02 PT Cruiser

[pinkfloyd4ever]

Let me run this scenario by ya. Had a timing belt replaced thursday. Ran fine. Sat night car died, original battery in, jumped started to get it running. Told friend keep it running until you get home & we'll put new one in sunday. So while it was idling it over heated & dumped a lot of coolant out. By a lot I'd say similar to a 16 ounce mountain dew bottle. I shut the car off let it sit all night. Sunday put new battery in, check coolant, the radiator is full. Started it, ran fine all day, no over heating, coolant level stayed full. Any ideas on what would cause it to over heat and dump coolant like that?

[Jeremy airjer W]

Did the cooling fan come on when it "overheated"?

Did you replace the water pump when you did the timing belt?

when you said the car died that implies that it was running and then stalled which is not a symptom of a bad battery. Would it make more sense to say that the car would not start sat. night?

[pinkfloyd4ever]

I didn't do the timing belt, that was done in a shop, to my knowledge water pump was not replaced.

I don't know if the fan came on or not, I just noticed it overheating and ran and shut the car off.

Correct- car would not start = new battery

Like I say, the funny part is that coolant level was full in radiator sunday morning and didn't overheat since. More curiosity if in anyway a bad battery could have somehow contributed to something causing the overheating and dumping out coolant. Hasn't put out a drop since

[Jeremy airjer W]

The coolant came out of the overflow bottle? Its entirely possible that the people topped off the coolant in both the radiator and the overflow (maybe to much in the overflow). Coolant expands when hot and it typically goes into the overflow until the engine cools down and then it returns to the radiator. If the overflow is to full than that excessive coolant from the radiator has no where to go except out of the overflow.

Did you notice if the gauge was reading hot or did you just see the coolant?

[pinkfloyd4ever]

Forgot to add that also, yes the temp light was on as I went in there to turn the key off. Where the puddle started on the driveway was closer to the back of the engine compartment where the overflow tank is. Overflow tank pouring out makes sense, but would that make the temp light come on too?

[Jeremy airjer W]

I would bet there was one last air pocket that made its way out. If it hasn't overheated again under the same conditions than It may have resolved itself.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

alrighty then! Thanks for the help, like I said it was just one of those things that didn't seem to add up.

Thanks and we'll see what happens.