hey guys. i'm in dire and desparate need of help. last week my car started throwing teh low coolant light. well through the week i checked and all was well. upon acceleration sometimes it'd go off. well friday, i was goin down the road and she got HOTTT. i mean bad. i was in the middle of nowhere. tried to get it to a gas station but it died when i came to a stop sign. temp reading was above 260 and oil temp was 300. i left her off and called a tow truck. today i replaced the tstat figuring it was locked shut. when i removed the old one, i noticed that the engine had NO coolant in it. so before i put new stat in i filled the engine with some coolant. then put newer stat on and buttoned her up. well i started it up and added as much coolant as possible. then capped it and drove around the block. half way around i saw smoke and left a big drip trail of something. came back and parked it, just as i got stoppd the low coolant light comes onagain. now i see that the lower rad hose is dirty like it's been sprayin a leak. could this be the overflow tank? also theres a bad leak or drip comin from under the rad, i cant get under there, so wahts my options? i'm prob gonna take it to a radiator man i trust tomorrow and say fix it. but waht are my possibilities for my prob?


so men i really need ur help.
1. does it sound like t stat stuck up on me?

2. what does that leak sound like it could be?

3. why does my low coolant light come on at random?

4. and after being pegged out, my analog temp gauge doesnt work, did i break it from being so hot? will it reset? is there a way to fix it? or would i ahve to buy a whole new dash display?

5. why cant i get more coolant in it to make the low coolant light go off?

6. please tell me the proper way to flush the entire coolant system.

7. what's the proper fill for my system?

guys i know this is alot, but if anyone ever needed ur help it's me now. i gotta have this car. it's my daily driver and i got school on monday. please give me any and all info asap, i'll be checkin in periodically tomorrow to see wahtss up. thanks so much men, and please please help me out.


thanks so much,

Stuart

 

Holy WaterLeak, Batman!

IMHO - First things first, ya cooked the motor pretty good and its now time to go through the whole system. Plan on replacing the upper & lower hoses, T-Stat and maybe the radiator (depends on the age). The low coolant light is pretty finicky on my 86. I grounded the probe to chassis and it still lights up occasionally! So now the oil & water temps are selected on the digital display. If your handy with wrenches you can do all this youself and save lots of money.
Once the car is running and holding pressure again, you can start chasing the temp guages & probes. This may not answer all your questions, but you should be able to get back on the road come Monday.
I have witnessed many cars cooking off like this and a few hoses and a t-stat later they were up and running no problem....
-JRC-

 

sounds like you have a leak in your lower radiator hose or on the bottom of the radiator.
Coolant probably just leaks out of hole so the low coolant light stays on.
You can probably find leak/hole/crack in hose if you start the engine with the hood up. You should see the steam rise.

Squeeze some of the rubber hoses in your engine. If they feel a bit"crunchy", its a good time to replace them.

 

i'd replace all the hoses as a precaution. have the rad shop pressure test the radiator.

 

Pressure test the system, which will force the mixture out of any area that leaks. Replace hoses(all), that should get you back on the road until you get all fixed.

 

BTW did you let it run long enough to open the t-stat and purge???

 

Have you checked your oil yet? Also, look in front of the radiator, you may have sucked a plastic bag or something up blocking the radiator.Then replace your hoses,t stat, fill and purge the system. BUT if your oil looks like a chocolate shake-you have internal problems with the engine-i.e blown head gasket. Good luck and let us know.

 

I wouldn't suspect the thermo, but it's good maintenance to replace it anyways.

Leaks can occur just about anywhere... squeeze the rubber hoses like someone said. The radiator may be leaking too. These cars have a habit of cracking the plastic side tanks; inspect what you can from the opening on the passenger side of the radiator shroud (follow the AC lines).

When you add coolant, you need to bleed the system or you will have large air pockets. In a nutshell: open fill cap, open bleed screw(s), maintain coolant level, bring engine to temp, close bleed screw when you get a constant flow coming out, top off coolant and close the cap.

 

well the bad part came true. got word from the rad shop today that i blew a head gasket. which sucks. anyhow, i need advice on what else i should be weary of having done this. i know i'll need to change oil soon, but what else? would doin this harm any other parts? what about the cause? did i abuse it or did the engine running hot cause the head gasket to blow? he also said that i had a hole in my radiator, but he can handle that. so give me some info please on what to watch out for, what caused this mess, and what i need to do. also, i have a set or 1.6 rr's that need installing. would now be agood time for this? thanks for the help fellas. maybe i'll be back on the road before too long. also, while the heads are off, is there anything simple or cheap i can do to kinda help the performance, longevity of my engine? i need any and all info please. thanks

 

Most likely the engine ran super hot because of the blown head gasket unless you simply ran it out of coolant. I would check both the heads and the block for trueness before putting the heads back on. If you have warpage you will just have another blown gasket. Yeah, it's good time for the 1.6 rockers. If you have the time/funds, a little port matching and bowl blending will work wonders on performance. Since you have the heads off , you will never have a better opportunity.
Be sure to get all the air out of the coolant system when you refill or else that lo coolant light will drive you nuts. I always drill four 1/16 " holes 90 degrees apart in the flange of the thermostat . This helps get trapped air out and also will allow enough coolant flow to get home on if the thermostat ever sticks. Good luck

 

ok so can anyone please give me some ballpark numbers on waht this would cost? just say a new radiator and head gasket and some hoses. then the labor to replace and install it all. dude gave me a number and i think it's wayy high, but feel like i'm over a barrel. so throw em at me please. thanks fellas, it's a bad day for me. so everyone please burn some rubber for me. i'm bummin rides with my friends 90 grand prix.

 

I would guess 1100-1500 for parts and labor

He would have to fill radiator and add clamps to hoses if needed.
New cap if old one can't hold pressure.
Radiator~325.00
Gasket and hoses~200.00

 

Head gaskets aint cheap, $1000-1500 total would be the average number. I dont know any mechanics in that area by reputation who would do a good job cheap.

 

I just replaced my radiator $150 from RadiatorBarn.com. $25 for a bottom hose and $10 for Coolant. It took me about 4 hours total and I'm slow.

Head gasket parts are cheap, but the labor is going to eat you alive. Like they said above $1,000 to $2000 depending where you get it done. The Chevy dealer charges about $125 hour and most of the no name shops charge anywhere from $65 to $85 hour around here in Atlanta. M.C. Corvette Service here in Atlanta charges albut $85 hour and they do excellent work! Good luck!

 

Just make sure the heads are checked (warpage, etc) or you might be doing it again.