Weird Overheating Problem!, Advice please....

[jackchoo]

Hi,

My car has been overheating slightly recently but still able to drive it around (temp gauge goes 2/3 to 3/4 sometimes when it should be 1/2). Well, today it was a different story:

Drove about 25kms in the hot sunny afternoonand noticed that my temp shot up towards the last 5km of the journey. When I stopped, it was at temp gauge redline, thankfully I reached my destination. Went about my business for a couple of hours and wanted to go back home. This time, it should up after 5kms of driving! Well I don't think I can reach home so I got towed back home cos it was already late at night. Back home, I checked the radiator ..... to my horror it was dried up. I had it filled to the brim before I went out earlier! and I did not see any leak below the engine.

I filled up the rad to full again (4 bottles of 1.5litres of water) and the level in the rad stayed....it there was a leak would it not just be dumped out right away from somewhere? Took the risk and drove it for about 3-4kms, the needle stayed at 1/2 way, which seems normal.

Any ideas what is happening??

p/s : got the radiator flushed and filled with coolant/water mix just a 3 days ago!!

[teddy]

Is white smoke coming out of your exhaust?

[jackchoo]

only on cold mornings (normally after rain) during startup but after that its all ok. This is condensation right?

[574-240sx]

I would bleed the coolant system better, you may have an air pocket in there. There should be a 10mm bolt on the waterneck that the radiator hose attaches to when the car is warming up make sure you take that off and it should bleed all the air out that hole. Then put the bolt back in. Just make sure you have enough coolant in the system.

[jackchoo]

..after removing the bolt, what should i do? start the engine, rev it? leave it for how long? How can I be sure that all the bubbles are out?

Can 'some' bubble in the system cause overheating?

Thanks.