Hey Mitsubishi Forum,

I just bought an Eclipse (03 GS 5 Speed) on Craigslist, specifically as my winter/commuter car while I repair my '07 Volvo C70. The head gasket on that blew along with the turbo, so engine swap..

Anyways, this Eclipse I got was from a dealer on CL who changed the oil and cleaned it up real nice, so I figured I'd be ok, I tested out the car and didn't find any issues. I bought NGK V-power (BKR5E-11) Spark plugs, which on NGK's website are specified as OEM plugs for this car. I also bought some wires with everything to go from Advanced along with a PCV valve.

Car drove great, beautifully even, I drove it all through the storm yesterday and today, once they lifted the travel ban. I took it to my buddy's shop to have him put the plugs, wires and PCV valve. I also drove around in the snow in front of his shop and stalled it out twice in the process, only included this to see if this might have caused the issues I'm having. I know how to drive a stick, I just was trying to "drift" (stupid me)

After we put the new parts in, I drove it home and noticed on the highway, it was starting to overheat. I was in awe.


I have since gotten it home, looked under the hood, fans are spinning fine, coolant levels look high, and the radiator cap looks fine as well, so it can only be what I'm guessing to be the thermostat, radiator, water pump or worst case scenario head gasket.

However, the reason I am posting this here is to see if I could have missed something, if the PCV valve could have caused this issue, since it either coincidentally started overheating right after replacing that part along with the plugs, or if I did this by stalling out the engine twice.

I have included pics to let you guys see for yourselves:

in the pics you will see:

the radiator cap, which appears fine;


The coolant overflow tube, which also has a loose connector? Is this normal?


The coolant which is full;


the PCV valve which was replaced;



Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

The cap looks just fine as long as there is no antifreeze on it so your heads should be ok but check the oil cap to see if there is any antifreeze on it. The overflow tube is ok, that doesn't connect to anything but I put a extra hose on mine to keep antifreeze from getting on the paint under the hood. I don't think the PCV valve should give you that problem. It sounds to me as if you have a bad thermostat is all. I would check that first.
By the way what is your system for placing your pic's on here, They look great and the way you labeled them is exceptional.

 

I have checked the oil cap, looks to be alright, oil in the dipstick also looked fine.

That's a good idea with the overflow tube, may just do that myself. The rust on this thing won't go away on its own lol

I am also thinking it's the thermostat and am planning on bringing it to my buddy's shop tonight with a new one to replace it. If it isn't stuck though, I should be able to tell by looking at it, correct? Like if I pull the old one out I should be able to see if it is stuck? If it isn't I'll just return the replacement part to autozone.

btw, it's funny you should say that about the pics, I just use MS paint to edit the pictures and add in the text and circles, and I uploaded them to imgur.com. I also used my iPhone 6 to capture the pics, which may be another reason they look pretty sharp, sometimes better looking than my Note 4's camera!

 

Tks for the pic. tips bud, Let us know how you made out with the thermostat.

 

Hey again,

I went to a local mechanic this morning and I changed the thermostat. He said it was bad, but it's still overheating.

I also changed my valve cover gaskets, only because my mechanic friend (different than the guy I went to this morning) said it needed to be changed. Kind of unrelated.

After I took it from the shop this morning, the car was overheating even more! I looked at the radiator, and I realized something... it's cold to the touch when I put my hand on the radiator cap... I really am starting to think something is up.

Air in the system could possibly be it, because when I changed the thermostat I also had to put new coolant, and when the mechanic did this he did it on a flat level surface, I figured the thermostat was going to fix the problem, but apparently it didn't and I didn't think twice to tell the mechanic to fill the coolant without air in the system. I was in a rush to the class I'm typing this from anyways...

So other than air, potentially this could be head gasket, radiator or water pump, correct? Could it be anything else potentially? My other old mechanic said it could be anything even transmission but I don't think that could be the case, he told me this over the phone and this is my old mechanic for a good reason.

Please let me know if you can help me figure this out.

Thanks!

 

Hummmm, If the rad. is cold yes there is a problem with that. The TT is new. Was the air let out with the top bleeder bolt on top of the TT housing when filling.... Also it could be the water pump!!!!! You did say this was a rebuild so the water pump should be new as I would put a new one in if I was that far into the motor to do the timing belt... You need to ask if the water pump is new or was it replaced with the timing belt...how much mi. is on the old one... check it out n let us know...

 

I have recently overcome overheating problems on my 2000 Eclipse Gt. First I replaced the Thermostat, then I bought a new OEM radiator for $50 delivered, then I finally realized that the radiator fan control relay was bad, it only came on when I had the AC button turned on. I'll attach a Diagram of the relay and have more Haynes guide trouble shooting advice if you need it. I had to order the relay from my local MGA dealer ($20), don't even bother looking for it a retailers.

 

when the coolant is full you should be able to squeeze the radiator hoses and feel pressure from the flow of coolant moving through. If not and the hose collapses fairly easy and it doesn't feel like anything is getting through then it could be a blockage in the radiator or a water pump. However, 9 out of 10 times the water pump will leak before it locks up, and if it locks up you would usually hear a bearing noise. If the upper and lower radiator hoses are NOT the same temp after the car warms up then id say radiator blockage or thermostat. As for a headgasket it sounds like the issue is bad enough that you would smell coolant burning out of the exhaust and be losing coolant levels. A good way to check that is just a regular compression test on the engine.

 

Ok, update. I have not fixed this issue yet, but I have changed the thermostat twice now, drained coolant about 3 or 4 times due to changing that along with the water pump (along with timing belt and all the belts changeable but thats not relevant), I took it to a mechanic who "changed the head gasket and re-machined the head" but he's definitely a liar and I found Vodka in my car after he worked on it.

Either way, it's just come back from a different shop after changing the thermostat yet again, and it slightly overheats.

I'm thinking there's some blockage in the system, radiator is bad or the relay as mentioned above. Also, when I brought it to the mechanic to change the thermostat today, it was at full operating temp but the fans weren't spinning?





Just to also mention, the previous shop who said he did all this work but fails to show me any receipts for any work done at the machine shop or any other proof of work also had kept my car parked outside his garage, where my catalytic converter and O2 sensor got stolen, along with me trying to pull the car to pop-start it because he said the car was ready for pickup when in fact it didn't start and the bumper ripped off. yea, that happened. This car has been a lot of work to try to fix, but I am not giving up on it because I've already put so much time and money into it, and to fix my other car would be too expensive right now.