Help - overheating

[440OHIO]

Last week during the arctic blast that came thru ohio I had a couple different things going on. First everything ran fine, I went in the store to grab some groceries came out turned the key and nothing happened. I turned it back and forth and it finally started on the 3rd try. I thought that was strange being the battery was only 2 months old but it was also -40 degrees so just figured that was the factor. Upon driving home I started to overheat, luckily the super cold windchill kept it cold enough to limp the last mile. I knew I had an improper mix ratio of water/coolant so again thought it was due to the extreme cold and I had a possible ice block somewhere. I pulled it into the garage and turned the heat on to let everything thaw out overnight. Come the next day I tore into it. First thing it started right up but the dash showed "check charging system", also noticed the battery had a frost on it. Jumping into the other problem I did a complete system flush on the coolant, drained everything, then filled with the proper mix. During the circulation process eventually the charging system light went off after the battery warmed up. So at this point I thought it was fixed and contributed all the problems to being the fact it was so cold. It sat for a few days then I drove it all over with no issues. This morning I go to get breakfast and while sitting in the McDonald's drive-thru it overheated again and popped a hose clamp on the heater inlet hose. I shut it off, put the hose back on, filled the coolant back up, then it wouldn't start again. Tapped on the starter a couple times (not sure if that's what did it) but it eventually started however the charging system light came back on. Turned it off, turned it back on and everything was fine. Drove it all the way home without issue. A little while ago it dawned on me I do have a check engine light on which has been an EVAP code but when checking it the last time a P0480 code popped up for the cooling fan malfunction. The only thing I can think is that fan is shorting out and working intermittent like which is the only thing I can think of to effect both systems like that.
I'm open to suggestions of diagnosis. Thanks in advance.

 

[Fix4Dirt]

Last week during the arctic blast that came thru ohio I had a couple different things going on. First everything ran fine, I went in the store to grab some groceries came out turned the key and nothing happened. I turned it back and forth and it finally started on the 3rd try. I thought that was strange being the battery was only 2 months old but it was also -40 degrees so just figured that was the factor. Upon driving home I started to overheat, luckily the super cold windchill kept it cold enough to limp the last mile. I knew I had an improper mix ratio of water/coolant so again thought it was due to the extreme cold and I had a possible ice block somewhere. I pulled it into the garage and turned the heat on to let everything thaw out overnight. Come the next day I tore into it. First thing it started right up but the dash showed "check charging system", also noticed the battery had a frost on it. Jumping into the other problem I did a complete system flush on the coolant, drained everything, then filled with the proper mix. During the circulation process eventually the charging system light went off after the battery warmed up. So at this point I thought it was fixed and contributed all the problems to being the fact it was so cold. It sat for a few days then I drove it all over with no issues. This morning I go to get breakfast and while sitting in the McDonald's drive-thru it overheated again and popped a hose clamp on the heater inlet hose. I shut it off, put the hose back on, filled the coolant back up, then it wouldn't start again. Tapped on the starter a couple times (not sure if that's what did it) but it eventually started however the charging system light came back on. Turned it off, turned it back on and everything was fine. Drove it all the way home without issue. A little while ago it dawned on me I do have a check engine light on which has been an EVAP code but when checking it the last time a P0480 code popped up for the cooling fan malfunction. The only thing I can think is that fan is shorting out and working intermittent like which is the only thing I can think of to effect both systems like that.
I'm open to suggestions of diagnosis. Thanks in advance.

could be that, since cooling was there enough to limp home due to windchill, but not enough to keep it cool.

 

[Motorhogman]

"overheated again and popped a hose clamp on the heater inlet hose"

That sounds like you are building up a lot of pressure in the cooling system. May have popped a head gasket.

 

[Josh P]

Gas starts to freeze at -40 which, if it was actually that cold, not windchill it would be a slow start. I also agree with the above statement that your coolant system maybe being pressurized by the engine.

 

[07EddyB]

I believe that you have two different problems - don't look for a single solution to both.