Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Automotive
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 01-11-2019, 02:12 PM
 
Location: Back and Beyond
2,992 posts, read 4,261,475 times
Reputation: 7207

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by Listener2307 View Post
Here's a thought:
The super cold air is blowing on the thermostat housing. That makes the thermostat close.
Meanwhile, back at the temperature sensor for the gauge, there is no blast of super cold air. The liquid is not circulating, so it heats up a little more than normal.


Buy yourself an infrared thermometer. When you think it is over heating stop and immediately read teh temperature of the thermostat housing. It might be a lot lower than you would like.
Then check temperatures at the radiator and so forth. I bet you find out there is no problem at all.
But I'd still insulate the thermostat housing in some way.
Thanks! I think your on to something here, good idea. The thermostats are up front in a wimpy little plastic housing that are perhaps getting too cold causing problems. I'll try to somehow insulate the thermostat housing.

I do put on a "winter front" over the grill [with a couple grill slats still open) consisting of a piece of cardboard and zip ties, but it doesn't seem to help having it on or off. Perhaps I should try a bigger better piece of cardboard over the grill covering all the slats.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 01-11-2019, 02:18 PM
 
Location: Back and Beyond
2,992 posts, read 4,261,475 times
Reputation: 7207
Quote:
Originally Posted by M3 Mitch View Post
Remember that this is close to Einstein's definition of insanity - repeating the same procedure and hoping for a different result.



At -30, if you have your heater on full blast, I would think the heater itself would nearly cool the engine.


The old timers may be onto something about that HOAT stuff not working at Alaska temperatures. I have never lived there, but my understanding is that it's a different world and stuff that works fine in the lower 48 sometimes won't work at all in Alaska.



Next time this happens, soon as you turn it off, feel of both upper and lower radiator hoses, or better yet use an infrared "gun" thermometer. If both hoses are hot, you are not rejecting heat into the air for whatever reason. If both are cold, coolant is not flowing, for whatever reason.
Thanks! I agree that it's definitely insanity to keep doing the same thing, and its driving me insane not being able to figure it out . I'll invest in a infrared thermometer and check the hose temps to see what's going on next time it happens.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-11-2019, 03:20 PM
 
24,503 posts, read 17,956,220 times
Reputation: 40189
Quote:
Originally Posted by Listener2307 View Post
Here's a thought:
The super cold air is blowing on the thermostat housing. That makes the thermostat close.
Meanwhile, back at the temperature sensor for the gauge, there is no blast of super cold air. The liquid is not circulating, so it heats up a little more than normal.

I was thinking something similar but I was thinking super-cold antifreeze in the radiator that hits the thermostat the moment it starts opening and it slams closed. There's enough air flow through the radiator that the coolant is always super-cold. ...so a design flaw in the cooling system where it doesn't work in Alaska subzero temps. The old cardboard over the radiator trick to kill the airflow might work.


Edited: I see the OP already does this. I wonder if there's a way to rig up a manual thermostat override? Heat up the thermostat housing with exhaust gas or a resistive electric heater.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-11-2019, 04:41 PM
 
Location: TEXAS
3,748 posts, read 1,326,935 times
Reputation: 1995
Quote:
Originally Posted by 6.7traveler View Post
2014 jeep patriot, 130k miles.

Whenever it's about -30 degrees or colder out (I live in interior Alaska) my jeep patriot wants to over heat. I've replaced both thermostats, twice. I have the correct antifreeze mixture (tested, and my stored outside extra antifreeze is completely liquid.) I've flushed out and replaced the coolant twice now. Car never overheats in warmer temperatures and does great really down to -30 or so.

Thought I had this problem fixed last winter, but went for a drive tonight at -35 and sure enough the temp gauge started to creep up over the middle mark (which it's not supposed to do), so I turned around and came home. Coolant level is good.

Any ideas on what could be causing this only in super cold temps? Do I have yet another bad thermostat? Am I missing something? Bigger problem? Frustrating....

IF the coolant is circulating thru your HEATER, when it's -31, that may provide essentially enough cooling for the engine that the MAIN thermostat doesn't open , and no coolant flows thru main radiator; guage may read slightly warmer; (but coolant never SPIKES high enough to open main thermostat.)


Try driving without using your heater (like you do in WARMER temps) to test this above theory.


BTW, engine doesn't overheat till gauge reaches RED zone, so slightly higher doesn't mean it will overheat!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-12-2019, 03:49 AM
 
859 posts, read 960,205 times
Reputation: 1061
Your coolant/antifreeze is freezing, probably premix or too much water, flush and replace with stronger concentration of coolant than the normal 50% water.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-12-2019, 07:31 AM
 
8,290 posts, read 3,858,643 times
Reputation: 10600
Quote:
Originally Posted by st33lcas3 View Post
It may be a bad coolant temp sensor.
Yeah this is my guess, a sensor issue unfortunately. Since the thermostat was replaced, and the coolant is properly mixed and tested OK I think. Sensors. electronics and connectors can all get flakey when it gets that cold.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-12-2019, 07:44 AM
 
2,126 posts, read 3,549,186 times
Reputation: 3386
Quote:
Originally Posted by 6.7traveler View Post
2014 jeep patriot, 130k miles.

Whenever it's about -30 degrees or colder out (I live in interior Alaska) my jeep patriot wants to over heat. I've replaced both thermostats, twice. I have the correct antifreeze mixture (tested, and my stored outside extra antifreeze is completely liquid.) I've flushed out and replaced the coolant twice now. Car never overheats in warmer temperatures and does great really down to -30 or so.

Thought I had this problem fixed last winter, but went for a drive tonight at -35 and sure enough the temp gauge started to creep up over the middle mark (which it's not supposed to do), so I turned around and came home. Coolant level is good.

Any ideas on what could be causing this only in super cold temps? Do I have yet another bad thermostat? Am I missing something? Bigger problem? Frustrating....

Over the middle might look abnormal but is almost certainly not actually overheated. I would continue to drive and see if thermostat opens and temperature comes down.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-12-2019, 09:12 AM
 
18,754 posts, read 27,181,960 times
Reputation: 20095
My wild guess is you have something blocking air flow to radiator in very cold weather. Ice build up somewhere, say - on a grill or even rad itself. Back in 'ol country, we had metal shades, adjustable, installed in front of the radiator, to block oncoming freezing air flow. We had temps going down to -45C.... beats your -30F. Matter of fact, most drove winter time with engines wrapped in warm blankets.

Take flashlight and shine light around front...

Otherwise, indeed, your coolant is gellyfying in cold.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-12-2019, 03:54 PM
 
Location: Back and Beyond
2,992 posts, read 4,261,475 times
Reputation: 7207
Thanks for all the helpful ideas and replies, I've tried to rep you all. To address the coolant issue again, it is a 60/40 mix and tested. Also in my experience with this car is when the temp gauge starts creeping up over the middle mark, it continues to go up all the way till it overheats. The thermostat never allows it to go over the middle mark when its operating properly.

I plan to work on the car tomorrow and well keep all your ideas in my mind and hopefully remedy the problem. Thanks.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-12-2019, 06:22 PM
 
Location: Florida
7,719 posts, read 6,272,715 times
Reputation: 15683
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coldjensens View Post
It may be an electric cooling fan. I had this problem with a Camaro. It had two cooling fans. One was belt driven (I think) one electric. the electric one was supposed to come on if the engine reached a certain temperature. When it was super cold outside, the electric fan would not come on and the engine would overheat. The solution was to bypass the sensor and just let the fan run all the time. Problem then was it would overcool and freeze up so I had to run concentrated coolant.
Wire the fan to a manual switch on the dashboard.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Automotive

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top