Overheating..

[SBK15]

I'm in the Air Force and have been on TDY to Wichita Falls, TX since June, the base I live at is only 4-5 hours away from home so I visited home before I left, and left my car with my parents so it didn't just sit all year around, and my Mom's Corvette is getting the front suspension rebuilt so she needed something to drive.. Anyways, last week my dad realized my Anti-Freeze was getting really low and he topped it off, the next day my Mom called him and said an "Overheating" light came on in the DIC so she pulled over and slowly got it home. Dad said that the Anti-Freeze cap was loose and since its pressurized it just spewed everywhere.. So that's why that happened But.. What we're not sure on is why it burned all the that anti-freeze so fast before that happend up? I know it was full before I left.. My only concern is when I plasti-dipped my front bumper if I accidently got some overspray on the radiator? and now it's overheating. The only thing is, I drove it around all spring till June with the Plasti-Dip on and it never overheated then, and my mom's been driving it since.

He said he was going to drive around some more today to see if it burned off more Anti-Freeze that quickly, and if it does he's going to take to my dealer to get it looked at. I'm just scared there going to see that Plasti-Dip overspray on there and get pissed and charge me for a brand new radiator when it could be peeled off..

I have '11 ECO 6MT with a Full Injen CAI. Stock tune and exhaust. 12,000 miles

[OnlyTaurus]

If the cap wasn't secure, the coolant will easily escape, especially hot.

Regardless, the dealer will(SHOULD) call you before proceeding with any work, especially if customer payment is involved. At that point I would just say "No thanks, I'll take care of it myself," and take a soft bristle brush(toothbrush) and gentle scrub the front of the rad clean of Plasti-Dip.

I don't really think your rad is in trouble, but next time make sure whoever tops it off makes certain the cap is properly secure.

[kfr291]

coolant under pressure has a higher boiling point, when the cap is off the coolant can boil off at a lower temperature, the cruze runs normally in the 200-220 range, well above the point of boil for straight water. It would not matter if you just filed it up, if the cap was open ( espcially in the summer) that coolant is not going to last all that long... still sucks to hear, i happy that there so far there seems to be no major issues. Also i apolgize if what i am saying seems that i talking down on you, i promise i am not. just want to make sure you have the information to help you solve the problem.

i hope it all works out for you

[GoldenCruze]

Look in the owners manual and you'll see that these tiny engines hold a little over a gallon of coolant! Takes no time at all to leak out.

Your Dad might have done something that was not needed, which was adding coolant. The expansion tank is not marked with a cold fill level and many people assume that all of the empty space in there means it is low. Not so, that's space for hot coolant to expand into.

Also, make sure he used Dex-Cool. (the orange stuff) Other varieties are not compatible with that car.

[obermd]

Look in the owners manual and you'll see that these tiny engines hold a little over a gallon of coolant! Takes no time at all to leak out.

Your Dad might have done something that was not needed, which was adding coolant. The expansion tank is not marked with a cold fill level and many people assume that all of the empty space in there means it is low. Not so, that's space for hot coolant to expand into.

Also, make sure he used Dex-Cool. (the orange stuff) Other varieties are not compatible with that car.

There is an arrow on my coolant tank. The cold fill level on level ground should be between the bottom and top of this arrow.

[sciphi]

As somebody else pointed out, these cars run hot and have little coolant in them. A 1.4l engine doesn't need as much coolant since there's less to cool. And, at 220*F, a loose pressure cap on the overflow tank will boil that coolant off in short order. I'd refill with more Dex-Cool (make sure it's recently purchased Dex that won't eat nylon like earlier formulations will) and check again in a few days. Check while hot, for reason explained below.

For some reason, the antifreeze likes to play hide and seek. Mine looked low when the car was cold, so I checked again when the car was hot. Nope, it's all there. Weird.

[SBK15]

Yes, dad realized there is no cold-fill mark, but I understand that the lose cap is why all the Anti-Freeze boiled out, but the reason the cap was loose is because my Dad had to put more Anti-Freeze in it, cause it was low. Before that, what we thought was weird was that it sucked that Anti-Freeze dry since the last time I topped it off (in june) But, I talked to him today and he said he drove it for a good while on Saturday and made sure everything got good and heat soaked, and he said the anti-freeze didn't drop a bit. So I believe no major issues.

[GoldenCruze]

I have 15,000 miles on my Cruze and have not added a drop of coolant. Nor has the coolant level changed.