Last week all my coolant leaked out over night and I filled up the tank with water the next morning to see if it would leak again but it didn’t over a span of a week. A friend suggested I change the thermostat and refill the coolant, which I did and then some issues started arising. First my previous thermostat’s highest temperature would be 212 and now that I have put a new one the temperature goes as high as 242, the second issues is that it had green coolant which of course I changed to the orange kind recommended at the store. The only positive is that it doesn’t seem to be leaving from anywhere. Now I’m not really sure how to proceed from here, any advice?
Last thing I wanted to say is that I don’t really know too much about cars so be a little patient with me as I do some trial and error to analyze the problem
What do you mean leaked out overnight ? From where ? Had to be all over the ground if it leaked out overnight. If its getting up to 242 then the stat is bad or the fan is never coming on like it should . Seems strange to see a problem like this on a 4 year old car .
Put the new one and old one in the same pot of water and heat it on the stove, using a thermometer to measure the temperature. By observing the opening rate and opening dimension you might see a clue to what’s wrong. If nothing discovered you’ll probably looking at a cooling system pressure test next. If you feel lucky you could try replacing the cooling system pressure cap on a flyer.
Welcome and sorry to hear your problem. Coolant color is not important, the type of coolant is.
Yes, start with George’s suggestion. Then do a pressure test to find that leak.
When you drain, you don’t get all the water out and, sometimes, leaves pockets of water (or air) not mixed with antifreeze. Those can flash to steam, causing the temp spikes, then be hit with “cold” coolant… not a good thing. I had that on 2 vehicles.
I believe your engine was designed to be mechanically flushed, not drained and filled. You could have it towed and a flush done once you fix the problem. That’ll eliminate that possibility.
Apologies for not replying, my account was disabled pretty much all day. To answer some of the questions, yes the coolant had leaked all over my drive way which I could see. I ended up not using the car anymore for the rest of yesterday, today I drove it asking the city and it was around 215 and didn’t really move past that or below that too much
I did, everything looks good for now. I was just freaking out a little that day but honestly didn’t expect it to just work normal like it did. You mentioned that it might need to be mechanically flushed so that might have been it