Hi, I hope I'm posting this in the right place. I am hoping to get some help identifying a leak. Recent history is I replaced my cracked radiator with a brand new one I ordered from AutoZone and had put in by a local shop. Everything seemed ok for about 3 weeks but i have only driven it a handful of times due to not being much to do with pandemic going on. Then the last time I drove it, as soon as I got on the freeway, and only a couple miles from my house, I noticed the temperature gauge went all the way up. I got off at the next exit, popped the hood and saw the reserve tank was empty so I checked the radiator and it was empty as well. It was late at night and neither gas station at the exit had any coolant or water machines working. So I put some water from the restroom in and went one more exit to my destination. It was there that I discovered my a/c compressor had seized up and serpentine belt snapped. I got a shorter belt from AutoZone and put it on bypassing the compressor and added some more water. When I started it up water started spraying out my heater control valve so I went back to AutoZone, bought a new one and put it on myself. When I started it again there was some smoke coming from the drivers side up up by the firewall so I ended up having AAA tow it to my house because all of this was going on in a casino pkng lot. I left the car alone for the past week before today when I was planning to put the proper coolant/distilled water mix to the right level and see what it was doing. First I decided to look under the car and found it was leaking new looking yellow coolant (had not put anything but water in since discovering empty radiator due to broken heater valve) under car. I stuck my phone under the car and took some pics trying to see where the coolant is coming from then popped the hood and checked heater valve. It looks like there is coolant around the base part of the heater valve? Could it be defective or maybe I did something wrong when putting it on? I replaced it once before a few years ago and it was okay. I will now try to add some of the pics I took. Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated!! I have more pics from under car but not exactly sure what they are of because i was kind of blindly aiming camera up at arms length from where puddle started. Can share them if I get anyone willing to help. I don't have alot of mechanical experience but I am LEARNING thanks to getting tired of getting ripped off by shops fixing everything but the problem and hundreds of hours of reading on this site. Not to mention that when you're a girl with a sportscar, a lot of guys are suddenly mechanics, NOT lol. Thank you so much for this site and all I have learned here!! Tatiana

 

Welcome to the boards Tatiana. That's a cool car. Love the T-Tops. Those heater valves are fragile. In my experience they can break while the car overheated (even though they didn't cause it). They are an easy fix and not too expensive. Your leak is yellow because you still had a decent amount of coolant in the engine when you added the water so you will still have a yellowish color from the mix. Treat the new valve gently when you put it in. The hose clamps should be tight but not crazy tight.

 

Hi, Thanks for the quick reply! That pic is the new heater valve. Did I break it putting it on? The one I replaced had the whole outlet, that one of the hoses attaches to, broken off clean. Is this brand new one in fact already cracked too? without driving the car?? I put this new one on immediately before having it towed home. It has been parked ever since. Only started it to turn around facing my house/garage because the tow truck backed it in driveway. Thank you again!

 

Do they make metal ones for my car?

 

Make sure all your hose clamps are on all the way on your heater valve. From the picture, it looks like one is not on all the way, but i can't tell for sure.

Even if the hose clamps are all on, you may still have a leak at the hose connection to the valve. The heater hoses can dry out and get less flexible over time, which can cause a leak in spite of a solid hose clamp connection. Might need to replace your heater hoses too, which is not a big deal.

 

Thank you. I know I need to replace the vacuum hose that runs from the back of the intake manifold to the a/c compressor and cruise control going one way and to the heater going the other way (i think lol). What would i call that to go and buy it at the parts store? it has a T fitting and a little valve thingy on the line going to the left. Can i do it myself or how much would it cost to have all my hoses replaced at a shop? No doubt it is way past time for that. I am also having issues with the wiring and little plastic pieces in my steering column getting brittle and broken causing me not to be able to click the high beam switch, intermitent no start just due to no key recognition. I know now that the VATS just makes ya wait 6 mins before trying again and it starts right up (it usually only does it when I'm already running late). Also lost speedo and odom a couple months ago (shhhh lol). Ugh, do i keep this car? It is going to cost alot of money to fix it right. I have valve covers leaking into spark plug holders! I wish one of you guys was close to Palm Springs and cojld give me your opinion on what to do with this car. The body is super clean other than front fender ground effects have some breakage (that FlexSeal white tape is bomb for a little quick fix DIY body work on a white car). My interior is in really good condition-has custom made floormats with logo, PO took the seats out and had them professionally recovered, perfect dash pad that i only recently took velour cover off, and a sound system worth more than the car . On the downside it is a V6 and it has almost 180,000 miles on it. I know it is hard to put a value on a car without seeing it but any advice or opinions on what to do or referral to another place for this now off topic post for help with this would be greatly appreciated. The car is at that point that you have to decide to go all in investment wise, sell it, drive it till it dies. I would feel guilty letting this car being the next POS third gen to hit the junkyard. Thanks for listening!! Please tell me if I am not following the site rules. I don't want to get kicked out.

 

Would getting a whole new engine be a viable option? Selling it and buying another thirdgen? but I know what I could only get for my car would be nowhere close to the thousands I have put in it. I really just need an honest mechanic. Any recommendations in the SoCal area?

 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but...

Your car is quite literally an ANTIQUE. Those of us who have them and drive them, take care of them ourselves. To run to "shop" every time some little thing goes wrong with a car this old will BANKRUPT most people of ordinary means.

Putting new hoses on isn't hard. Quite easy in fact. You should tackle it yourself: it takes little more than a screwdriver and a razor blade. Possibly one of the easiest repairs to make.

A "new engine" won't help anything. If the dry brittle cracked spongy and otherwise wore-out hoses aren't replaced at the same time, a "new engine" will have EXACTLY the same problems. On the flip side, if replacing the hoses makes the car useable again, then a "new engine" at the same time as the hoses is a waste of an ENORMOUS amount of money besides.

Learn to make simple repairs like these yourself. At some level of course, you'll still have to have a professional do certain things; nearly all of us do; but if you learn to tackle the simple stuff like this, and sort of keep moving the threshold of what you have to pay for moving upwards, you'll find that you'll enjoy the car ALOT more.

Besides the hoses themselves - ALL of them, EVERY ONE, ALL AT ONCE - you'll need the heater control valve, a radiator cap, 2 gallons of unmixed plain old green antifreeze (NOT the newer "Dexcool" or any of those), and 3 gallons of distilled water (not RO filtered, not tap, not from the creek, DISTILLED only); acoupla sizes of screwdrivers and some pliers, for the hose clamps; and a basic utility knife based around a razor blade to cut off the old hoses and trim new ones to length. Go on, YOU CAN DO THIS.

Or, if you can't, or just don't want to, it's probably best to just sell it and buy something newer. Old cars are ALWAYS gonna be pretty much like this one. All brands, all types. Old plastic, old rubber, etc. doesn't care what brand name is molded onto it.

 

Tatiana, you sound very competent. I think you could do this repair and keep the motor running!

 

Thank you guys so much for the votes of confidence!! I got the heater valve clamps on properly, no more coolant leak and it was running steady at 170-175 degrees. I am actually on my way to AutoZone to pick up the Haynes manual I ordered!! I don't want a boring "practical" car. When any of my family or friends with new Toyotas or Hondas and even a brand new mustang suggest my car is an old POS, I say "oh yeah? when was the last time you were at a red light or gas station and someone said 'nice car', 'what year is that?' lol. I even had someone ask to take a pic of it the other day. So with the help of you guys on here and my new Haynes manual I am going to try to work on it myself. I have gotten pretty good at the diagnostic part just from reading, now its time for some hands on work!! Thanks again for your help. Which brings me to this question...I had some issues with a no start a couple times over the last few days, wouldn't jump start, put fuel right into the air intake and it started right up but the heater motor plug wires started smoking so i disconnected it and it was fine. It did the no start thing again and I found a couple wires i needed to splice back together and got it started. I could go on and on about each incident but my diagnosis is a bad ground or short hence the instrument panel, headlight issues, etc and things seeming to fix themselves but something new starts happening. I have known I have a vacuum leak but now I went thru a tank of gas in less than 100 miles. I will get the new hosing and attempt to repair it. My question is...is this the proper thread to get help with these other issues? or do i need to start over in a thread that covers the specific topic i'm working on? is there anywhere I can post my progress/problems now that I have embarked on what will be a new and ongoing saga for me? Is it inappropriate to think anyone wants to hear it? Be honest, if you guys don't have time for a newbies drama, just say so. LASTLY lol, relevant to this thread i want to ask are there basically just two sizes of rubber hoses? i mean the bigger heater, radiator type hose and the smaller vacuum hoses. or are there multiple sizes of hoses?

 

No, there are quite a few sizes... the 2 biggest (radiator) hoses are different sizes, and molded to shape besides; the 2 next larger (heater) are 2 different sizes; and the vacuum, fuel, etc. ones are all also of various sizes.

A vacuum leak probably wouldn't be the cause of poor gas mileage. Possible, but not the most likely thing, by far. Details as to what to look for to cure that, would depend dramatically on what the car is. 6-cyl or V8? if V8, is it TPI (looks like a log with 8 curved tubes leading down from it) or TBI (will have a large round air cleaner on top)?

Glad you decided to tackle it, and found success. That's the right way to go about it. And as you probably learned, it's not really all that hard, once you get past the intimidation factor of it being something new to you.

 

www.rockauto.com is your friend in buying parts.

 

Thank you for the parts tip. It is a V6. I just read codes and got
21 TPS voltage high
22 TPS voltage low
fuel cutoff relay circuit open or shorted to ground
33 MAP sensor voltage high during idle
35 IAC system problem, cannot set desired RPM or idle speed actuator
42 spark timing circuit open or shorted
ignition system fault, bypass system open or shorted to ground
during engine run
fuel cutoff relay circuit open or shorted to ground
Any insight?

 

It's best to stick with the appropriate topic in the board that deals with that. It's easier to respond to a pointed question and not have to dig through long responses that will only get all tangled up with different interacting topics Keep it simple. Cooling in cooling, electronics and electrical in electronics, fuel issues in the board it fits in, etc

 

Perfect example. You need to post this in ELECTRONICS and NOT cooling since it has NOTHING to do with cooling

 

Got it! Thanks.