3800 Cooling system flush

[Grandprix1]

I searched and didn't look like there was a thread on this... kinda surprised. My cooling system is getting bad. Starting to solidify on top of the radiator and smells like coolant (no leak!!) how does one flush the cooling system and would you recommend green coolant over dex cool?

Grandprix1

[jman093]

Just remove the lower radiator hose to remove most of the coolant and flush with water through the radiator. Will get most of it. If you really want, you could refill it with water, let it run awhile to cycle through the engine, and remove the hose and drain again. Refill with Dexcool, not green.

[Grandprix1]

Just remove the lower radiator hose to remove most of the coolant and flush with water through the radiator. Will get most of it. If you really want, you could refill it with water, let it run awhile to cycle through the engine, and remove the hose and drain again. Refill with Dexcool, not green.

Ok is there any need to flush the block? How hard is it to bleed the system?

[digitaloutsider]

If it smells like coolant there's probably a leak somewhere.. but I would also urge you to research basic maintenance before making new posts. This is Car Care 101 stuff.

 

How many miles are on that car? Also, keep things Dexcool.

[Grandprix1]

If it smells like coolant there's probably a leak somewhere.. but I would also urge you to research basic maintenance before making new posts. This is Car Care 101 stuff.

 

How many miles are on that car? Also, keep things Dexcool.

45k there's no leak it's been checked numerous times. And I'm not loosing coolant. All levels are where they should be.

[digitaloutsider]

The intake manifold gaskets are going to fail on that car no matter what. I'd just do everything and get it over with.

[Nas Escobar]

Unless the previous owner upgraded to metal gaskets

[digitaloutsider]

At 45k mi, I'm willing to bet it's never been cracked open. 

[Grandprix1]

The intake manifold gaskets are going to fail on that car no matter what. I'd just do everything and get it over with.

If I recall correctly I believe there was a recall on those and that was done. The previous owners according to the service history had it in the dealership getting checked every time it squeaked. I could be wrong about the recall though

[digitaloutsider]

There was no recall on the intake manifold gaskets, just the engine fire recall.

 

And in the unlikely event the LIM gaskets were done, it would also depend on WHEN they were done if you got good gaskets or not.

[White93z34]

General rule of thumb is that if you personally do not KNOW that they've been done, do them. 45k miles or 245k miles.

 

While you're at it, look at the date stamp on your upper intake. if its the same year as your car, change it, that means its original, that can fail and hydrolock your engine.

 

Bottom line, if you are smelling coolant, its going somewhere.

 

No, there was no intake gasket recall - GM never even admitted it was a problem despite redesigning them 3 times

[Grandprix1]

Looking on the service history of the car it looks like something with the intake was done in 2012. Says replaced upper intake manifold gasket/seal I'm assuming that means both were done. Coolant was also done in 2012 so since its 5 year coolant it's due for that

 

 

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[Schurkey]

SOME Buick-design engines have no block drain plugs.  I'm not sure that I ever knew which did and which did not have the drains.

 

BE DAMNED SURE that you have enough anti-freeze in the cooling system to prevent freezing/rusting.  I've seen folks flush the cooling system, which involves filling the engine with flush water, then they drain the radiator--but NOT the engine.  They refill the system with 50/50 premix forgetting that there's a gallon of water in the engine block.  50/50 premix is consumer rape, they charge almost as much for it as 100% antifreeze.  The whole point of the block drains is so you can dump the fluid that's in the block.  Often, the bottom of the water jacket is so full of crap that no fluid comes out when the block drain plugs are removed--we have to poke a screwdriver through the crust of crap to get the water jacket to drain.

 

Buy a "flush and fill" kit, flush the ENTIRE COOLING SYSTEM and then make sure you get enough pure antifreeze (1/2 system capacity) back into the system.  Remember that the cooling system includes the overflow bottle.  The overflow bottle can often be cleaned with a cup of hot, soapy water and a couple cups of sand.  Slosh the sand/detergent water around until the sand scrubs the inside of the bottle clean, then dump the whole mess out and flush with clear water.  Drain, make sure it gets refilled with 50/50 coolant to the proper level.

 

I'm dealing with an 03 Stratus that the owner drained the system to install a thermostat, then added too much water for the climate and it froze.  It might be that the only damage is a failed plastic radiator tank.  I don't have an adapter for my pressure tester that will fit the tiny rad fill neck.  Until this engine is refilled and run for awhile, we're not going to be absolutely sure that the block and/or the heater core isn't cracked/distorted.

 

Dexcool has a bad reputation from it's early years.  There's a heaping helping of BAD INFORMATION about it.  I use it, sometimes.  Given a choice, I'll use generic (non-Dexcool) extended-life antifreeze available at any parts store in the country.  Mind you, I never had any real problem with the ordinary green non-extended-life coolant even when I left it in the cooling system for double or triple the recommended time interval.  If the cooling system is in good condition, the coolant will last longer than the "recommended" change interval.  If the cooling system gets contaminated or carries voltage, there is no coolant that will last as long as the "recommended change interval.

[Imp558]

There's a thread on this somewhere, I remember this discussion before. The 3800 has openings into the knock sensors that you can drain the block with.  Like Schurkey, I too don't follow the Dex-Cool thing, both our cars are green coolant with no catastrophic failures yet.

[Nas Escobar]

If I recall correctly I believe there was a recall on those and that was done. The previous owners according to the service history had it in the dealership getting checked every time it squeaked. I could be wrong about the recall though

 

There was a recall on the rear valve cover gasket because 3800 had a bad habit of BBQ'ing themselves to death. They would also remove the engine cover. 

 

GM never recalled any V6 for the nylon lower intake manifold gaskets although they should have or better yet should have used normal gaskets from the get go. 

 

General rule of thumb is that if you personally do not KNOW that they've been done, do them. 45k miles or 245k miles.

 

While you're at it, look at the date stamp on your upper intake. if its the same year as your car, change it, that means its original, that can fail and hydrolock your engine.

 

Bottom line, if you are smelling coolant, its going somewhere.

 

No, there was no intake gasket recall - GM never even admitted it was a problem despite redesigning them 3 times

 

Ironically, the S3 had the correct gaskets from the start and don't leak. 

 

Anyways, I'm with Luke on this one, it doesn't hurt to do the LIM. It's not that hard of a job anyways. With all the proper materials, the job can be done in 2 hours or so.  Make sure you get the Felpro metal gasket ones otherwise you'll have to deal with the LIM in the future. It may be 2 months or 22 years from now but it is an issue that does come back if the right gasket isn't used.

 

Also, if you smell coolant, it doesn't hurt to check the rubber hoses. My Z34 had a coolant smell once and the small hose under the throttle body was cracked. It wasn't bad enough to leak but was cut enough to have a strong odor.

 

Looking on the service history of the car it looks like something with the intake was done in 2012. Says replaced upper intake manifold gasket/seal I'm assuming that means both were done. Coolant was also done in 2012 so since its 5 year coolant it's due for that

 

 

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If you can, try to sneak a peek at the intake valley and see if you can see the gasket. If it's nylon, replace anyways.

 

There's a thread on this somewhere, I remember this discussion before. The 3800 has openings into the knock sensors that you can drain the block with.  Like Schurkey, I too don't follow the Dex-Cool thing, both our cars are green coolant with no catastrophic failures yet.

 

I'm going to put in my 2 cents in this whole Dexcool mess... If you're not going to spend the time to flush ALL of the Dexcool out of the engine, don't bother with the green stuff. Stay with Dex. If you're going to spend the time (which is about an hour or so) flushing the engine then go ahead and convert to green. Your end goal is that the block has no orange stuff at all when you go green. I personally converted to Prestone green coolant in my old 2002 3800 Camaro when I had it because it was easier for me to have spare green coolant than a bottle of green and a bottle of Dex. I never had issues with the engine as far as cooling went.