I have a 1994 mercury cougar xr7 3.8
Ok car starts ok in a little while my temp goes to H so I pull over and look and all my antifreeze is in the resoiver so then i drain the antifreeze out off there (not the whole think ) and put antifreeze in my ratiotor its better no heat but then does the same thing again I changed the thermostat last year i did a oil change in oct off this year and alway check it no sign off antifreeze in oil changed wires, plugs,cap,rotar,temp sending unit,ratatior cap. also put that bars none stuff in it also in oct off this year, I looked at the ratatior does not look good but not leaking just steam out off the front off my car no large leaks any where . I am disabled I need some ideas until my check comes in 3weeks . ASAP HELP
No offense, but can you write with proper sentence structure/grammar? It is hard/impossible to understand what is going wrong and what you've done to fix it.
No obvious leaks, but steam and no heat makes it sound like a bad water pump.
Does your fan work? Does it spin when the engine is warm and idling? If so, then feel the upper hose once your engine gets warm, it should be warm too. If not, water pump like he said.
well I am sorry if you not understand me when you are on as many drugs as I am its hard spelling was not my strong suit, so water pump why its not leaking or making any noise . any quick thoughts on maybe fixing it
yes fan works upper hose does get warm will this hurt the car if i drive it for long period off time
yes. overheating it will cause many many problems and will result in detrimental engine damage.
does it push the antifreeze into the resivoir while it is cold also?
You might have to look very close to see if the weep hole on the underside of the water pump is leaking. A water pump doesn't usually make any extra noise when it goes bad. To test for a bad pump, do as follows...
1. Begin test with cold engine
2. Remove radiator cap -- Remove some coolant until it is 2-3 inches below the top of the cap.
3. Start car and let it warm up.
4. At some point (near operating temperature), the coolant level should drop further and you should see the coolant move through the radiator core.
If you see moving coolant, the thermostat is opening and the pump is pumping. If it is at operating temp, but not moving any fluid, turn on the heater and see if it putting out any heat. A dead/dying water pump won't move enough fluid to put out hot air from the vents.
If you see bubbles or a rainbow of colors, you most likely have a blown head gasket.
The fact that you're still driving the car and it hasn't blown up yet indicates that it may not be the water pump. If you drive on a dead pump, you'll blow a head gasket with a quickness.
If the water pump and thermostat are ok and it overheats on both the interstate and in stop/go traffic, you most likely have a bad radiator. If it only overheats in stop/go traffic, suspect the fan.
No it does not would bars none or something like that work
No it does not what?
Adding too much of the Barr's will only solve to clog up the cooling system. If your radiator is "steaming", it sounds like it is seeping somewhere, and/or it's clogged up and not exchanging heat very well.
As Jeremy asked, when does it overheat? During sustained driving or while sitting more in stop and go (ie does it cool down as you drive it?)
sorry some asked a ??? that was the answer anyway ,, to answer your ??? well for a while its on c then after about 10 to 15 min you can watch the temp move to h some times it moves back into the normal reading on m in normal the it goes to h again then it drops very fast to cold then its fine but the past few days its just gets stuck on h heater core is not leacking water pump not leaking out off any holes just all the antifreeze goes to the resoiver and not back to the raditor
also it does do it more stop and go i guess the good thing its cold outside less heating the engine up maybe
i would not drive it at all untill you correct the problem. A quick search of your local phone book will give you a list of local shops.
It sounds to me as if your radiator is stopped up, a faulty sending unit , or you are leaking compression into the cooling system, or possibly a faulty radiator cap
something like this is hard to diagnose over the internet. I would suggest taking it to a local mechanic whom you can trust.
edit:
nm, wrong year
Sounds to me like a water pump. It does not have to be leaking to be bad. Going from cold to hot then back to normal then back to hot. Take ti to a mechanic, either way if you are disabled it is going to be a hard problem for you to correct yourself.
Have you checked the fan clutch? The fan could still be spinning but the clutch not kicking in. Also check you thermostat. It sounds like the stat is stuck open causing the The car to over heat in stop and go but have no heat on the open road. part of the stat's job is to keep the water in the radiator to cool it off. Just my 2cents.
'94-'97 MN12 = Electric fans