- This topic has 18 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 12 months ago by
.
- Topic
- Replies
Possible low quality part or bad coolant corroding and gumming it up. Have you changed the coolant? Is there anything in the coolant (aka Anti-Leak)?
If you still have the old thermostat – TEST IT (put it in a pot on the stove and raise the temperature to the marking on the thermostat and see that it opens). You are probably loosing coolant. The overflow tank is not the place to check your coolant if you suspect a leak. Wait till the engine is cool and open the radiator cap to check that the radiator is full of coolant. If it is not, you have a coolant leak. GM siphons coolant from the overflow tank as the engine cools to keep the radiator full. A bad pressure cap or other leak will prevent the siphon process but the overflow tank would gain coolant.
There are lots of places coolant can go without being an obvious leak. Some examples are:
1. Head Gasket.
2. Intake Manifold.
3. Leak onto hot surface.
4. Leaking heater core.
5. Leak into transmission.
6. Leak only on warm up.
7. Someone stealing your antifreeze.I definitely need a coolant flush, I kinda thought that’s what it might be. I also just bleed the cooling system which seemed to work (for now) I Might just have had an air bubble.
You said “same symptoms” what are the symptoms? I have seen thermostats die early from not bleeding out the system and steam will result from the air pockets, steam can blow a hole in a rad so it sure can kill a thermostat. If your symptom is lack of heat check Erics video on cleaning out a heater core.
So I just changed the thermostat again, and it did not solve the problem. The symptoms are no heat coming out of the fans and excessive temperature fluctuation. The temp gauge will go from normal which is 1/4 to almost in the red and then back down. The cooling fans do kick on and I did bleed the system.
I have seen those engines eat the blades off the waterpump before, they don’t cost much for a pump and are easy to change, hardest part is getting the gasket lined up to the right place. If not a pump then I would lean toward the start of a head gasket leak.
[quote=”NigelV” post=49498]Just had it checked by my mechanic he said it was a head gasket. Not cool,[/quote]
sorry to hear that. 🙁
My options are really limited. My mechanic is a semi retired guy who does all his work in an unheated shop/old barn (February in Ontario). He said he doesn’t mess around with this kinda thing any more so he refereed me to another guy who quoted me $1000. I can’t justify spending that on a $1500 car (2002 Grand Prix) I would like to at least take the car apart out of curiosity more than anything and if I fix it good for me. As I see it right now it’s a giant paper weight can’t break it worse. Just need to find somewhere to work on it.
Yea, I had someone who wanted me to quote them a new motor and tranny for a 2002 Ford Explorer, and the motor alone was more expensive than the KBB of the car assuming it was in excellent condition. Sometimes its just not worth it. If you can do the work yourself, you should be ok. Cant hurt to try!
The most common cause of a problem like you describe is air in the cooling system. In your case the air was caused by your engine consuming the coolant thus creating air pockets. The information in the videos posted to this thread can help you with that diagnosis in the future should you run into it again.
Sucks it turned out to be a head gasket issue. $1000 doesn’t sound too bad consider what’s involved. You could take a stab at it yourself but be sure you have a torque wrench and the specs for tightening everything back down when you put it back together. Keep us posted no matter what and good luck.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.