Overheating problem

JBPOWERS

MEMBER
2014 CHEVROLET CRUZE
1.8L
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
65,000 MILES

My son's car and he said he recently replaced the cooling system (I'm sorry I don't know exactly what he means).
Car is overheating immediately, exhaust is coming up through the coolant reservoir. No visible leaking and it doesn't appear to be leaking into the oil.
I'm trying to help him get this resolved, but not sure where to start. Any idea?

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,755 POSTS

These are some of the classic symptoms of a leaking cylinder head gasket. When exhaust gas sneaks into the cooling system, that air usually pools under the closed thermostat. That air prevents the thermostat from opening, and that leads to the overheating. Thermostats have to be hit with hot liquid to open. Hot air won't do it.

The best test to confirm a head gasket is leaking is a chemical test performed at the radiator. A lot of GM models don't have caps on the radiator. For those, the test is performed at the reservoir. Here's a link to an article that shows how the test is done:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/head-gasket-blown-test

Here's a video related to this too:

https://youtu.be/5zpNjYmmiYY