HELP! My 2000 3.0L V6 Merc Sable is OVERHEATING. It has 99k on it, drives great.
It overheated yesterday, I drove 30 minutes to another town, it did fine. I came out of a store, started her up, drove 10 seconds and noticed the temp gaude needle was above the H. I panicked and pulled over.
My bf opened the hood right before the coolant exploded and spewed from beneath the cap...and I mean SPEWED, it gushed out.
Drove 2 secs to a nearby shop.
Mechanic said a fan failed to kick on unless he beat it with his fist, haha. I am beat...I am a 20 yr old college student, with a part time job...no cash, this is my life this Merc Sable.
I call my bro my he's a mechanic 250 miles away...he told me to have the radiator and some other things pressure tested for a leak. then he told me about something to do with %26quot;PSI%26quot;. I know he would know what is wrong with the car if he could check it out, but he cant, so i can only talk to him by phone..I'll have the mechanic talk to him on the phone too...so they can discuss this stuff but I'd like to know anything you can tell me just incase I cant reach my bro.
He changed the thermostat about 7 months ago, including tranny filter, cabin filter, oil filter...plus he changes the oil everytime i come home, which is about every 4k mi, I do not trust most mechanics so I just treck 250 mi home to see family and have my car checked out.
Now I cant go home bc my car will keep overheating so I hope this mechanic is good. He is a christian man and has bible quotes and all the christian stuff in his shop, even has it blaring over the radio. Being christian has nothing to do with your skills, although I hope he is an honest christian and wont rip me off.
So I think I should have my radiator pressure tested, although there is no leaks present, my oil is not a milky color and coolant doesnt leak anywhere and is bright green and not brown.
There is no leaking inside the cabin of the car so I probably can say the heater core isnt busted. It may need a flushing though because my heater doesnt work either, hasnt for the whole time Ive had this car. Ive heard when people have flushed their heater cores, a whole bunch of rust gunk comes out and fixes their heaters temporarely.
Also when the mechanic had to hit one of my fans to make it work, the other one didnt work at all, so maybe it is an electrical problem with the fan...or is the second fan only supposed to come on when the temp of the car reaches a certain point?
I also know there is a possibility with the water pump busting??? if you know about that please tell me all about it and how it could affect my fans in any way, im dying to know.
Anything anyone could tell me would help! ID APPRECIATE IT SO MUCH!
SO, what is making my fans not turn on?
Id like to give the mechanic any tips I can from research so I know there can only be a few problems with the car and have him not pull my leg and make me pay for a new head gasket repair when mine is perfectly fine, ya know?
thank you so much!2000 Mercury Sable Overheating?well, overheating can very well crack a head. its a good sign that the car still starts. that shows that no compression is being lost through a crack in the head. your fan is controlled by a tamp switch. this switch also gives you your temp reading on the gauge. the temp switch tells the cooling fan control unit when to turn the fan on. if the mechanic had to hit your fan to turn it on you probably have a short it the fan motor. a new fan would be needed. if the control unit proves to be bad you can always wire you fan to a switch to avoid costly repairs. however, doing this would force you to keep a constant eye on your temp gauge so you know when you need to turn it on. the fan should kick on around 3/4 on the gauge( about 200-220 deg.) as for your overheating, this could be caused by several different things. your thermostat may not be operating properly(stuck closed), your water pump could have failed(you would see coolant leaking out the seep hole...pretty obvious honestly). your radiator could be clogged with dirt, bugs and other crap you run into while driving down the road. your fan not turning on when needed (while sitting at an idle, your temp goes up pretty quickly).
your brother is right about the pressure test. you shouldnt exceed 13 psi on the gauge for the tester. however, this will only tell you if there are leaks. it will show if the water pump has blown a seal causing it to leak out the seep hole.
what you should have done: do the pressure test to check the water pump(replace it if needed), change the thermostat(again), replace the fan motor(check to make sure the fan kicks on when its suppose to. otherwise hard-wire the fan to a toggle switch which should be mounted in the cab of the car) and do a radiator flush. having the flush professionally done should help with your heater issues as well. and check your hoses...you could have a clogged hose. also have your radiator blown out(the mechanic will use a air nozzle with lite air pressure to do this( to much air pressure could destroy the fins on the radiator....wouldnt be good...the radiator has to have air moving through it to cool the coolant)
the second fan in your engine compartment is for the A/C. air moves across the condenser to keep the pressure on the high side of the A/C around 250psig. this fan will only turn on when you turn your a/c on it is controlled by a fan switch on the high pressure line...if the a/c is operable.
just cause the mechanic is a christian doesnt mean he doesnt have a business to run...he WILL get every penny out of you that he can. in a professional manner of course.
hope this helped. feel free to email me if you have any other questions2000 Mercury Sable Overheating?What color was the coolant? If it was brown, that's bad news. You never want to put tap water into the radiator, because it has minerals in it, which can cause corrosion, specifically, the vanes of the water pump could have corroded, and not circulated enough coolant. In that case, you'd need to replace the water pump. Always use distilled water in the radiator. It's also possible that the new thermostat was a cheap part of poor quality, and maybe that caused the overheating.
The fan is not controlled by the temp switch. There is a temperature sending unit that is connected to the cars computer, and when the computer determines the engine is too hot, it will activate a relay, which powers the fan, because the computer doesn't have enough power to run a fan.
First replace the necessary hoses, and refill with coolant. Start the engine and let it warm up. As it reaches operating temperature, you should be able to feel the upper radiator hose get warm from hot coolant circulating to the radiator. As the engine gets hot, the fan should turn on. The mechanic should check for voltage to the fan when the engine is hot but not overheating. If there is 12-14 volts to the fan, then the ground circuit should be checked. If the ground circuit (one wire connecting directly to the car body) is good, then the fan is the problem. If there's no power to the fan, then the fan relay could be the problem.
