Kizashi Club

It was a dark and stormy night...seriously. And my A/C stops working. Not that I need it for temperature sake (it was 48 degrees outside) but now my windows immediately fog up! I have it on full defrost up front and have my windows cracked. All other climate control features work, just no A/C. This is while I was on a long smooth drive on cruise at 68 MPH. I pull over when I find a safe spot and peek under the hood. The A/C clutch is turning on and off. Whats weird though is that the coolant overflow tank is about to spill over and both the radiator fans are spinning full speed! The temp gauge on the dash has held steady the whole time, but the cooling system seems to be working in overtime and I suspect the A/C turning off is a system of the car trying not to overheat. I finish my drive back into town, let the car run for a couple of minutes to cool and take another look under the hood. Overflow tank is now empty and fans seem to be back to normal operation. This morning everything works fine, I top off the coolant back to normal (not really knowing what happened to the fluid that was suppose to be in there) and everything seems fine, including the A/C. What's up

How were you driving the car at the time? Steep inclines? Stress factors to the engine? If it happens again, I'd examine the cooling system carefully for pressure leaks (radiator cap?) and then test/replace the thermostat.
Also, I believe the owner's manual states that 90,000 miles is the first flush and refill interval for the factory fill of the Super Blue coolant. I'll be doing that soon along with a lot of other service as my car is now over 90K.

I would be checking belt , tensioner and crank pulley for proper function. The only thing you are missing for a belt slippage complaint is battery light and this can easily be missed. Belt wear maxed slipping when fully taxed. Crank pulley dampener slip, tensioner pivot froze.

KuroNekko wrote:How were you driving the car at the time? Steep inclines? Stress factors to the engine? If it happens again, I'd examine the cooling system carefully for pressure leaks (radiator cap?) and then test/replace the thermostat.
Also, I believe the owner's manual states that 90,000 miles is the first flush and refill interval for the factory fill of the Super Blue coolant. I'll be doing that soon along with a lot of other service as my car is now over 90K.

At the time it was a long stretch of flat highway on cruise control. I did the 90K flush, changed the thermostat and cap at that time. I do have a pressure test kit...should probably bust that out and check that the cap and system still hold proper pressure.

Did it again, 2 1/2 months after last incident. Still no obvious mechanical issues I can detect. Thermostat on dash held steady. Only noticed because of the A/C not functioning while cruising on highway on way to work. As soon as I exit to surface streets, a/c kicks back into operation. I park and can smell the coolant that had spilled out of the overflow tank. Once everything cooled off I had to refill the overflow tank as it was now completely empty. How is it that the coolant is so hot and expanded that it's overflowing, fans are on full speed, and yet the temp gauge is normal?

One explanation goes something like this. If the coolant level in the radiator/engine is low, at idle or with the engine off all of the coolant is in the bottom of both and the top of both is full of air/steam. At high rpms the water pump sucks all of the coolant out of the radiator and packs the engine full. The temperature sensors for various different things are in different locations, so at speed they're reading right but when you slow down they're no longer in the coolant flow so they might read wrong. Or it could be the opposite way around depending on the specific location. It's not unusual to have one sensor for the gauge, one for the computer, one for the A/C shutoff, and one for the fan. Not sure what the setup is on the Kizashi, but the G10 three cylinder in the Suzuki Swift/GEO Metro had four separate sensors.

You should remove your radiator cap when the engine is cold and see what the level is in there. Just filling up the overflow bottle might take four or five complete cold/hot/cold cycles before it refills the radiator.

Woodie wrote: You should remove your radiator cap when the engine is cold and see what the level is in there. Just filling up the overflow bottle might take four or five complete cold/hot/cold cycles before it refills the radiator.

Thanks, I'll give her another look...

Yeah, I always check the radiator level by removing the cap instead of relying on the reservoir level for any vehicle having issues with cooling. Exceptions are the pressured reservoir-type systems like you see with Fords.

Finally pulled out my pressure test kit(should have done this a while ago!)...cap wouldn't hold pressure. Not sure if this would be the sole reason for my issues but I made sure to get a new cap anyway. This was a new cap I got when I flushed the cooling system at 90k. Cheap aftermarket from some local parts store. So yesterday when I went to the local parts store for another cap, i brought my pressure test kit with me. The first cap off the shelf wouldn't release pressure at all! Second one seems to be good.

Isn't it just great that you have to bring a test kit along with you to buy a replacement for a failed part? Progress....