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Engine overheating and heater blows cold air

1K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  Catsailr27 
#1 ·
I got my 05 Elise out last night to take my wife to dinner. My wife does not like the car as it is too loud and fast, although she will tolerate it. It was cold out and I never could get the heater to blow warm, so I pulled it back into the garage. I decide to take a look at it this morning. The flap in the heater is working fine, but as the car was idling, I heard the radiator fan turn on. I looked at the temperature and it was 230 (I had never seen it close to that). I turned the car off and looked at the antifreeze reservoir and it was a little low, but not much. I put some antifreeze in and it is doing the same thing. Is the thermostat stuck closed?
 
#2 ·
Both radiator and thermostat failures are common, but the radiator probably is most common. If you have a stock one, it will have plastic endcaps that are almost guaranteed to leak, but the undertrays on the car tend to hold the coolant until you start moving, so you won't see a puddle. If you smell a sweet coolant smell near the radiator, that's a pretty sure sign. Simply adding coolant won't help much either because air has already gotten in and will stall the coolant pump, meaning nothing circulates until the air is out.
 
#3 ·
I would suspect thermostat, replace and go from there if you continue to have same symptoms.
 
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