I searched for this, so all you people that like to get their post count up by posting the search smily can jump off a bridge

ANYWAYS, my car has been overheating lately. A few weeks back I was coming home from work, and my temp gauge was sticking at 280*+, and smoke was coming from my engine compartment. I pull over, pop the hood, and notice antifreeze just running everywhere. I wait 5 minutes, notice where its all coming from, and end up driving home (no other choice). I get home, let her cool down, presure tested the cooling system, and replaced the antifreeze that leaked out, ran fine since. Tonight, coming home, I noticed my temp gauge at 230*, so I kept my eye on it. It was going from 220* - 250* like it was its job, but never went into the red.

My engine has 179000 miles on her, and the bottom of the engine is coated with a mix of oil and antifreeze. I loose a quart of oil every few months, and lately antifreeze every few weeks. I want to say the freeze plug is bad, but why would this have happened all of a sudden. If its the freeze plug, Im going to end up driving her til winter, part her, and in the spring, work on my 350 to drop in. Any common problems with the 3.1L like I mentioned? Is the problem just that the engine has alot of miles? Is there a hose that could have broke that I cant see from the engine compartment?

 

1. An extreme overheat CAN warp a freeze plug.
2. You did not say WHERE the coolant was coming from. It IS coming from somewhere right? My old camaro had a leak once that was behind/under the water pump.
3. Where is the oil coming from? distributor base? front main? rear main? valve covers?
4. Are your fans coming on?
5. Is your fan thermo switches good?
6. When was your last flush?

If it is steaming out, you need to find the SOURCE. There is one, you need to find it.

 

i had a similar prob, i got 144k on mine. and found out my relay for the fan isnt workin, that will overheat the **** out of it, so check n see if ur fan comes on first.

 

My fan comes on around 200* - 210*, but the switch that makes it come on with the AC isnt working, so I unplugged it and the fan is on when the AC is on. I had the AC on the entire way home, so that means the fan was on.

The oil is ALL over the bottom of the engine, the source looks like its coming from the back of the engine, but I cant be 100% sure. Same with the antifreeze. Thing is, I looked at the bottom of my engine before the big overheat, so the oil and antifreeze was there before.

Last time it over heated, it was misting, not spraying, from a source where I could get my big *** head into, =( .

I havent flushed the car since I had it, so i have NO idea when the last flush is. Im afraid that if I flush it, and the freeze plug is bad, it could blow it out, resulting in my car sitting until my engine swap =(

 

first thing id do is get a coolant pressure tester and pressurize the coolant system and find the leak, then you can decide what to do from there. depending on what freeze plug it is, it may not be too bad to replace (depending on your mechanical abilities) if its misting or spraying or anything like that, youve got a pretty major problem that isnt gonna last much longer, even if you keep refilling the coolant, its gonna get real ugly fast. get a pressure tester and find the source of the leak first.

 

The thing is, I have one, and we DID pressure test the coolent system (as stated in the first post) and it pasted with flying colors =( Thats why Im conserned

 

check ur oil, make sure that anti freeze isnt gettin in there, cuz then you got mad problems, and if its towards the back of the engine with oil, then it could be a main seal. sounds to me like its time for a v8 swap....or a 3.4?

 

how much pressure and how long did you let it sit pressurized? thats very strange that it wouldnt show a leak under a pressure test if it was leaking out all over before.

 

We pumped up the pressure to 14 lbs, and let it sit, while the car was off of course, for about 5 minutes.

Thats actually one of the first things I checked for when I got the car, and I check my oil everytime at the gas station, and there is no antifreeze in the oil.

 

forgive me it has been a while since I owned a third gen... what is the cap rated at pressure wise? pump it to that and let it sit for about 20 minutes.

Also get a mechanics stethascope and start listening to EVERYTHING. All over the block as it sits. That will help you more than anything. If you hear something, your problem cannot be far from where you are listening/probing.

Now back to the HG (Head Gasket) symptoms.
You can have a bad HG and not get coolant in the oil. It is called a hairline crack that only opens up under pressure from the coolant. It goes into the combustion chamber and is burned up.
(Happens in DSM's all the time)

Now if you want to seek the source of the steam safely, start the car, turn on the AC and have a water hose nearby. When it starts to steam out, LOOK, have mirrors ready and SEARCH.
If the temp gets too high, kick on the heat, turn off AC and hit the radiator with that water hose you have standing by.

Also, is your lower radiator air damn still there? it helps force air up into the radiator, if it is all torn up, you'll over heat in a heartbeat.

 

My cap is rated at 16 lbs, but thats an aftermarket cap that the local autoparts store gave me in mistake, Im going back and getting the correct cap. The stock one is rated at 14 lbs.

Last time it was overheated, we replaced the antifreeze, started up the car, and waited for it to overheat, which it never did. For some reason, it likes to dump its antifreeze, and act fine after. I know it sounds odd, my my old Lumina with the 3.1L use to do the same. Its really hard to find the problem when it wont reoccur.

My lower radiator dam is still there, but part of it is disconnected I think (meaning its hanging lower than suppose to). Its not all torn up, but its been like that for a while, and it doesnt overheat all the time. It actually stays cool on longer drives, and this is the second time that its over heated randomly. When I go out to work on my car, Ill hook up the radiator damn again.

 

Could be a couple of things. I'd replace the thermostat first. Failure mode is usually not opening as far, then opening less and less.

Need to clean out the area between the radiator and the A/C condensor. With these cars being bottom feeders that area fills up with all kinds of debris.

A couple of screws and the top of the radiator mount comes off (right under the hood up front). Look down between the two, filled up? Carefully pull the big stuff out, then lift the radiator up about an inch and use a garden hose to wash out the rest.

If you disconnected the A/C pressure switch to the ECM the fan should be running all of the time. With or without the A/C on. Definitely make sure the fan is operational.

RBob.

 

V6sucker, you were pretty much right on the money. I filled up the radiator with antifreeze, and noticed that there was a leak on the passenger side of the engine. So I put the pressure tester on and antifreeze started squirting out between the head and the block by the waterpump on the passenger side of the engine. So I plan on tearing that side of the engine part, sending out the head to be tested, check the block for flatness, replace the gasket, and getting her running until im done with my engine.

And thanks RBob, those are actually the first things we checked when we got the car, and sure enough the thermostat was bad, we replaced that, and it seemed to fix it (this was back in spring).

My father also noticed a smell that reminded him of Bars Stop Leak, so this problem could have been there when I got the car, but the last owner tryed to fix it with that stuff.

Looks like Im out of commision for a while

 

that one had me puzzled for about 3 weeks...
that is why I usually mention that area first.

 

Since this is happening, Im looking into V8 create engines. I found that I can get a 350 long block for about $1200, which is really reasonable. Have you dont anything like this?

 

have I DONE anything like that?

What an engine swap? yeah...
try getting a fwd engine into an RWD car... then have it run.

 

Hi there,
I have an 88 IROC but my other car is a 94 3.1L V-6 Sunbird GT. My problem is with this car but since third gens at some point had this engine or something very close, I hoped someone might be able to help me. I am stumped because the car is overheating. The fan never comes on. I removed it and checked that it was working by powering directly from my battery. I changed the sending unit and the relay but it still won't work. I really have no idea what else it could be. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.