in the rad, but I don't think you would see much movement until the temps are high enough to open the t-stat. There's not going to be any circulation, and therefore little if any movement, until the t-stat opens and the coolant is flowing back into the rad through the upper hose.

Also, just for S&Gs, while you are at McParts getting your alt. tested, pick up a new radiator cap. It's a couple of bucks, and a good cap, able to withstand the pressures of fluid running above the boiling point is crucial.

[Nickb1907]

Okay, as far as the electrical issue, have you verified that the alternator is good? Two ways to do this. One is with a volt meter, but you will need one that can read higher than 10 VDC. The other way is to pull the alt. and take it to Autozone/Advance/whatever you have where you are at, and have them test it. Also, humor me and double/triple check that the cable connections at the battery are tight, and free of corrosion.

Ill check the alternator out, Ill see if they can test it in the car still. Battery is new, cable connectors are new and everything is tight and no corrosion.

As to the radiator/overheating issue. After you replaced the thermostat, belt and t-stat housing, does the car still overheat? Are all pulleys turning? Have you drained the oil and verified that you have no coolant in the oil, and or oil in the coolant?

Im driving it around and trying to get it as hot as possible, its still getting up to 90% as of this morning drive. All pulleys turn, have not checked the oil.

Maybe I am misunderstanding what you are saying about seeing movement in the rad, but I don't think you would see much movement until the temps are high enough to open the t-stat. There's not going to be any circulation, and therefore little if any movement, until the t-stat opens and the coolant is flowing back into the rad through the upper hose.

So how can i determine the water pump is bad? Any tests is can do?

Also, just for S&Gs, while you are at McParts getting your alt. tested, pick up a new radiator cap. It's a couple of bucks, and a good cap, able to withstand the pressures of fluid running above the boiling point is crucial

Ya i do that today, the whenever it did overheat it sprayed coolant all over the engine bay. The temps then were all the way in the red H area.
.

Also driving around this morning, first off it fired without a jump so that is good, second I would put the clutch in to take a turn and it would die (going around 20mph). I turned the AC off and it did fine, so maybe the AC system is drawing to much power? Anything I can check here?

[eurotiva]

You needed to state that this was happening while running a/c.

The compressor can be locking up and causing excessive loads on the motor and electrical system. Take the a/c belt off and see if the car still overheats.

Seeing that you are in TX. makes me think that it's hot down threre (it's hot here in FL.) Therefore I would run about 80% Distilled water and 20% coolant. This will help too. It will also keep you from using all those bottles of coolant.

As others said "Flush your radiator".

Hope this helps.

[Nickb1907]

You needed to state that this was happening while running a/c.

Just found that out this morning


The compressor can be locking up and causing excessive loads on the motor and electrical system. Take the a/c belt off and see if the car still overheats.

Ill try that

Seeing that you are in TX. makes me think that it's hot down threre (it's hot here in FL.) Therefore I would run about 80% Distilled water and 20% coolant. This will help too. It will also keep you from using all those bottles of coolant.

As others said "Flush your radiator".

I did this back around December 09, you think it would clog up again in 6 months?


Hope this helps.

I also just checked the alternator, they hooked there meter to the battery and ran a test and is showed everything good but low output.

[WmWatt]

The bottom hose on the rad should heat up if the thermostat is open and the rad is not plugged and the pump is working.

[Nickb1907]

The bottom hose on the rad should heat up if the thermostat is open and the rad is not plugged and the pump is working.

i checked it and it is hot

about to change the oil right now

[Nickb1907]

just drove it for 45min through neighborhood/city/highway

attached a pic of the highest the temps went up to. I was running the AC the whole time to see how high it would get and it seems like the hottest day in history today.

So I think the waterpump has to be working if I drove for 45 min and it didnt overheat? Pointing me toward a clogged up radiator. Back when I flushed it 6 months ago it had brown sludge all in it and I had to keep a hose on it for a long time till it started coming out clear. Im guessing it finally let go.

Is anything im saying making sense or sounds like I am getting close to my main problem?

thanks for the support guys.

[eurotiva]

What temp thermostat did you put in? Also the temp gage sensor could be damaged?

[TominMO]

just drove it for 45min through neighborhood/city/highway

attached a pic of the highest the temps went up to. I was running the AC the whole time to see how high it would get and it seems like the hottest day in history today.

So I think the waterpump has to be working if I drove for 45 min and it didnt overheat? Pointing me toward a clogged up radiator. Back when I flushed it 6 months ago it had brown sludge all in it and I had to keep a hose on it for a long time till it started coming out clear. Im guessing it finally let go.

Is anything im saying making sense or sounds like I am getting close to my main problem?

I'm thinking radiator still, and you might go to a 180 degree thermostat. You probably have the 195 degree one.

Yeah the water pump is working.

Edit: on a super-hot day, with a 195 thermostat and the A/C on, that temp might not be too abnormal. It didn't really overheat, just got close. But still I'd look into a rad flush or a new rad; the thicker automatic-trans radiator, which is all you can get now anyway, I think.

[Nickb1907]

I'm thinking radiator still, and you might go to a 180 degree thermostat. You probably have the 195 degree one.

Yeah the water pump is working.

Edit: on a super-hot day, with a 195 thermostat and the A/C on, that temp might not be too abnormal. It didn't really overheat, just got close. But still I'd look into a rad flush or a new rad; the thicker automatic-trans radiator.

i went with the motorcraft 2 stage one it was like $30. All the other ones at the store were 1 stage. I think it is a 195 thermostat.

Well I think it is driveable now, just need to keep an eye on the temps till i locate a radiator.

Any place sell that auto radiator for cheap?

[Nickb1907]

What temp thermostat did you put in? Also the temp gage sensor could be damaged?

I think the gauge works, when it overheated the first time it was on the red, and the coolant was boiling in the overflow resevoir. And you can watch it go from 0 to normal temps like it always has.


Whats funny is I bought and it barely got to 10-20% never went over that(in October). Few weeks later i popped the cap on the radiator and saw all the sludge, so I flushed it. Temps stayed normal and I would say 3 months ago the temps started topping out at 50% on the gauge.

Maybe it was the heat outside combined with me using AC more that is making it run so hot now.