okay, so this car is sorta new to me (GF's car) and I've kinda become the designated mechanic seeing as she lacks the funding to take it to a shop...
heres the problem:
it looses coolant, and fairly fast
notice I say looses, because I can't seem to find any leaks.
it all started one day when she drove to hang out with her friends and called me to say there was a large puddle under her car in the parking space, I had her do a smell check of it to confirm it was coolant, and it was, butit was cold, so I told her it may not have been from her car as she had recently driven and I figured it would have been hot if it came from her still warm car
she drove to another friends house where she said the coolant light came on, I instructed her to check her collant level and she said it was low, I had her refill her coolant with plain tap water, after an hour I had her check under her car for any leaks, and there weren't any, so I told her to drive home and to remix the water with antifreeze the next day
her dad checked her thermostat and found it to be malfunctioning so he replaced it, but that brings me to the current state of the car, the coolant needs to be filled once a week (almost as fast as the gas tank
)
I've looked all over and can't find one trace of coolant, her hoses and block fittings look good, there is no coolant smell inside (from a blown heatercore) the radiator looks good
so this brings me to my question: where did it go?
is there some j-body specific problem that I don't know about?
I'm sure the head-gasket will be suggested as a cause, but I can't see any smoke or steam comming out of the tailpipe that might suggest that
I have no problem replacing the headgasket if need be, but I'm hoping that you guys might have some solution, or commeon problem that I might not know about
thanks
-john
Quote:
I'm sure the head-gasket will be suggested as a cause, but I can't see any smoke or steam comming out of the tailpipe that might suggest that
Check for the consistancy of the oil. It may not be blowing out the exhaust ports, but into the oil system.
Do a search on the forum - it's a well know problem with the head gaskets. I have a 96 and a 97 in the family. I've done the head gaskets on both for the exact symptoms you report.
All connections and hoses are good? It's not leaking out of the bottom of the water pump? No puddles? Sure it's not the water pump?
John MacPherson wrote:All connections and hoses are good? It's not leaking out of the bottom of the water pump? No puddles? Sure it's not the water pump?
I'm pretty sure its not leaking form there, but I'll check
my problemis I currently live 4 hours away from her and the car so it makes diagosing this sorta thing pretty hard
how much in parts doesit cost to do the headgasket?
since this isn't an overhead cam engine I can pop off the head without distrubing the engine timing right?
well. youve got headbolts, gasket set, coolant, an oil change while your at it,and some time. youd be looking at probably 300 bucks to do it yourself.
Wojo wrote:well. youve got headbolts, gasket set, coolant, an oil change while your at it,and some time. youd be looking at probably 300 bucks to do it yourself.
thats like a 1/3 of what the car cost
oh well, you gotta do what you gotta do,
I've instructed her to be be on leak patrol for the next week or so to see if her car is leaving puddles anywhere
or maybe that fix a leak junk her dad threw in there might work (I highly doubt it will do more good than harm..)
is there a nice discount oem parts place thats got good prices on these parts?
or is this a "go to autozone" type of thing?
John, on those hard to spot leaks, the quickest way
is to put the car up like on ramps so that you can
crawl underneath. If you wait until dark and use a
flashlight or some pinpoint type of light, it helps.
Here's hoping you find that it's NOT the head gasket.
I have same problem with mine ( NO sign of leakage), but the heater hose busted yesterday. Will replace today and see if problem was a pin leak in it to start with. Maybe also do a pressure check on the cooling system. If not I will try some good ole stop leak before I spent the money and time on a head gasket. Like an ole wise mechanic told me to take the pill before you operate!
Ed
93 Cavalier custom, 4 Speed W/S Wipers, Oversize Seat covers and a Racing Ash Tray.
John
If you have'nt fixed it yet
Have you tried warming the car up, stopping the engine and then, with gloves and maybe goggles, rapidly squeeze and release the hoses to show up any pinpoint leaks.
It did work for me once.
Alont
alont wrote:John
If you have'nt fixed it yet
Have you tried warming the car up, stopping the engine and then, with gloves and maybe goggles, rapidly squeeze and release the hoses to show up any pinpoint leaks.
It did work for me once.
Alont
I'll try, problem is I won't see the car till next weekend
thats for the help guys
anyone know of good places to get replacement parts for these car relativly cheaply?
