Ok guys, I've had my 96 TA since it had just 0.8 miles on the ODO and this morning on my way to work it had its first-ever overheating problem. The bizarre part is that it happened exactly at 91000.3 on the odometer, go figure. The cooling system is 100% original except for 2 coolant flushes by a GM dealer (last one was 15k miles ago). Luckily I saw the "Check Gauges Light" when it lit and was able to park the car when the temp gauge had just entered the red zone. After stopping the engine I left the ignition in the accessory position and opened the hood to find that both fans were churning away trying to cool the car down - which obviously wasn't working. This leads me to believe that it's either the radiator cap (pressure leak), thermostat or the water pump causing the problem.

Also, for the last 10k miles I've been occasionally smelling antifreeze when I exit the car. Every time I catch a wiff of it I prowl around under the hood searching for a leak. I continouly check the weep hole on the WP, but it has yet to leak. I never smell it in the car, so I'm assuming the problem isn't a leaking heater core.

When I get the beast home tonight what are the order of steps I should take to determine the overheating problem??

1 - Open the radiator cap, warm the engine up and check for coolant flow. No flow = bad thermostat or WP?
2 - Bleed air from the radiator (I haven't opened the system for 15k miles, so if there's air in there then a pressure/coolant leak exists somewhere?)
3 - Remove thermostat and boil in pan of water to check for stuck condition
4 - Look for collapsed hoses (not likely)
5 - Have a pressure test performed
6 - ???

Thanks!

 

When I get the beast home tonight what are the order of steps I should take to determine the overheating problem??

1 - Open the radiator cap, warm the engine up and check for coolant flow. No flow = bad thermostat or WP?
2 - Bleed air from the radiator (I haven't opened the system for 15k miles, so if there's air in there then a pressure/coolant leak exists somewhere?)
3 - Remove thermostat and boil in pan of water to check for stuck condition
4 - Look for collapsed hoses (not likely)
5 - Have a pressure test performed
6 - ???

[/B][/QUOTE] all of the above, assuming you've checked the radiator cap and main hoses, it's possible your water pump is leaking. There's a small (2 mm) weep hole on the bottom of the pump. Black stains surrounding the hole indicate coolant seepage, which is an early warning sign of pump failure. Another indication of a pump leak is if there's green-black staining on the small rubber hose that plugs into the engine block (just behind the main crank belt pulley). Any coolant dripping out tends to drip directly onto the rubber hose where it then flows down to the hot engine block and is boiled off (leaving the staining). If you smell coolant at stop lights for instance, it's from it burning off on the block. Since the coolant boils off, the slow leak never has a chance to drip onto the ground, so you'll never see it.