Hi all,

I just purchased a 1987 trans am with the 5.7L tpi engine about a month ago. It never ran perfect (seemed rich) but i didn't think a whole lot of it. On the road a week ago, however, the car began to loose power and make a knocking sound. after letting off the gas i noticed a small bit of white smoke coming out of the pass. side of the hood. As i pulled off the road, all the coolant went. there was an immense amount of smoke and a ton on the ground. The car was normally really loud and mean sounding, but as i shut it off, i could hardly notice it was running. Coolant was bubbling in the resavoir at the time, but now there is none in the system. The thermostat checked out good, oil was burnt smelling but did not have water mixed in it, and it appears that all the hoses are ok as well.

sorry for the long post, But can any of you guys give me a clue? any help would be appreciated.

 

What do you mean thermostat tested good, you took it out and put it in boiling water and watched it open? Cooling system is fairly simple, check all your hoses and feel if they are squishy if so replace them, replace thermostat, to cheap and easy not to do. Fill it with water and start up with the thermostat housing off and watch for flow of water to check if your water pump needs replaced. Also a good inspection of your radiator including the front, a lot of derbis can build up there causing it to overheat, and lastly is your cooling fan comming on if you have electric, is your fan clutch burnt up if you dont.

 

thanks for the reply. I did test the thermostat with boiling water. I filled the block with water thinking freeze plug, head gasket, or cracked block, but it held the water just fine. I have electric fans and they stay on 100% of the time. Could the water pump going bad or radiator cause such an aburpt shutdown?

 

how hot did it get when it boiled over? engine heat could have caused a lot of problems making it shutdown, not sure on the computer controlled cars but the temp sensor might have made it shut down, fuel could have vaporized lots of different ways overheating could cause a shutdown, worst being a oiling problem causing major damage. If you have the $ replace the hoses and waterpump and clean/flush the system. you can rent a pressure tester from autozone and pump it up to cap pressure to verify no internal leakage, that usualy shows up if not in the oil then in the coolant itself. Also pick up a new cap if yours looks grungy. You would be suprised at how much of a difference old hoses and caps can make.