supreme_style21 Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 For few months now I've had a leak in my radiator.. it's a very small leak and doesn't seem to affect much. Against my better judgment, I put some stop-leak in it. The car is getting old and the miles are going up, so I didn't want to put a new rad in. But I don't think this is related ? Earlier this week, the car got hot. I lost the heat inside the car when it got too hot. I had to walk home and wait for the car to cool down. I figured I had finally ran it low on coolant, but the 'low coolant' light never came on (it always does when it's been getting too low). When it cooled off, the radiator was full. So I started it up and got it home. It ran fine on the way home and the temp gauge/fans/cooling system and whatnot cycled like it normally does. So I try it the next morning and all seems to be going well.. then the heat coming from the vents turns cold and the temp gauge skyrockets.. so I have to shut it down and wait. I changed the thermostat today and it was in dire shape, so I thought, great, it's fixed. No, it keeps doing the same thing still. What's wrong with it? When this all started happening, only one fan is coming on and that doesn't chime in until it's too late. The left fan is coming on when it approaches "TOO HOT" haha. The right side hasn't done anything in my short-term investigation. Prior, everything worked as it should IIRC. So what's wrong with this thing? I've never really had to troubleshoot a cooling system before. Can a waterpump fail yet still visually "run"? The belt doesn't slip or anything, theres nothing unusual about the waterpump on the surface. I'm lost. I'm tired of driving a purple Civic every day.. it makes me feel awfully gay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hotrodolds Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 Probably a plugged heater core. Or a blockage somewhere in the system. Yes, a water pump can fail, but still visually operate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supreme_style21 Posted March 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 Probably a plugged heater core. Or a blockage somewhere in the system. Yes, a water pump can fail, but still visually operate. Sweet. Heater cores are fun. I'm glad I dumped that stop-all shit in there. Is there a way to somehow tell if a waterpump has failed w/o removing it? My luck probably not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ismellrealbad Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 The problem is that stop leak shit.....you NEED to get it all out. Its plugging shit up. Drain everything. Pull out the thermostat (which youve probably re-fucked by putting it in the system with stop leak). Fill system with water and flushing agent. Let it run till upto temp. Drain. You may want to pull the upper and lower rad hoses and just shoot your garden hose thru there to push more shit out. If not...fill, run, and drain again once more then reinstall thermostat, fill with coolant and water....and just get a new rad when u can. never ever ever ever ever use stop leak in anything. A/C, coolant, whatever. You can use it in a $200 car you dont care that it dies a week from now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 you will need to flush the heatercore separately too. I would disconnect both ends of the heatercore hose at the engine and run water from the garden house through both ways. most likely your car is getting air into the system at a point like the WP or past that. the air traps behind the t-stat and causes it to delay opening resulting in overheating. and get a used radiator from a j/y!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supreme_style21 Posted March 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 The problem is that stop leak shit.....you NEED to get it all out. Its plugging shit up. Drain everything. Pull out the thermostat (which youve probably re-fucked by putting it in the system with stop leak). Fill system with water and flushing agent. Let it run till upto temp. Drain. You may want to pull the upper and lower rad hoses and just shoot your garden hose thru there to push more shit out. If not...fill, run, and drain again once more then reinstall thermostat, fill with coolant and water....and just get a new rad when u can. never ever ever ever ever use stop leak in anything. A/C, coolant, whatever. You can use it in a $200 car you dont care that it dies a week from now. I figured. I didn't want to put the stuff in there, but I don't have the money to replace a radiator and that was about the only other option. I used to care a whole lot about these cars, but to be honest, at this point, I don't really care? It's maybe my motivation to kill it and finally get something new. If I get bored this weekend, I'll flush it out. Why does the heater core need to be flushed separately? And how can air get into the system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 separately... cause you need to force pressure though it. ordinary engine operation or a regular flush is insufficient. consider what I did last week... the 99 4.3 liter gmc pick-up had no heat after I changed the waterpump. fastest thing to do was unhook the lines from the motor and run water through both ways. took ten minutes. all is good.... though I still need to do the intake gasket. the normal engine operation was not enough to remove the clog... and running water backwards (and both directions) through it cleared it out for obvious reasons. what engine? could be a bad waterpump... could be a headgasket... could be a hose with a tear or cut like Psychomatt had in his vert... or a missing house clamp like I found in my 93 vert. in any of these cases air or exhaust traps behind the T-stat. check for weaping froim the WP first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockfangd Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 sounds like a bad water pump. usually if you loosen the belt and wiggle the pump pulley it will have play. and the fan on the passenger side is for the AC only. that is why it hasnt come on., and the reason why the fan on the driver side doesnt come on is because of the air in the system throwing an innacurate reading until it gets too hot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pontiac6KSTEAWD Posted March 28, 2008 Report Share Posted March 28, 2008 Thermostat.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supreme_style21 Posted March 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2008 It's a 95 3100 Well I already changed the thermostat.. I drove it today and it hasn't acted up much. It'll get to its 'normal' temp.. 210 or whatever it is, then it'll drop drastically.. assumably when the thermostat opens. I'll check the WP this weekend when I have some time.. see what story that has to tell me. There are 2 coolant temp sensors in there, right? I guess I thought the one by the water outlet sent the reading to the gauge and also the fans. That's apparently wrong if the gauge is getting so high and not triggering the fan. Where is the other one at? As far as gaskets.. I had the intakes replaced around 90k. I've got 123k on it now. Headgaskets never, but I see nothing in the oil yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian P Posted March 29, 2008 Report Share Posted March 29, 2008 you're getting air in the system somehow. Just that small hole in the radiator could be causing all or some of it. Instead of coolant being drawn from the overflow tank, it's taking in air. Check the overflow hose, radiator cap, but more than likely the leak in the radiator is doing it. The stop leak stuff is not a good idea but it is NOT causing your problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schurkey Posted March 29, 2008 Report Share Posted March 29, 2008 you're getting air in the system somehow. Just that small hole in the radiator could be causing all or some of it. Instead of coolant being drawn from the overflow tank, it's taking in air. Check the overflow hose, radiator cap, but more than likely the leak in the radiator is doing it. The stop leak stuff is not a good idea but it is NOT causing your problem. DING! DING! DING! We HAVE a WINNER! IF you have heat out the heater--and then it suddenly goes cold--and then later you have heat again--THE HEATER CORE AIN'T PLUGGED, it's just got no flow of hot coolant through it. Probably because of low coolant level--air moves to the highest point in a cooling system unless purged by coolant flow so it gets pushed farther downstream. Any air in the engine will go to the top--and then into the heater core. Fix the radiator, look for other places that air could be entering the cooling system--as suggested by Glass Joe--fill the coolant, purge the air bleeds as required. Hope your new thermostat--along with the rest of the engine--isn't damaged by the overheating that's already happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supreme_style21 Posted March 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2008 I figured the heat issue was from the heater core not getting coolant ... I just didn't know the physics behind it. I guess in hindsight, the heater core is a higher point in the system. As far as damage ... I've never let it get hot enough to cause damage. When it starts rising above what it's normally at, it gets shut down because SOMETHING is wrong. So I can't see any damage occuring. If it did, I've wanted an excuse for a new car. A car is a massive expense, so whatever damage I can prevent, the better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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