Hello Scotty Community,
2013 Kia Optima 2.4 that is my mother-in-law’s. She was driving it tonight when it began to overheat. I went to assess. The radiator cap was off. I added some coolant and it did not continue to overheat while in the parking lot. I followed her home. We made a stop and she told me that there was no heat. I was assuming it was the thermostat. Then it cooled and we hurried to her house. While I rode with her the heat came on. I’m thinking faulty thermostat. While pulling in to her driveway the heat shut off and was blowing cold again. Is this indeed a bad thermometer or air in the system?
Thanks for your thoughts.
I wonder where the coolant went. There is a procedure for bleeding air out of the system. It is different from model to model. You should get the service manual. It's available on line through several different sources. I would highly recommend changing the thermostat. If it is sticking and you continue to overheat that engine and as a result the whole car will be history.
The radiator cap was off
I found the problem
Hopefully no damage was done. Today's lightweight aluminum engines don't like to be overheated and Kia engines are not the most robust in the world.
The heat problem could be the thermostat or air in the system, but if that thermostat is original it should certainly be replaced at this point in any event. (Heat problems can also be caused by a malfunctioning blend door, but given what happened that's unlikely in this case.)
I'm not sure what the factory specifies for coolant change intervals on that vehicle but while in there I'd also flush the cooling system if that hasn't been done for several years and be sure to bleed any air out of it.
