2001 Elantra Automatic....driving down the expressway, rush hour, the car went up in steam!

Pulled to nearest Service place about 120seconds away... happened to be a Hyundai Kia place..

Blown lower Radiator hose, blown Radiator at top weldment....
Shop charged me $140 for lower radiator hose and install, then $525 for installing Radiator , new fluid etc.... $575
They also said pressure test was good, no blown Head Gasket.

They wanted more work to be done I declined. They said it was running , no blown head gasket but needed heater hoses and no gaurntee the engine isnt damaged due to overtemp - red line.

I drove it away, it was seeming smooth, a little rough....but drove ok.Engine sounded good.

About 5miles away from shop Temp ramped up to H almost...pulled in parking lot and let cool...tried driving again no good.. Noticed puddle of antifreeze, not huge puddle but some, I think it was from Overflow cap not being in place (snugged down cap).

Sat in car and watched IDLE for 10minutes no issues, Temp from COld to Center line...
put car in drive and drove around road, and soon OVERTEMP again....pulled over and parked. Called Tow Truck to get it home so I could look at it over the weekend.


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PROBLEM- Over temp

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When in IDLE car runs fine and temp stays same.
When I drive it around the block it eventually just takes off and goes hot, maybe 5th time around the block.

When I stop, Idle it cools down again to mid -temp.

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So I have tried turning on the Heater while its hot to see if it drops the temp- NO doesnt change.

I have held onto the upper hose, cold....over time the tube gets really hot. As it should I think?

Fans are working, No noise off the water pump.
Overflow reservoir shows FULL...the shop had just filled me up (minus what seemed to leak out earlier before towing home.

Going to change out Temperature Sensor and T-Stat this morning....

Would appreciate any tests to try out or ideas!

 

Thermostat fixed it.

$15


The Kia Service was $575+ total at $664.

I got Lower and upper radiator hose and Radiator.
Coolant flushed and filled.
Oil Change.
Car cleaned.

So roughly $250 parts.

$410 tax and labor. The work they did turned out to be good.....just wish I had Towed it home the first time and done the work myself, saved Labor and Tax.
Their Parts prices were very fair and close to AutoZone etc..

The next thing I was going to try was the Temperature Sensor...

Maybe its me but the pulleys sound really noisy.... I'm sure the car went through a major heat shock when it became consumed by the white cloud of steam on the expressway.

Its amazing how close I came to just trading it in. Its worth about $1200....to have more work done would have pushed it near $1000...water pump, t-stat, heater hoses installed...
head gaskets....

MORAL of LESSON for me....... Change your hoses, change your T-Stat now and then (20minute job)....keep your engine Cool...

 

Last thing you want to do is overheat a 2.0 in Elantra/Tiburon.. Replace thermostat every couple yr, keep clean fresh coolant in it, and if it start to get hot........ DONT DRIVE IT !!

Be aware of cooling fan operation too.. with engine running, open hood, and verify BOTH fans come on when you turn the A/C on,,, quick dirty way to make sure the radiator fan works (driver side)...

Had Tiburon recently with melted radiator, sold radiator, t-stat, coolant, upper & lower hoses... still overheated... found source voltage at RAD fan connector, but no fan operation... another $181 for fan motor, and $50 labor,, luckily, he did not twist the cylinder head before I got it.

 

Thanks, the past couple weeks have been "fun" (heavy sarcasm)

after the radiator blow out....and painfully paying the dealership/shop prices.
the car ran fine for sometime after the thermostat, but then another issue arose.

the car started failing for misfires. so far one spark plug cable...but I'm starting to wonder.


One thing I plan on doing is posting some repair fixes and info as a "give back", as the people who posted before me have helped so much in savings and intelligent repair support for me.
The comments and posts helped me troubleshoot to a single spark plug wire, versus shotgunning and spending hours and time on non-needed parts....

 

Every 60,000 mile, just plan on (4) NGK Platinum plugs, and a set of plug wires.

Coolant every 30, thermostat every 60, same for timing belt and (3) drive belt.

 

I'm in the middle of the same type thing... only it WAS my head gasket. Sent head in to be checked, replaced it myself and restarted engine. Now blowby all over the place, so I deduced the rings stuck when it got hot. Ordered more gaskets, rings and rod bearings, made the changes and started it up. Now the oil light is staying on- what th...? Anyone have experience here? I took off valve cover and started it, expecting oil all over the place, but didn't get it. So is the oil pump not working? or is the indicator bad? Reset the computer? I'm in a blue funk!