topless94style Posted May 23, 2004 Report Share Posted May 23, 2004 When I did my lower intake manifold gasket last fall, the car started to over heat......DUH forgot to bleed the system. So I did that, yet no fluid came out of the thermostat side. Ok, so its not opening thats what the mechanic who has had a ton of experience with this motor said. I replace the stat, bleed the system and it was all good. Lately, my motor has been getting really hot, getting close to the first red line on my dash. Everyonce in a while the low coolant light would turn on. I got the brite idea of topping off the radiator. Seemed to work for awhile, but then the light started coming on again and the motor starting getting really hot again. This brought up the idea of a leak, but i dont notice any coolant leaking. Now, the past week, the motor gets real hot real quick and doesnt cool down unless I just coast. Also, no heat coming with the temp turned up to 90 degrees. Could this be the stat again? May I have a small leak? OH one more thing, friday night on my way to my gfs house, it was raining pretty hard. I was driving on the freeway doing about 60mph...when it stopped raining, and I noticed a few cars on the side of the road....just happend to be after this massive puddle on the freeway. Well, there was a car next to me so i couldnt get over so i just slowed down slammed into the puddle, car went sideways and water everywhere. I got control of the car once out of the puddle, but the engine heated up instantly. I dunno if that could have anythign to do with it overheating really quickly now or not. Sorry for the novel, I like to be as discriptive as possible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canada Posted May 23, 2004 Report Share Posted May 23, 2004 Could be a head gasket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sl3196 Posted May 23, 2004 Report Share Posted May 23, 2004 You stat may have went bad. Check the oil and coolant to see if they look different than normal. Also do you still have the front airdam/spoiler thing attached? My cutlass ran hot when driving around and the mechanic said it was because my airdam was missing, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topless94style Posted May 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2004 I guess I wouldnt be too dissapointed if it was a head gasket since they will be replaced when my new heads come in with in the next couple weeks or so hopefully. I drove to and from work today and I have to take the freeway, and the temp gauge came right up next to the first red line while the heater was blowing cold air and now low coolant light. I am thinking thermostat....wonder if i can find the reciept because its only about 8 monthes old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sl3196 Posted May 23, 2004 Report Share Posted May 23, 2004 Do you still have that airdam attached to the radiator? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topless94style Posted May 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2004 Do you still have that airdam attached to the radiator? Oh ya i knew i forgot to answer something; it is still there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joey b Posted May 23, 2004 Report Share Posted May 23, 2004 fill and bleed the coolant system again. If it leaked out you will need to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topless94style Posted May 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2004 fill and bleed the coolant system again. If it leaked out you will need to. going to go try that now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteOut Posted May 24, 2004 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 Do you notice a sort of sweet smell (almost like maple syrup) after your car has been on for a while and you turn it off, or after the car has warmed up and your sitting at a light. I know when I did my intake gaskets I had a small leak at the throttle body coolant hose that I couldn't find untill ripping it apart again. I had no visible signs of a leak, or any trace of steam coming from the hood, but never the less it was still leaking a couple drops of coolant per minute while running hot. Once found the problem was easily solved. So anyways, what I'm suggesting here is that you take things apart and do a REALLY close inspection of your work on the intake gaskets. There may be a bolt you didn't tighten or a hose you didn't clamp which is letting coolant leak out of the system or letting air in and causing it to run hot. Or alternatively try a stop leak product and see if you get a result. If you do try this stick to Bars Leaks they've got a good reputation for sticking to their warranty so your vehicle doesn't get f'd up by any blockages the stuff could cause (highly unlikely to happen, but reasurring just the same). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heza Posted May 24, 2004 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 just a random shot....heater core? if you have no heat when its turned to 90...thats what it sounds like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteOut Posted May 24, 2004 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 I've never heard of a failed heater core making a vehicle run hot though. And usually when one fails you'll get antifreeze leaking through the lower heat vents of the car, which you would definitly notice because of the smell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonyman87 Posted May 24, 2004 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 this may sound a little stupid but it could have been an honest mistake. but is it possible you put the Thermistate in backwards, or put in the wrong kind? Also another possibility could be the water pump!! which would be a more likely canidate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topless94style Posted May 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 I almost think it may be the water pump, but tomorrow I am going to put in a new stat. When i first changed the stat, I did put it in the wrong way, because my car would still over heat even after bleeding the system. I also could tell this because coolant only came out of the heater hose bleeder valve thingy. So i spun the stat to whatever way it was supposed to go in and rebled the system and everything checked out ok. Today when I went and filled the radiator some had to of leaked out, because I topped that baby off a few weeks ago. I topped it off again tonite, car doesnt get that hot anymore, blows hot air, and that bastard low coolant light started coming on again. Also, when I bled the system, no coolant again came out of the thermostat housing bleeder valve thingy majig. A new stat will be going in tomorrow, and I will spend some time under the hood seeing if I can see any sort of leak...hopefully if there is one I find it even through all the damn oil from that stupid o-ring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveFromColorado Posted May 24, 2004 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 there is a neat trick to drill a 1/16 hole in the thermostat off to the side, to allow air to pass thru the thermostat and out of the system, with air trapped there, it often doesn't create enough heat to open the thing up, and you get overheating problems. Honestly, it sounds like you may have a head gasket startin' to take a dump on ya, so just make sure you keep clean oil in there, and that you keep the coolant topped off, I don't know if these DOHC blocks are prone to warping, but I'm sure you wouldn't want that to happen. --Dave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joey b Posted May 24, 2004 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 the side of the thermostat with the spring goes into the hot side (engine or manifold) I wouldn't worry about the thermostat cause you said after you filled it was running fine. Find that damn leak. Check along the passenger side of the car. There is a long ass tube that runs to the back. If it is bad I would replace with rubber tubing. 40K+ and still no problem yet. Your car has to be hot enough for the thermostat to open before you can get coolant out of the thermostat housing. Also check around the engine for more bleeding valves. Mine has one near the brake master cylinder and my 3.1 had one on the front side of the engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slade901 Posted May 24, 2004 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 Does your radiator fan even turn on? Start the vehicle and let it IDLE for about 15 minutes, the radiator fan should have turned on by then. Check the hoses to make sure it has not collapsed within 15 minutes while the engine is idling. Make sure the serpentine belt is not routed incorrectly around the water pump. You might have to remove the thermostat again and put a water hose in there and turn on the water while you remove the buttom large hose going to the radiator. Make sure that the water is going freely out of the disconnected large hose. If the water does not come out freely out of the lower large hose then you might have a clogged water passage ways in the engine. Another big possibility is a clogged radiator. Have you flushed the cooling system with a flush solution? Here's my procedure when I flush my cooling system. You might have to rig up and install a manual overide of the radiator fan so you can turn the fan manually while driving the in the city stop and go. Do you have the orange color coolant or the green color coolant? Get the right color for your new coolant replacement $6 each (3 or 4 of them). Get a coolant flush solution $4. Fluid drip pan. Drain the coolant from the radiator drain plug, open the radiator cap to drain it faster. Close the drain plug and put water in the radiator until full (I would suggest to use a water gallon so you can measure how many gallons it takes to fill the radiator) and put back the radiator cap. Start the vehicle for 10-15 minutes (you might want to select the heater and fan blower to max) and turn off the engine. Drain the cooling fluid and open the radiator cap. Close the drain plug and pour the Cooling Flush solution and then fill the radiator with water and close the radiator cap. Start the vehicle for 10-15 minutes (you might want to select the heater and fan blower to max) and turn off the engine. Drain the cooling fluid and open the radiator cap. Close the drain plug and fill the radiator with water and close the radiator cap. Start the vehicle for 10-15 minutes (you might want to select the heater and fan blower to max) and turn off the engine. Drain the cooling fluid and open the radiator cap. Close the drain plug. Now, remember how many gallons it took to fill the radiator when filling up. Check your manual on how many total gallons of coolant it takes to fill the whole cooling system. Draining does not drain the whole cooling fluid and that is why it's important to know how many gallons it take to fill the radiator. Example, if it takes 4.5 gallons to fill the radiator after it was drained and if the book states that it takes 6 gallons to fill the whole cooling systems with fluid, we know that it has 1.5 gallons of water still left in the cooling system even after draining it. We want to have 70% coolant and 30% water. 30% of 6 gallons is 1.8 gallons of water. 70% of 6 gallons is 4.2 gallons of coolant. If 1.5 gallons of water is left in the cooling systems, then we just need 0.3 gallons of water added and then 4.2 gallons of coolant. If you want to use 50% coolant and 50% water then we just need: 50% of 6 gallons is 3 gallons of water. 50% of 6 gallons is 3 gallons of coolant. Since we have 1.5 gallon of water left in the cooling system, then we just need 1.5 gallon of additional water. We just need to add 3 gallons of coolant. http://www.babcox.com/editorial/tr/tr110046.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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