Venom_1138

So, as of last night, I found myself the new owner of an 84 Trans Am. It handled well on the drive home, no problems really at all.

Today, after work, I wanted to take it for a drive in the nice mid 80 degree weather, and picked up my girlfriend from work and ran a couple errands. As we arrived at the grocery store, I noticed a strange rumbling noise after the engine was shut off, coming from the passenger side. It quieted down after a minute, and slightly puzzled we got out. My girlfriend then told me there was a problem. I went to her side of the car to see a nice green stream of coolant leaking onto the ground.

Fearing the worst, I popped the hood and saw the coolant tank was literally boiling, to the point it was overflowing out of the reservoir.

Currently, we're at the store (yay iPhone!), but I'm pretty nervous about the drive home. Last thing I want is to cause serious damage to a car I just bought.

I think it's just an engine heat issue... It's a pretty warm day, where last night when I bought it/drove it home, it was much cooler and on the highways, so more cold air was being fed into it and probably keeping the core temperature cooler.

Any insights/advice is greatly appreciated. Finally got the dream car of my youth, I'd hate to ruin it after only a day.

Thanks!

t-top havoc

iTrader: (3)

Something I learned a few days ago--
see if the over-flow is plugged.

Also, do you have electric fan(s)? Working?

When you can, check coolant level in the rad.

What rad cap you have?

( edit )
Check over flow when it's cooled down!! Ya, I know, but I knew a guy who thought 195* wasn't all that hot.. until.. well, even that is HOT..

Venom_1138

The internal electric vent fans are not working... Most of the internal electric systems need to be worked on. I'll have to head back out to the car in a bit to check out the radiator cap. The odd thing is that it was boiling inside the plastic reservoir... Is there anything I can do to make sure it gets home without overheating? Where would be the most likely place for the overflow to be plugged? I'm nowhere near any tools, so I'm pretty limited as to what I can do between now & the drive home.

t-top havoc

iTrader: (3)

Sorry, never thought about tools!!

When I mentioned eletric fan(s), I meant for the radiator.

For the over flow, take the hose off, check it for crud. Check the bottle inlet for crud.
Check the rad-to-over flow for crud. If the hose is mushy or old, think about getting a replacement from local auto store.

Does your temp gauge work?

Sounds like open driving gets enough air to keep it cool.

How far do you have to go to be home, & how much traffic will yoou be in? Lot of traffic lights // stop signs?

t-top havoc

iTrader: (3)

Check the lower rad hose with the car running to see if it collapses.

If most of this stuff is original, or even older replacement, have the system pressure tested, & test the coolant for ability. They use a hydrometer thing & see how many floaty's stay suspended in the liquid.

IDK if a local parts store would pressure test a cooling system.

A list of things to consider--

All new hoses, new & correct thermostat, new & correct rad cap,
possibly even a water pump.

IMHO, if there are ANY soft mushy hoses, or appear to have fine lines or cracks might as well replace ALL of them.

Venom_1138

Given that it will be after 7 when I'm heading home, the wonderful Seattle traffic will have cleared up, and I can probably take the interstate home. I'll take a good look under the hood and see what I can see before taking off.

I'll update later after I take a look under the hood and get back home. Ahh, the joys of a 26 year old car.

t-top havoc

iTrader: (3)

IDK if your car should have 1, but look under it--see if there is an airdam bolted to the bottom of the rad mount. It would be as long as the rad, & stick down like 8-10 inches--just a tad lower than the ground efex.

Definetly top off the rad.

Temp gauge work or is it one of the victims of the elec problem?

Try to keep above 45 MPH where you can do so legaly!!

When you get get home, lift the hood & see if the rad fan is working.

Yes, please do update-- the gurus will be checking threads soon.

t-top havoc

iTrader: (3)

Could be simple as a blown fuse if you hve elec rad fan, so check fuses.
Also, blown fusefor gauges would cause them not to work.

Next would be relays for the elec fan if you have 1.
IDK how to test a relay.

Venom_1138

I may have found the solution... Won't know until the girlfriend is ready to head home, but I checked the engine out... The hoses are all pretty new, the guy said they were all replaced not too long ago. I noticed the fan by the radiator not working when I started the engine, and I noticed a strange little **** next to my steering column. Figuring it would be worthwhile to see what it's purpose was, I pulled it out -and the radiator fan began running!

I don't know if that will resolve the solution, but I'm hoping it's a start. But if that is why it overheated, why in the world would they A) make that an option, and B) make it so easy to accidentally turn off? I can see it getting bumped by someone's hand just from day to day driving habits.

We'll see how things go soon enough...

henryd3

iTrader: (128)

There are lots of things that stop the fan system from operating properly, and lots of people wire a switch like the one you have to solve the problem. There are good ways and bad ways of doing that, it might be good for you to determine how it was done. Do a search on this cooling thread on similar issues. You might also want to check the technical articles section on electrical and read the section pertaining to your system. Welcome to TGO

t-top havoc

iTrader: (3)

He didn't mention the fan had to be turned on??!!??
...Or did you forget????...


Well yup that is a BIG contribution to over heating!!!

henryd3

iTrader: (128)

In fact, just start reading down the page on this forum. Most all of this stuff is about how somebody is coping with their overheating problem. You may not even have one anymore!

t-top havoc

iTrader: (3)

henryd3--
I meant that for Venom...about not mentioning a switch for the fan--
Sorry if you thot I was being disrespectful!!
You see, I type with 2 fingers, slowly & with plenty of typos, & read thru before I send!!

henryd3

iTrader: (128)

Never crossed my mind. I never thought of myself as someone who commanded all that much respect anyway, so thanks for straightening me out there! I'm mostly a two finger typist myself, sometimes I go big time and move up to five or six! Someday I hope to stop punching the keyboard so hard...

Venom_1138

Made it home, and everything was fine... amazing just how much one simple fan can change, really. I even put it to the test, and took the same route we took when it overheated. Granted, it was quite a bit cooler outside, but even still, if the problem was still there, it probably would have shown to some extent. Checked the coolant levels when I got home, and it was exactly at the same level as it was when I checked it before we left - at the "add" line, LOL.

-It apparently never crossed the previous owner's mind to tell me, "Oh, and that ****? That'll turn your radiator fan on or off."

Thanks for all the input on this thread. This is why I love enthusiast forums: everyone seems so much more willing to help find the root of the problem just for the simple common bond of having the same interests.

I also took a look at the main dash a bit more, and in addition to the "Overheat Your Car" ****, I also found a couple of loose wires that weren't connected to anything, but gave made my fingers a tingle when I touched 'em, as well as the relocated cigarette lighter/DC power (just removed it from the ashtray area and bolted it *under* the steering wheel) and the failed attempt at installing a push-button ignition... Needless to say, I'm probably going to be up to my ears in electrical repairs on this car, so I'm sure that you'll all be hearing a lot more from me in the future, especially on how to get rid of that $%&@! fan ****.

t-top havoc

iTrader: (3)

LOLol!!

I just don't want anything to come about wrongly, and being sooo slow can make me seem like an @@@.

Most times, I know it's the easy stuff that gets ppl like me in over my head!! As you can see, it took me awhile to simply check the fuses...
I started suggesting stuff that couldn't be done til he got home!!Dang that was rude of me!!

Also, glad someone with more experience // knowledge checked in!!

t-top havoc

iTrader: (3)

Venom_1138--

If you want a brain rush, read the threads in the cooling section titled something like
" ******* updated fan wiring " for single, dual, & aftermarket electric fan controll!!

camaronewbie

And up for grabs are the entire wiring diagrams for almost every 3rd gen F-body at

http://www.austinthirdgen.org/index.php?pid=19

Venom_1138

Thanks for all the advice and help, not to mention the wiring diagrams!

One last question on the topic... is there any real worthwhile reason to leave the radiator fan switch as part of the system? If so, I'd at least like to get something a little harder to accidentally turn off. And if not, I'm hoping to drop the thing like a ton of bricks. But, I figured it'd probably be in my best interests to see if there were any merits to keeping it in existence.

camaronewbie

I never liked them. I went thru 3-4 of them, and gave up - even the expensive aftermarket switches didn't last longer than 60 days for me. I went with a seperate fan controller - probes the radiator, simple to wire, ADJUSTABLE, available with as many bells and whistles as you are willing to pay for. 4+ years later, no issues at all, still works like day 1. I got the Flex-a-lite from summit, about $90 I think - best $100 I ever spent! I just left the old fan switch in the head as a plug (which is all it was ever good for).

native1031

I have an 84 z28. had to take out thermo and take off a.c. so i could manualy turn on the fan inside the car without using the a.c. i just baught a 160 thermo and 180 on fan switch. Any better ideas to make it run cool? Its been running at 220

Dizturbed One

Good to know! I just bought that same kit from Summit along with a Cadillac northstar fan to replace my mechanical fan (in my 4x4 though, Camaro cools fine). You should have tried wiring a relay into your fan circuit, or wired it to "run" position power. It probably would have solved burning through switches.

As far as keeping the switch, I would wire it correctly and keep it. Add a relay underhood, and wire it through the fusebox. If there is ever a problem or environment where heat is a crippling factor it would be really nice to know you can kick that fan on permanently!

But if that is a lot of hassle for any reason I would probably just rip it out as it is, it's probably unsafe if it isn't at least fused. Fix the original problem he couldn't figure out.

There is a sensor that works as a fan switch in your thermostat housing and/or front of your intake manifold that controls the fan turning on and off. I believe some have one on the cylinder head also, but if there's two, one is just for the gauge, and I can't recall which is which. A search should show it pretty easy. There is a relay on the firewall behind the brake booster for the fan also. One of those are probably the original problem that he couldn't figure out. They're all cheap and pretty easy to test and replace. Search for "fan switch" on here and you should have it banged out in no time!