Just bought a 1990 Eclipse gs non-turbo. realized one night on the freeway that my engine temp seemed to be extremely low, so i checked and sure enough there was no thermostat. so i put one in and unfortunately i let the guy at the parts store talk me into a failsafe one. I took it up to some nearby mountains on just a cruise, and all the way there, the temp was just fine. as soon as i started going uphill, it got hot (was at the red mark before i realized it). i pulled over and opened the hood, the overflow coolant was bubbling hot. turned the key back to the "on" position and the temp was still hot but no fan on. i turned on the a/c and both fans came right on. so i figured the sensor for the fan had failed.

i let it cool to about half the guage and turned around to go back, but it got really hot again really fast (thanks to being a failsafe tstat)and the soonest i could pull over put me past the red mark on the guage. i let it sit this time until it was about 1/3 of the guage. but then it wouldnt start. the engine turns but it doesnt sound like it fires. I am guessing, off the top of my head, that its going to be a head gasket but i will check for spark before i go far.

questions i have are:
1. is there anyway to quick diagnose a bad headgasket without a compression test?
2. if i do the compression test, what should it read?
3. what does the shop manual say the repair time is?
4. is there an access hole somewhere on the timing chain cover to check the belt?

and this one is just wishful thinking...
5. is there a safety shut off when the engine gets to hot that it will not set until its reset (ie. disconnecting battery)

thanks in advance.

 

1. pull the rad cap off and see if you have a lot of bubbles, thats an old school way of checking fora bad h/g.

2. compression on a n/t should be around 190psi, you just want to see very similar numbers between all 4 cylinders.

3.it take a good amount of time to r&r a head for the first time, and there is a top timing belt cover you can pull off to insepct the timing belt.

 

Also you were saying that the fans werent comming on when the car was turned on. Are the comming on when your overheating at all? Have you tried driving with the AC fans on? It may possibly be a bad fan relay.

The reason i really cant see it being a head gasket is because 1. you havnt mentioned any loss of coolant, only that the coolant is boiling. 2. you havnt mentioned any smoke at all.

The other thing that it could be is a bad water pump, That would cause these problems

 

Thanks for the reply. yes, both fans came on when i turned on the a/c. so i am guessing the relay is ok. i had asked in another thread that if the sensor that signals the fan is the same one that feeds the ecu for the fuel mixture because it would blow some black smoke when i would get on it.

i have not noticed a loss of coolant, and your opinion of not being the head gasket has brightened my day..lol.

the only other thing that you mentioned that i dont understand is about a bad water pump. i understand that it might be why it overheated, but it would not keep it from starting, would it?

 

A bad coolant temp sensor could give youa hard start or no start condition and also make you run rich (blow black smoke).

 

timing belt good, getting spark. 60 psi in each cylinder except #2 which is 30psi. is this a bad head gasket or warped head? all valves appear to be moving as needed. what is common between all cylinders that would make it drop so considerably?

thanks

 

In a healthy enngine you should be hitting close to 190 psi in all cylinders. What you got is really low. Do a wet compression test too so you can elimainate any rings issue.

A warped head wont be known till you have the head off and checked for straightness.

Sounds like a bad h/g.