PNYXPRESS

Find the leak and go from there. Normally a leaking heater core ends up in the passenger compartment. It could be as simple as a split or hole in a hose or a loose clamp.

TfcCDR

If the heater core is leaking, you will smell coolant (assuming you're not running just water in your radiator).

Villiska

There is no coolant found on the passenger side floor, no smell in the car and no condensation on the windshield. Would this point to it being the water pump?

BabyGT

No, because turning the heat on when a vehicle is having overheating issues can actually help you limp home due to the heater core acting as a second radiator. I'd still suspect air in the system or a leak somewhere you can't find, possibly internal.

Villiska

I should have knocked on wood man. I drove my car today and it's roughly 55 degrees for whatever reason today, so I didn't touch my ***** at all and she overheated on me after a somewhat rougher drive (highway annoyances) and within 15 minutes of the drive she was begging me to pull her over.

I'm really hoping this is just the water pump because I can pick up the part now from Nappa and get it changed today.

Can anyone please help me with this and tell me of a water pump replacement would be logical?

PNYXPRESS

its either that or the head gasket. if its the pump there should be signs on the bottom of a small coolant leak.

If its a head gasket then the coolant is either in the oil or cylinders.

easiest way to check head gasket is run the car for a bit then turn the engine over by hand slowly and listen for the radiator to depressurize.

Villiska

I haven't seen any coolant or anything but perfectly clean oil in my car after every change since I've bought her so I'm really, really hoping it's not that. As for the coolant leak, I do see stains under my car where I park it over night, so there is a coolant leak.

I just don't want to go and buy the pump and have it do me no good. If I go down the path of the water pump replacement, I'll also flush the coolant system and burp the system or whatever. I haven't done that once since I've owned the car and that was back in November 2013 and about 15k has been put on her since.

Gosh, this car has a new problem every week. It's really giving me a run for my money. I think she knows I'm selling her soon and she's misbehaving...

PNYXPRESS

sounds like a water pump issue if there is coolant on the ground. I would try to pinpoint the leak first though.

If you can, put the car on jack stands and crawl underneath with a light while its running. if you dont see anything have someone shut off the car while you are still under it. this should present the leak.

Villiska

Thank you. I actually checked my coolant which is something I should have done immediately and it was completely empty in the back fill reservoir. I filled her up and picked up my lunch and there was no sign of overheating.

I'm going to make sure she's filled to the correct level and drive her to my friend's house then back home which is about 3x the amount of driving I did this morning, and see how she handles it.

We might be back at the issue of a coolant leak + overheating issue when using the *****, and I was simply low on coolant. That probably brings us back to the idea of it being the heater core.

I don't know. I'm just praying this car gets me through these 6 months with as little expenses as possible. Really stressful having a new issue arise less than 2 weeks after each repair. It just doesn't stop.

Derf00

Depending on your moral compass, if you leave it, at least tell the new owner about it. It will negatively affect the price you sell it at though. If you don't disclose it, the new owner probably won't be aware of it until the next winter. Karma is a bitch tho.

Either way, if you can deal with it as-is, deal with it. It sounds like it's under control for the time being. If you don't want to fix it and to be certain you are ok, disconnect the heater core lines from the firewall and connect the hoses to each other so that you close the loop and remove the heater core from the equation. Test out the repair by moving the HVAC settings around. You should not get anymore overheating or lost fluid.