This goes along with my water pump post...

I turn the car off around 230 degrees on a 90 degree day, just as the engine fan is turning on, and within 5 seconds there's this gurgling sound underhood. I pop the hood, and my overflow reservoir is filling up like crazy. The level is exact at "Full Cold," but goes way the hell over the "Full Hot" by about 2 inches when shut down this way.

Is this a sign of overheating even though the temp gague is not going past 230?? To be honest, if this is normal, I never noticed this before. My dad says its normal, but my friend and I say this isn't. Who's right??

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Jason E

'89 Camaro RS
Medium Grey Metallic
2.8, A4, T-tops, 91k miles

'97 Z28 w/30th Anniversary package
LT1, M6, t-tops
White with orange stripes, killer system, 42k miles

Speed Kills...Wanna live forever? Drive a Ford.
Long Live #3...

 

mine did it when my headgasket died

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www.marion-becker-nidda.de
91 Firebird 3.1
Modsynomax ultra flow stainless steel -americanracing rims (ar26) rear 15x8 255/60
front 15x7 235/60
www.members.aol.com/tramphorst/pontiacpics

 

Mine doesn't do that.

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-Dan
-1990 3.1L RS
-Mods? no
-Slow? yes

 

Mine did that when my thermostat busted

 

Mine did that before I changed the water pump.

 

What that usually means is that you have air in the system some how, some way. A cracked head gasket, some other form of air leak. It will sometimes do that if you had just filled the water system. After the first spit-up the system is usually fine. But if yours is a repetitive thing, you may be in trouble.

Clayton

 

Well, I ran it in the driveway today after starting it cold. It went to 220, then I saw the temp gague go back down to 195, engine fan didn't turn on. It always does this...thermostat opening up right???

Well, it gets up to 230, fan comes on, I shut it down and....nothing. The overflow tank fills up a little, and thats the end of it. If I had something like a bad head gasket, wouldn't it do it every time??

If doing this today yielded nothing, does this mean I'm ok?

------------------
Jason E

'89 Camaro RS
Medium Grey Metallic
2.8, A4, T-tops, 91k miles

'97 Z28 w/30th Anniversary package
LT1, M6, t-tops
White with orange stripes, killer system, 42k miles

Speed Kills...Wanna live forever? Drive a Ford.
Long Live #3...

 

yeah mine did that on the first hot day of this year


hasn't done it since

prolly cuz i got a new water pump

 

you may have gotten some air in the system. and it was coming out earlier. I have a 160 thermo in my car(got it from auto zone for a v8 car and it fit fine) and I have both fans (main and another auxilary fan from Perma cool) on manual switches cause the main fan won't come on till 200 plus and that just too damn hot for my tastes. I am looking for a switch that will turn on at 160-165 and another to turn on at 170-175 perspectively for each fan. I will of course have to wire a trigger to start the main fan when I turn on when I turn on the A/C though..
But anyway the repeated gurgling of coolant is NOT NORMAL BY ANY MEANS. Unless you either have a leak somewhere of have a high concentration of water. Meaning the coolant/water mix is way too thin.

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Kills to date a 3.1 firebird today 2 stop lights in a row.
95 Grand Am
Serveral Honda's
a freinds 91 Rustang LX(I know its a 4 but he keeps trin')

Planned mods:
Soon coming 3 inch exhaust, 1.6 rockers, High flow 'Verter, and Ignition system. Along with a coplete turbo 4.3 swap planned later this year(hoping to get into the 10's..)
Current mods:
Set of Iroc sway bears front and rear..amazing differance, Air box bottom completely removed allowing my K&N to act like an open element filter.
Lower profile tires, 195/55/15 front 205/55/15 rear handles better.

Sterio Sony CD head unit and 9 band EQ, Boston acutics 4x6 dash, Alpine 3 way 6x9 sail, California sounds active crossover, Kroiiler 600 watt amp powering the 'pines and Bostons, 600 watt Jensen powering 2 Rockord Fosgate RFZ1812 subs. And all this cost less then $575...

 

You should also check your pressure cap on the radiator.

 

I never noticed mine doing that... but I never turn my car off anymore if it's at 230 degrees. I'll wait for the fan to kick on... when the fan kicks in and brings it back to thermostat temp, that's when I shut the car off. I have a mechanical gauge, so I can see the effects... when I used to kill the car at 230, the heat of the engine combined with the stopped coolant would make the engine temp rises past 260 degrees!! If the coolant cools down because of the fan, when the car's shut off, the temp gets around 230-240.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

 

Its interesting you mention the gague, Tom. I have seen my gague rise countless times after shutting it down, and never thought anything of it until one of the techs at work today explained to me WHY it was doing that. When the coolant doesn't circulate, the fan shuts off and the engine is hot, it does rise A LOT.

Back to the subject though. I drove it about 25 min to work, let it get real hot idling out back, and killed it the second the engine fan turned on. What did I get?? Again, NADA. The service manager said not to worry about the car at all, based on what I had shown him and told him. He said if I am not overheating it in traffic, and if it has only done the weird gurgling thing a few times, not to worry seeing as how I went out of my way to do it twice now and nothing happened. Before I take my 1,000 mile road trip in August with it though, I am changing the other radiator hose (lower one is still factory), flush the radiator and new coolant, and a new radiator cap. After this, all should be well I hope!!

Thanks for the responses. Any other thoughts???

 

You are smart with your thoughts.
You also have time to see if between your cleaning & the long drive, to see what will happen.
Keep your eye on it.

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Chat Soon,
KED85
Karl
1985 Firebird 2.8 to 3.4 swap project for Smog Happy LA, CA

 

Hell, half the time I notice my recovery tank's empty, and I'm an inch down on coolant in the radiator! I've got a leak at the thermostat gasket; I'll fix it when I put the 160 'stat back in.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

 

Tom,
Be lazy, Double check the hose connection.
It could be the cause!
Take hose off, clean at the housing and tighten again.
MAYBE it could use a double clamp set up. That may be your cure!!

 

Nope; hose clamp's tight. I can see the coolant oozing out from the base of the thermo housing; it's a slow leak.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

 

Hoping for that simple solution!
Drat!!

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Chat Soon,
KED85
Karl
1985 Firebird 2.8 to 3.4 swap project for Smog Happy LA, CA

 

Pointless comment..I've never even seen my engine really heat up that bad.. Normally, it runs around 170 degrees..on a hot day, it'll run between 190 and 220..never past 220. It's only almost overheated on me once, which is when my radiator sheared open on the frame (about an inch long gash) and sprayed all my coolant all over the place. I live in Florida too...the weather is very often comparable to hell.

 

I'd imagine the entire environment and living conditions would be comparable to hell as well. I'd hate to live in FL, it gets too hot here in NJ as it is, but then again, screw snow. 60-70 degree clear days are the best. Too bad we have a thing called seasons.



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1985 Camaro SC - 2.8L, auto.

http://www.xenodrgn.f2s.com/Frontright.jpg

 

Come out to LA. Fry your brains sitting in traffic jams.
I've had to jump off the freeway, while riding my Motorcycles. The heat radiating off the ground has nearly knocked me out!
I MISS THE CHANGE OF THE SEASONS SO MUCH OUT HERE! Atleast I can drive to the snow in a few hours and leave it like that, too!

------------------
Chat Soon,
KED85
Karl
1985 Firebird 2.8 to 3.4 swap project for Smog Happy LA, CA