Pontiac grand am overheat

[Jeffrey L DeBarto]

Hello guys I am posting on behalf of my brother.

1995 Pontiac Grand am
6cyl
Flushed coolant 2 months ago

About 4am this morning 40 degrees out my brother used his remote start to warm up his car. He started it 4:40am and went back to it 455am and it was steaming and coolant was boiling out of the coolant reservoir. The temperature gauge was past the red line. He turned it off and for a while it kept bubbling out of the reservoir and then after while you could hear air sizzling out. We haven’t started it as I had to go to work.

The coolant system has been rusty brown since he bought it and we Flushed the coolant 2 months ago with no issues till now.

I am praying that the head gasket is not bad or crap is not warped. The only good thing is the engine was never under any load and only idled. I am going to do a pressure test and did not know what you guys would recommend. If it holds pressure I was going to check the thermostat, heater core, radiator.

Thanks in advance guys.

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Topic

[Stephen]

Those 3100/3400 V6 motors have a weird upper/lower intake manifold design that had issues holding coolant. My previous car, an ’01 Grand Prix (3100 V6) is sitting on jack stands because of the overheating issues getting worse and worse. If the lower manifold gaskets don’t seal it back up, you may be looking at warped heads.

[Jeffrey L DeBarto]

I hope it’s not warped. The leak was on the outside, no oil/coolant mixed.

I have a question. What is the best way to get this off. The quick disconnect fitting won’t work. I was going to change it since I heard this had a good chance of leaking after moving and tugging at it. The 2 pics below are what I’m talking about, heater hose connector thing. Worse case I’ll reuse it but that would suck if it leaked.

Thanks guys

[IMG]http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161116/3e24a4890c2d66cb9fe6c2891d401904.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161116/38a46dae2ddd8ce32e86739428407f0c.jpg[/IMG]

Here are some pictures so far

[IMG]http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161116/80adc302b2121632f720562e09bb0a91.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161116/586ee9762169f537a8568a29cf6d645d.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161116/fab40ad36bdfad8877c056beae8d4d05.jpg[/IMG]

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[Richard Kirshy]

Just a suggestion:
Plug up those intake ports and cover the valley to keep debris out.
Appears that DexaCool has blocked up your coolant passages.
Going to have to clear those blockages.

Might also consider being your that far into the top end:
Replacing the head gaskets.
Both heads can be removed as a single unit with the cross pipe attached, you just need to unbolt the two exhaust bolts at the rear of the engine.
Which will allow for cleaning up the heads a easier task.
I just finished a head gasket replacement on a 2001 Monte Carlo 3400, so I know it can be done fairly easily

[Jeffrey L DeBarto]

[quote=”nightflyr” post=179484]Just a suggestion:
Plug up those intake ports and cover the valley to keep debris out.
Appears that DexaCool has blocked up your coolant passages.
Going to have to clear those blockages.

Might also consider being your that far into the top end:
Replacing the head gaskets.
Both heads can be removed as a single unit with the cross pipe attached, you just need to unbolt the two exhaust bolts at the rear of the engine.
Which will allow for cleaning up the heads a easier task.
I just finished a head gasket replacement on a 2001 Monte Carlo 3400, so I know it can be done fairly easily[/quote]
Thanks, I will ask my brother if he would want to do that much. If it was my car I would do the head gasket. He’s a cheap ass lol. The car only has 72,000 miles on it. And yeah I’m going to stick some rags so crap does not fall in there. And yeah that dex crap is nasty stuff it gunked it all up. I do not understand why it gels up so bad.
[quote=”nightflyr” post=179484]Just a suggestion:
Plug up those intake ports and cover the valley to keep debris out.
Appears that DexaCool has blocked up your coolant passages.
Going to have to clear those blockages.

Might also consider being your that far into the top end:
Replacing the head gaskets.
Both heads can be removed as a single unit with the cross pipe attached, you just need to unbolt the two exhaust bolts at the rear of the engine.
Which will allow for cleaning up the heads a easier task.
I just finished a head gasket replacement on a 2001 Monte Carlo 3400, so I know it can be done fairly easily[/quote]

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[Richard Kirshy]

Just tell him it’s cheaper to do it now while your this deep, then in a year, having to tear it all down again and pay for it twice.

[Jeffrey L DeBarto]

[quote=”nightflyr” post=179486]Just tell him it’s cheaper to do it now while your this deep, then in a year, having to tear it all down again and pay for it twice.[/quote]
He passed on doing the head gasket. We have fixed 7 coolant leaks. 2 more leaks to go. Thank god for a pressure tester. The one leak is a easy fix I think some Teflon tape will solve that leak. It’s that small pipe near the front of the thermostat housing that leads to the coolant reservoir. the other is very small somewhere. The drip is somewhere in bottom, haven’t looked yet or crawled under it yet. This car is nothing but a pain… it’s also 28 degrees here in PA. The leak that I didn’t track down yet must be small because it hold pressure. It only falls a little in 30 min time. Will check back guys. Thanks for the help.

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[James]

Looking at your pictures gives me unpleasant memories….. I was there about 3 months ago in my 99 Monte 3.1L Changelued intake gasket and life was great again. I don’t think you would have a warped head unless this car was excessively overheated. Given you don’t drive the car you could still consider a wet compression as long as your valves are sealing. Being he turned it down, I hope that all above works as my experience with these is that the intake gasket is usually your culprit. Lastly that heater fastener at the end of the solid tube, I am almost certain it just pulls off with an o-ring but they get stuck and some people like to put crap in them like blue/ grey RTV. Might try some penetrating oil and twisting etc.

[James]

changed old intake gasket*

Another good penetrating sauce is acetone and synthetic trans oil. good luck

[Author]

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