did you every find a solution to your overheating, and coolant loss?!?!? i have the same exact thing happening to me right now...

i sometimes wonder what a 5-gallon jug of gasoline could do for it...

thanks,
steve

 

anybody...blown head gasket?!?!

 

ttt again, sorry but i need some help/info.

 

Did you check your fans and switch,also thermostat or radiator clogged with dirt/crud.could be blown gasket,but I hope not for your sake.I hope this helps you.Jake

 

I did find the problem. It was a bad radiator. Here is what happened-

Radiator didn't cool off the coolant enough, causing coolant to boil off, hence the coolant loss. Also caused steam pockets throughout the system, causing bad overheating, and almost causing me to lose my mind

Here is how to test it. Find a Ratech gun, it's a tool that measures the surface temperature of an object. You point a laser beam at the surface you are measuring, and it takes a reading of it. What you want to do is measure the two big hoses coming off of the radiator, one on each side. One side is an inlet, and one is an outlet, so you should get a pretty big diference between the two. Make sure and do this test with the motor running, fully warm, and with the cooling fans on. When I tested mine it only dropped 12*, which is not enough too cool the motor down.

You can either go by a mechanics shop and try to borrow one of their ratech guns, or you can buy one. They are less than $100.

If you have any questions let me know, I'll keep checking back on this thread

John

 

well H*ll that dont seem to be my problem...i was hoping it was something simple, but in the morning or whenever (its getting worse) my car runs like its on 6 cylindars, the clears to 7, then starts running fine after it runs about 2mins...there doesnt appear to be any anti-freeze in the oil..but there is an oil substance in the anti-freeze...and it likes to blow the coolant out of the resivior while driving or just after i shut it off, as if the cylinder was leaking into the coolant system through a water jacket somehow...

im goin to pull the heads off around noonish today 11/22/03...and do a visual inspection.

a local machine shop is going to resurface, pressure test, valve job, valve guides, and a set of Z-28 springs for $185..so that aint to bad at all i dont think!

i'll keep you guys up dated.

thanks for your time,
steve

 

Hey John.....why didn't you tell me man? Thought thats why I hadn't heard from you lately, thought you jumped off the bridge or something.

I'm glad to hear you fixed the problem.

 

White, didint realize you had a problem. Make a new post and we'll take a look at it.

 

Heh, nah, I fixed it, but it was about to make me go nuts. Now I'm having a problem with the ignition switch that I JUST replaced. Man it's one after another on this car.......

Hey whitedakota, go rent a cooling system pressure tester from autozone. Pump your system up to 18 psi, make a note of how the pressure bleeds off, and how long it takes to do so, then let us know. If you have a blown headgasket it will bleed off pressure more quickly. Also, are you getting any white smoke out the tailpipes?

 

on start up yes, there is a sign of a light white smoke...but the temp has been about mid 40's low 50's here...then the smoke goes away after a min or two.

but the thing that has me puzzled is my car barley runs, as if water on the spark plugs or something, and when you give it a little gas it just stumbles then starts to clear up...you let it run for about 2min its ready to rock and roll! and right when i get home sometimes i crack the bleeder screws, and air comes out for about 5 sec, then fluid, but it comes in spirts...i let it sit all night and no air or water comes out? but is about a half a gallon low on coolant.

i guess we'll see in a few hours!

be back later,
steve

 

as of last night into this morning...me and my buddy started pulling of my heads, we started about 12am and finished taking off the driver side head about 3:30...we still have the passenger side to do (looks like fun)...anywho, i have a blown head gasket, it is between the water jacket and the cylinder, and also between the two cylinders farthest back on the driver side...

that is all i have for ya now, will take pass. side off tom, afternoon...

IS IT WORTH REMOVING THE EGR?!?!?(or the hoses that go to the exhaust manifolds)

thanks for your time

steve

 

The only reason I bypassed my EGR is because I messed up the line when removing it. If you get the EGR tubing out in one piece you might as well put it back in.