Dont want to give up my baby 2003 pt cruiser

[Rain]

Ok so for months I have read and researched hundreds of sites, posts and comments about overheating. In the 2000 to 2006 Pt cruisers But have not found any thing like what I'm going through!

So Ill make this as short but detailed as possible
I bought a 2003 pt Basic in feb 2014 car ran great! Not even a month later My timing belt broke leaving me no choice but to tow it thankfully I have a great friend and mechanic right next door. Any way due to the Interference engine I had to Oder all mew parts and rebuild my engine, motor mounts, thermostat , water pump , and all the other stuff I might as well do wile in there. Got my baby back only spent $1900. I did just about every thing I could wile having it open . She ran awesome For about AMONTH.

Wile driving I noticed it was starting to over heat not much and didn't last long ! But every day slowly get worse. Now she does not over heat in steady traffic or stop and go or wile just sitting normally she's fine but if I'm driving up hill ..... NO MATTER HOW BIG OR SMALL she overheats Turning on the heater will bring her down to normal if it is a small hill but if it is a long or steep one she will get to where I have to pull over..... Till I reach the top or go down hill then it was back to normal. Now I know all about the fan relay and blades and motors fuses also the engine coolant temperature sensors and yes the Head gasket. Done and checked it all .... along with a radiator flush once a week at first it was once a month but no mater what I replace check or do its getting worse my engine light came on and not even 30 seconds later I was at the part store checking codes and fixing my o2 sensor ! I love my Baby



Now Here's where I Get worried
Yesterday morning At 5am I get a call from my husband On his way home from work The PT cruiser is over heating and is not cooling down At all. When he finally made it home after stopping Who knows how many times I checked the coolant level
NOTHING Bone dry ...... Yes he put coolant in it every time and never let it get to the red line. so I spend All day flushing the system over and over about 2pm I put in the antifreeze and some water wetter now cars on sitting at normal then starts boiling and not like that boiling from the overflow I mean yes it was coming from there too but In the radiator and engine where every there was coolant it was boiling loud But temp gage does not move fans on every thing looks good thermostat opened .I shut it off right away. a hour later try again seems fine take for a spine don't get far pull over had to leave car and walk home .

If I cant get this heating under control I have no choice but to get rid of her I can keep pumping money in to it and getting no results I've tried every thing checked every thing read all I can searched every thing I can think of This is my last hope

If you know of some thing I have not tried or heard about or had this problem PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LET ME KNOW
I have 2 weeks to figure this out and that's the time I'm giving up !


OOOh yes I am not leacking any thing That I know and have done several pressure tests

[LionPT]

If your sure the head gasket is ok, I'd say it's the fan...most likely the high speed. Read this post: New here....and a question & do the fan speed test.

[quicksilverdon]

1) It is NOT an interference engine-- not sure why you felt you had to rebuild the engine.
2) when timing belt was replaced, was water pump replaced?
3) have you had a head gasket test done?

Depending on answers to 2&3, you may need a new radiator

[xwing777]

A bad radiator cap or the wrong one can cause this. If not under pressure radiator will boil over at much lower temps

[CREWZIN]

....and I never heard you say anything about burping the coolant system to make sure there's no air trapped inside. Needs to be done anytime that you have to add coolant.

[Rain]

Ok well It turns out my O ring for the water pump was bad along with bad radiator cap and bleeding the air out .... So the over heating stopped

Now I have a new set of problems...... There is a loud grinding sound coming from my engine! I had a engine oil pressure sensor code pop up so I replaced that the oil light is still on .
I also read that it could be the flex plat bolts loose would cause the sound so I checked that and they were loose so tighten them up took some of the sound away but it still sounds like its chewing some thing up????????

[quicksilverdon]

Originally Posted by Rain

Ok well It turns out my O ring for the water pump was bad

So, I bet that was expensive! To get at water pump is same labor as doing timing belt.

For Noise - open hood and try to locate what area noise is coming from.
Did you have other belts replaced when timing belt was done?

[Rain]

The sound seems to be coming from the passenger side not sure if its the top or bottom..... I would post video but not sure how to do that on this site

As far as other belts no I believe I just changed the timing but put so many new parts on this car since feb so cant remember

[Jep]

Are you not keeping good records?

Originally Posted by Rain

The sound seems to be coming from the passenger side not sure if its the top or bottom..... I would post video but not sure how to do that on this site

As far as other belts no I believe I just changed the timing but put so many new parts on this car since feb so cant remember

[Rain]

my husband keep all records filed away as far as where he puts them I don't care normally to ask or go back and look never had this many problems on a car before my job is to just fix the car not keep track of records but I will have have to take a look