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03 3.5 GLS Overheat issue

5K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  Gizan 
#1 ·
2003 Santa Fe 3.5L V6

Replaced the Timing belt (water pump, tensioner ect.) 20k miles ago (16k highway miles from cali to texas and back)
replaced the Sparkplugs and Wires (had 120k miles on them)
Just replaced the Valve cover gaskets (front leaking) while replacing these, broke the Ignition harness for the rear (replaced with part from dealer)

After replacing the valve cover gaskets, i drove roughly 200 miles through the mountians, no problems.

Did an oil change (moved from convetional to fully syntheic 10-30 Mobile with mobile filter) I live in the desert so my dad (30 year mechanic) suggested going with slightly heavier oil. Now my oil light comes on and flickers sometimes, when i drive over road dots it flickers a lot.

I just recently drove to vegas (215 miles each direction) and as i was driving through San Burnadino mountians, it started to overheat, so i pulled over and let it cool off, continued to vegas, had no issues IN vegas, on the way back i had the same issues in the mountians, Driving at 65-70 car was overheating again.

I got home, and all the fans work, with the AC on and OFF, they go into High and low.
Today, i flushed the radiator. Pulled the bottom hose, drained the system, (rusty), Used distilled water to flush the system. hooked the hose back up, filled it back up with Distilled water, Drove it arround the block, let it cool off. Flushed with Distilled water again, and a little bit more rust came out. Filled it back up with 50/50, and it Still runs hot under load (getting on the freeway and getting upto 70-80)

What should i check next? I can replace the Thermostat, but it doesnt sound like a thermostat issue.
 
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#2 ·
Radiator Job

Just an educated guess here, based on the miles the car must be at
and the fact that you are getting rust out of the system, you might
want to consider a new radiator. It sounds as if the current system
might be clogged up. Do yourself a favor and put in a new thermostat
with the radiator.


Good luck,
Paul
 
#3 ·
Ya, i picked up the replacement thermostat last night after driving it for a bit, to go ahead and change that. My dad also suggested the Radiator was probably clogged, but as he is in Texas and Im in California, he wouldnt know without looking at it.
 
#4 ·
Check the upper radiator hose (hot) and lower radiator hose (should be hot)
If not then there may be a clog. Check to see if there is flow (radiator cap off and look as the coolant flows by)
If there is no flow then it could be the radiator is clogged or the water pump has failed.
When you changed the timing belt did you use a kit and replace the idler, tensioner and water pump as well??

On another thread, someone had mentioned if there was an air bubble ...??? Don't know

Good Luck
 
#6 ·
As stated by my first post, when i replaced the timing belt i did the whole kit. "Replaced the Timing belt (water pump, tensioner ect.) "

both hoses were hot, its hard to see if theres fluid moving past the radiator cap as its a 90 degree angle from the side of the radiator into it, but i did see movement.
 
#8 ·
So, i disconnected the hose from the Thermostat housing, replaced the thermostat, flushed water through the radiator, and let it drain out the thermostat housing till it ran clear, put a new T-stat in, and fresh coolant, while it doesnt heat up as fast, it helped, so im sure its probably the Radiator. so ill get a new one ordered, and get it installed this weekend, and update the thread.

Captcha: "And that's the way it is"
 
#9 ·
A Little Update, After around 6 flushes, including running a bottle of clean and flush, I got TONS of gunk out of the system. Ran straight water for the last month of so (since it hasnt been lower than 50 at all) i back flushed the Heater core several times, between flushes. It's back down to normal operating temps. I will be replacing the radiator come christmas when i have more Free time. I might also replace the heater core, as the first time i flushed it, it was orange and black gunk coming out of it.
 
#12 ·
my Santa fe ran fine till last night after I checked my radiator water level while hunting for a nut to my inverter that dissappear under my new battery and remains Mia after a lengthy search and FEELING places I couldn't see under battery she'll etc. noticed my break fluid low filled it noticed a nest on the other side of engine behind passenger headlight and all under and around that area above water pump alternator and below the coolant overflow (plastic box to fill ?) I'm an old lady so bear with me pls) . I did disconnectthe negative battery terminal trying to move the battery by it was too heavy and I put it back .so after giving up my search I had a veterinary emergency and got in the car Togo to vet 2 miles away and IT SHOT STRAIGHT TO RED on gage about a mile down freeway .I stopped it did not appear too hot by was bubbling loudly in the plastic tank .I cooled it down while running added water and steam came blasting out I let it cool and tried again and hoped I could get to vet as my dog was bleeding everywhere from an ear injury
it almost got to red again as I arrived at end of second mile I let it sit an hour came out and drove 2 miles and no overheating until about 2/3 of the 2 mile drive home awhen I turned on the heater /defrost and it jumped immediately back to red but when I turned it back off it went to normal . I kept driving it was fone till next morning drove a mile and back fine. but then began overheating again . NO WATER LEAKS I CAN SEE anywhere fan is on no steam at exhaust water was low rust in water and I'm wondering. is it the ground on my battery the missing nut or the nest I cleared with half a dead frog . I have ha 2 ppl look one says head gasket or cracked block the other thinks bad radiator cap ( pressure sealed issue with AIR) or thermostat . after reading all the posts I can't help thinking yesterday's missing NUT possibly causing the issue with a ground wire or other mishap along c with the suspect nest and rusty water ? I am broke and stuck so can someone wave a magic wand and make this issue easier to figure out I'm pretty sure the battery being messed with and nest of leaves and debris over water pump and removing cap is a good is a good place a good place to look for likely culprit. since there doesn't seem to be anything but a lot of LOUD BUBBLESIN the plastic tank and not actually acting like it's really HOT just can't see any other reason why it would start acting up this way Now I haven't had any issues till that nut
 
#13 ·
How about some punctuation? And making short clear, concise sentences?
It would make it easier to decipher your post and help you.

Your battery wouldn't cause the cooling system to fail and overheat.
Overheating can cause head gasket to fail if it goes hot and stay hot for a long period of time.
Don't know how bad it went when you had the emergency?

It seems more likely a coincidence. To be checking the car and having an overheat issue.
It may help if you start by taking a look at the cooling system.

When the engine is cold, take off the radiator cap (caution: engine and cooling system must be cold).
Start engine. The cold engine would not have coolant flow. If you don't have enough coolant then fill the radiator.
Wait til the engine is at normal operating temperature. Can be seen by cooling fans turning on (note AC off).
Look for flow in radiator. Movement of coolant indicates that thermostat opened and water pump is functioning.
If not then it can be caused by a restriction in the radiator.
Or, faulty water pump. Or, faulty thermostat.

Examine the radiator cap and look for any damage.
A faulty radiator cap can cause the hot coolant to be loss and then engine to eventually overheat.
But, that would take a little more time than just driving for two miles.

If the coolant running past the opening is rusty then the cooling system may need to be flushed
And the radiator replaced?

I wish you good luck.
 
#14 ·
Update 2 years later.
The Heater Core is bad (original problem) which caused the gunk to build up in the radiator/lines which have since been replaced.

The heater core will be replaced soon (once i have the time to rip the whole dash out) but thats what caused my problems originally.

Heater core change quote : 14.6 book hours + $65 core
 
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