Have 2003 Turbo Charged Pt Cruiser. Started To Overheat Last Week. Checked Fluids Everything Ok.

What happens if I overfill my power steering fluid?

Most modern power steering system has a pressure relief built into it. Most are in the cap. The fluid will expand with heat and the pressure relief will let it over flow out of the system. Then you have a mess. That’s it. No harm done. To the system at least, but not good for the environment.

Is it safe to drive a vehicle without power steering fluid?

No it’s not. While you CAN drive without it, the potential failure could result in stranding you on the side of the road. Anything built in the last 15 years most likely has a serpentine belt system that powers all your accessories.When you run out of power steering fluid, the bearings in your power steering pump no longer have lubrication available to keep them cool. Those bearings will fail, the pump will seize and that will result in your serpentine belt to fight against one accessory that is no longer moving. The belt will fly off the engine and all other accessories, water pump, A/C, alternator etc will be powerless and your vehicle will shortly cease to run from overheating or dead battery.

Is it okay to drive your car without thermostats?

If you take out the thermostat then the coolant will just flow 100% by the water pump. Assuming that your system is properly sized so that cutting off flow with the thermostat will result in the proper operating temperature being met then running without a thermostat will always result in a lower than intended operating temperature.Here are some things that will happen:Your engine will run cooler than the desired temperature most all of the time andit will pollute more since it is tuned to run at the designed temperatureYour heater will take longer to become effective since the coolant is used to warm the heater core heat exchanger so you may, on cold days take longer to warm the cabin andmore importantly, it will take much longer to defrost the windshield using the defroster function.Probably it won’t hurt short term to the car engine itself, I don’t think. But in the long term operating it significantly below the designed temperature could have a number of effects, perhaps on lube viscosity, various carbon buildups that lead to other engine performance problems and possibly permanent damage.I once had a mechanic shop replace the thermostat and flush the coolant. When I get it back the car took forever to warm up the heater and get the engine to the temperature. I eventually took off the thermostat housing and found he had placed it about half way off and clamped it down with the housing out of position- it didn’t leak but the gap on one side pretty much made it free flowing.

What problems go along with a bad catalytic converter?

A clogged catalytic convertor causes the symptoms of a loss of power when accelerating or going up a hill. This is an often overlooked cause of loss of power, can cause check engine fault codes and lights, and mechanics will often change a few parts unnecessarily , especially if it is only partially plugged. A couple ways I check for plugged cats when a low power complaint is a symptom, and other obvious basic maintenance items have been checked for service is to have someone hold the rpm at about 1800 to 2000 steady. Then check for a good push of exhaust with my hand from behind the tailpipe. A plugged or partially plugged cat typically leaves a hot sickly feeling exhaust flow from the tailpipe. Compare to a known good working car nearby, known to be performing properly and with the same amount of cylinders. That slow , hot sickly flow at 2000 rpm compared to the hard push blowing your hand away of a not clogged cat is a dead giveaway, and I have NEVER misdiagnosed a plugged cat , or made false diagnosis with this method. Another way is watching a vacuum gauge connected to the intake manifold. When revving up, if the exhaust is plugged the gauge reading will climb then begin to slowly drop as the exhaust pressure builds up. Further testing will be needed to verify which part of the exhaust is plugged. Diagnostic by codes is unreliable and until now I had not heard of it. A code p420 only refers to catalyst efficiency. And can be set by faulty o2 sensors. Removing the exhaust and testing for engine power returning to normal works. But the hot sickly flow has been most accurate with my experience, in several cases where shops had missed it, were stumped and called me to come check. They are always embarrassed for missing the simplicity, but need not, as cars and their complicated electronics and even age old problems can lead to loss of power without any immediately obvious cause.

What causes a car to lose power while driving?

In modern cars with engine management systems, it is the system itself that reduces power if it detects a problem with the engine.  A warning light will come and and the engine will go into 'limp home' mode, where speed it usually limited to 80km/h or lower.  Any number of things can cause this, but usually it relates to loss of something important, like a coolant leak, or low oil pressure.  Sometimes it can also be a false positive due to a fault in the management system itself.All internal combustion engines require three things to work; compression, fuel and ignition.  Degradation of any one of theses will result in lower engine performance.Loss of compression can result from engine wear, common in engines with several hundred thousand kilometers on the clock.  Engine efficiency is lost because gasses can escape past the piston rings.  Mechanical failure such as a blown head gasket can cause a similar loss.Blockages or degradation of the fuel supply, such as a worn fuel pump will cause loss of power for obvious reasons.Ignition faults stem from things such as a cracked distributor head, worn spark plugs, worn ignition coil or faulty spark plug leads.  They generally result in some cylinders not igniting the fuel/air mix, thus reducing the power.Loss of lubricant or coolant will cause the engine to overheat and then seize.  In this case, loss of power is 100%.Worn bearings in the engine will usually not reduce power much, they will keep working, making more and more noise, and then fail catastrophically, causing the engine to seize.It is also possible for timing chains to slip, adjustment screws to loosen in the carburetor, exhaust manifolds to develop leaks , and other minor mechanical faults to occur that will reduce engine power.  This can happen suddenly or gradually over time.

How do I know if my radiator is "blocked" (not circulating coolant)?

First make sure your thermostat is working, that is a much more common problem than a radiator being blocked.If you're sure your thermostat is working (either by carefully feeling the coolant hose coming out of it to confirm it is hot or going so far as to remove it completely as a test if it's easily accessible), then carefully see if the hose leaving the radiator is warm.If your radiator is partially blocked and causing coolant to go through it more slowly than it should, the symptoms should be variable with outside temperature and vehicle speed (whereas with a thermostat it should be pretty much the same under all conditions). For example, it will be hotter sitting in traffic than at highway speed. What is more common than an internally blocked radiator (though of course that does happen) is an externally blocked radiator where road debris and dried bugs are preventing air from passing through it and hampering its ability to cool things down. Visually inspect both the front and the back. If dirty, ou can literally take a garden hose to it and should notice a differnece immediately (if it is your problem). Even if it is not visibly dirty, make sure the air from the fan is passing through it to the engine side. And while we're on the topic of fans, make sure yours is working. That's also a much more common problem than an internally blocked radiator.Again, seriously, be careful, the components will be hot.

What does it mean if there's oil in my radiator?

Means you have a leak between the oil system and the cooling system. Probably means you also have coolant antifreeze in your oil... check the dipstick for water contamination. That's a worse problem.This is bad and is a sign that the walls between the coolant and lubrication system have corroded through (from depleted coolant - too old) or your engine block is cracked from freezing or severe overheating.  Both oil and coolant travel through passageways in the block and the walls between them can be thin.  Another possibility is a head gasket failure.This is not a totally uncommon ocurrence I have heard, and to fix Head gasket is not too bad but the corrosion or cracked block will likely be expensive. Continuing to drive this way will eventually destroy the engine totally (it's not that far from there now, even though it may be running). The watery oil will foam and be ineffective. the metal parts will rust and eventually the engine will seize as the hole gets bigger and the leak worse.