Car overheating

Okay here we go again.

My wagon is overheating. Things of note:

1. There are no coolant leaks that I can see.
2. There is no milkiness in the oil
3. It runs fine, then sort of gets hot, ALMOST to the red portion on the gauge, then randomly decides that it should just cool itself off and the gauge drops to 1/4.
4. The coolant in the reservoir when I got home today was boiling, but the temp gauge was reading below the hot mark.

What should I do?

Ray,can you say blown headgasket or maybe a cracked head?
Jim

Better not be, because if that's the case I'm completely f*cked.

Pretty sure what you thought was boiling coolant in the recovery tank was escaping compression
from a blown head gasket or a cracked head.I am sure 1 of the more knowledgeable guys will
chime in shortly.Headgaskets are an easy fix but a cracked head a little more costly.When does
school start back up?
Jim

I'm skeptical of the HG theory, the oil was clean.

A friend of mine suggested maybe my thermostat isn't opening when it should. I have no idea how old it is, so maybe that's a possibility?

A thermostat is a cheap place to start. Might be time for a pressure test.

95BRMW wrote:

A thermostat is a cheap place to start. Might be time for a pressure test.

+1 for the T-Stat, the cheapo Autozone and Advance ones have that problem. I went thru 3 last winter before I got one that would work. And didn't you just change that t-stat Sting?

I bought it, but didn't pick up a gasket for it so I haven't changed it yet.

Guess I'll do that tomorrow. lol

Man I hope you guys are right and I will be happy to be wrong!
Jim

pull the thermostat,. .

pull the serpentine belt,.
fill engine with water till themostat hole is full,.
start it up and watch the water , see if there are bubbles coming up then try to see which side the bubbles are coming up from and you'll know which head or head gasket is gone,.
you may have to run the motor for a couple of minutes to build some heat, ia head can be cracked and open up when its hot and close up again when it,s cool,.and vice versa
compression into the water creates pressure,. compression leaks into the water jacket,.
clean oil is no indication of any thing other than the water is not leaking into the oil,.
auto parts stores sell stuff you can dip into the overflow tank that detect compression gases,.

i wish you luck with this,..

nick

Sorry Ray!
Jim

For what? might not be the HG. Could it? Sure... but until he finds out if it is he should rule the easy stuff out first.

Like I said guys I will be more than happy to admit I was wrong even thrilled BUT!
Jim

Did you check for belt tension? If the water pump is slipping, it is not moving sufficient water. I have a similar situation with the White Elephant. I have even changed the engine (I still has the original front end accessories). The only variable pieces I have not changed are the fan clutch and the belt tensioner. I think I am going to change the tensioner next. It has been doing the same thing yours is doing, but not as extreme (it was that severe before I changed engines). I even changed the radiator, and that did not really help.

Okay, so here's progress for today:

Changed the thermostat. No good.

I noticed the fan was wobbling, so I shut the car down immediately and took the fan back off, and the pulley. The end of the water pump (whatever the technical term is - where the fan attaches) is bent. It wobbles at an angle. This sliced my serpentine belt too. AND two of the water pump studs I bought now cannot be removed.

Going to advance auto with receipts in hand and rage at the ready. This is UNACCEPTABLE and I will be getting my money back. I will never shop there again.

I wish my dad still worked there. I could always trust him to get GOOD WORKING PARTS. Not these boneheaded morons....

Whats no good, the old t stat, or is the over heating problem still there with the new t stat?

Bad water pump bearings, maybe? Or the shaft is just bent. Sounds like you need to replace the water pump.

Mike

Cadet57 wrote:

For what? might not be the HG. Could it? Sure... but until he finds out if it is he should rule the easy stuff out first.

You already Irk the **** out of me,. but i'll try here,. perhaps others might notice your constant free advice backed up with little to no experience,.

perhaps your limited experience might lead someone else down the path of easy stuff first,.
easy stuff first costs money and takes time,.

Do you have a lot of experience with leaking head gaskets or cracked heads? Have you personally changed a few along the way? If so please carry on with your advice,.and i"ll be quiet.
Otherwise read what is written,.

the part where the motor heats up then cools down rapidly, is definitely not indicative to anything other than cracked head or leaking head gasket,. IF stingaroo is accurately describing his symptoms,.
compression leaks into the waterjackets,. then accumulates at the top of the motor,.as hot steam,. hot steam makes the temp gauge go full hot,.the t'stat opens the bubbles build pressure into the overflow,.overflow then "burps" off some pressure allowing coolant to replace the steam temporarily,.which makes the temp gauge swing back down to cool temps again,. and the cycle repeats,.

The other scenario which is rare that can cause the same symptoms is a loose impeller in the waterpump,.where flow is erratic,.

AS i already stated the best way for someone with little to no mechanical aptitude or experience ,. is to buy the additive that indicates compression in the coolant,.
done deal.
maybe it,s time to change the fuel pump,..

Nick

Stingroo wrote:

Okay, so here's progress for today:

Changed the thermostat. No good.

I noticed the fan was wobbling, so I shut the car down immediately and took the fan back off, and the pulley. The end of the water pump (whatever the technical term is - where the fan attaches) is bent. It wobbles at an angle. This sliced my serpentine belt too. AND two of the water pump studs I bought now cannot be removed.

Going to advance auto with receipts in hand and rage at the ready. This is UNACCEPTABLE and I will be getting my money back. I will never shop there again.

I wish my dad still worked there. I could always trust him to get GOOD WORKING PARTS. Not these boneheaded morons....

The water pump is supposed to be held on by bolts according to the FSM. This would have me believe that the use of bolts avoids the problem of stud alignment for removal of the water pump. Put two thin nuts on the studs to lock them, and take the studs out. Use bolts like the FSM states.

That's bizarre. My old WP had studs too.

I'll get bolts. I bought a new pump - no more reman bullcrap.

Nick, maybe I'm not accurately describing my symptoms. What I did see, and the parts people saw, were bad bearings in the water pump which caused it to fail. This leads me to believe it wasn't pumping enough coolant, causing the car to run hot.

They suggested I check my tensioner, it spins freely and isn't hanging up at all. This means I can rule that out. The only thing to do here is swap my now NEW water pump on, and hopefully be done with it.

Studs on the water pump pulley flange, bolts to hold the pump to the block.

Mike

That's what I've got.

Thanks for clarifying.

200OZ wrote:

Studs on the water pump pulley flange, bolts to hold the pump to the block.

Mike

He did not say pulley flange, he said pump...

The free spinning of the tensioner pulley does not mean it has enough tension. The spring in the arm gives it tension. Those are two different issues.

I was told to make sure the tensioner was spinning freely and not causing the belt to hang up on it.


How do I make sure it has enough tension, then?

You need a belt tension gauge. An alternate method would be to use a pointer type torque wrench on a known good one (while rotating it), and compare it with yours.

I would put it back together with the new pump, and if it still has an issue, then worry about the belt tension.

Autozone.com
Duralast/Belt TensionerPrice:$51.99
Part Number: 305213
Warranty:1 YR

Had to replace this same thing on my wife's old '96 Suburban years back.

Never a dull moment.

-Mike

Roger that. Rained out this late afternoon. Will report back in the morning.

If you have to replace the tensioner, you will need the biggest Torx bit I have ever seen. It looks like a 70-80.

Good god. That's massive.

The Torx bit probably only comes in 3/4 inch drive as well.

Well, new pump is on, new serpentine belt too.... Burped the cooling system, we'll see what happens in a couple of hours when it's cold.

Fingers are crossed for you. Hope that does it!

Yeah, me too. I can't afford a HG job under any circumstance, and I'm definitely strapped for time....

Well... I've done everything I was told to, and everything I could think of, and dad too.

Can't bring the car with me to school now. It'll have to wait until my dad's mechanic friend comes back into town next week, and he'll fix it and then I'll have to get it up to me. Crap. Guess mom will take me up to school and we'll load as much as we can into her Buick and go.

Sprocket, got a spare wagon laying around? (lol, see what I did there?)

Dude you can change a head gasket with basic tools and a Haynes manual in an afternoon.

Well, turns out I was wrong. Dad's friend came over and looked it over, we flushed the cooling system completely and got all the air out of it, all is well.

Bewbs, I know, but the crappy part is, I wouldn't have HAD an afternoon. I have to be back on campus tomorrow by 5pm, and it's a 4 hour drive from my house.

Glad everything is sorted. There was a lot of air in the system after removing the water pump twice and changing the thermostat.

Awesome. Did you have the coolant hoses hooked up in the wrong sequence?


Sorry, it was just laying there for me to say........I was going to say call me and I'll drive up in the AM to help you out, but glad to hear it's not needed......although now I may have to go look at that G-body wagon in Lake Worth.....maybe he'll wanna trade for a rusty Buick with an LT1

Oh goodness... more wagons?

No, fortunately we're all good. The next time we rendezvous at your house, a new cluster is in order (and something for your car too, we just need to work that out lol)

So, what you are saying is that it is working properly now?

Yes sir, thankfully.

Road trip time!

Well I guess that shows what passing a little gas can do for you.

Ha.

*burp*