Hello, Could you please tell me if a thermostat should be replaced (and why) after an engines motor has been flushed. My engines intake gasket/valve cover gaskets have been replaced and the motor was flushed. Within 30 days after the repair the car overheated and another mechanic is diagnosing this again as the problem. He told me that the thermostat should have been replaced when this work was performed the first time and that any certified mechanic should know this. Thanks for any help or enlightenment you can give me. ~MB
You mean the cooling system was flushed or the oil?
I suppose if the cooling system was all gunked up that yeah, replacing the thermostat is a good precautionary move. But it has nothing to do with a crankcase flush.
My invoice states motor flush and that they also put in two gallons of antifreeze. Mechanic said that the reason it overheated is because of the thermostat and that is why the intake blew again.
hi i have a 1990 Chevrolet Lumina... i think i have a bad Bearing/Hub Assembly or drive axle...the car has humming sound when driving....sounds stops when wheel is yanked to the right....any info would be great thanks
it turns over but isn't getting spark from either coil. Just replaced fuel pump and filter. don't know if it is the crank or cam sensor. any advice would be greatly appreciated
03' F250 4x4 V8 - When I hit the brakes I hear a dull "dunk" and feel a vibration under the driver floor board. I have changed the callipor, pads and rotors. I have also checked the ball joints. Any advise on the next step? Need help!
:mad: I would like to replace my spark plugs but can't find the gap setting in the manual or on the hood of the car. have a 96 subaru legacy 2.2 L engine. Thanks in advance!!
our trusty 2001 pontiac aztek has the following problem: we can't remove the ignition key. engine can be switched off, but lock won't go back to release position. this started happening out of the blue. is this the key itself, the lock or an electrical problem?
In addition to what suvshopper suggested, it could be a power problem if your battery is getting old, or possibly what I just went through with mine,,,,, the lock cylinder was appearantly partially froze and would not give key back until vehicle was very warm after running for a long time. In my case I still haven't fixed leaky sunroof issue so I have had considerable moisture build up in cabin (shifter also had issue being stuck in park for I guess same reason) and I ended ups letting it run for an hour or so with A/C on and heat on high with windows cracked (A/C turns compressor on which helps dry out air)
all - shifter is in park. - yanking on the steering wheel to no avail. - we were driving the car for 90+ minutes before this first happened, everything was running normally during this time. - in the position where the key is stuck, it appears that the battery is getting drained. - after a jumpstart of the battery, car comes on normally, except that the dash board now shows a 'SECURITY' warning.
car's in the shop now, i'll let y'all know what the finding was.
Sounds more like power issue then. Tired battery/charging system weak could of thing. Bad cable connection either at battery or underhood fuse box may be culprit also. Let us know what you find out
I have a 97 Lincoln Contenintal stereo problem. When I start my car the radio plays, but when I shift into anything but park or neutral I can't hear it. All lights are on and digital volume displays,and I can change stations, just no sound. My C.D player doesn't work either. Gear shifter is on the console between the seats. Occasionally it will come off and on as I'm driving, ie.. hitting a bump or not just does. Any suggestions as to what this might be? :confuse: TIA, Whit
First off thanks for making this great site where people can share problems regarding their vehicles..anyways the main problem wich i cant fix is with my engine..First off at cold starts sometimes it starts good sometimes not, at most of the times it smells like gas from the engine, does not leak any gas, it just sometimes floods with it.., and when it does start you step on the gas and the engine stumbles and sometimes dies, as long as it is cold it will start when it is getting a little hot, you turn it off and the engine will not start unless you crank the motor allot, sometimes taking about 30 minutes..another thing is the exhaust manifold is broken, i tried repairing that by welding it but no luck, it broke again so will have to get a new one, anyways the other thing is it throws some water from the manifold i was guessing it was because of the broken manifold..im trying to see if it could be the head gasket that the problem..anyone with good tips will be very much appreciated..
if you have a hole in your exh manifold, starting the car may be made more problematic, i'm not sure.
but water from the exhuast is probably a natural consequence or byproduct of combustion.
i think you may be flooding your engine. why not try giving the vehicle a few secs to establish pressure at the fuel rail via the pump, before turning key all the way to start. avoid pressing on the accelerator.
other things: maybe really fouled plugs. possibly excessively clogged engine air filter (cheap to replace). i'd also run a can of Fuel Injector cleaner through when I filled up (you pour it into an empty tank).
maybe someone else can help with other suggestions.
well, this is a guess here since I'm not familiar with a '95 corolla but .... if there is an O2 sensor on the manifold, your car is not getting a proper signal from it since the manifold is broken. This is causing the computer to overcompensate and dump more fuel in than necessary.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
Thats a pretty good tip..there..Maybe that is whats happening,I will get the new manifold today or if i can get it faster ill just go to the wrecker..one thing i did notice was when i tried to weld that manifold it started up fine but then as it got hotter it stopped responding..another thing is that i dont step on the gas, i first off try to start it with little cranks and it looks like it does want to start and as i gradually increase the amount of crank time it tends to want to start only when i let the ignition go, and also i took off the filter replaced it and i noticed white smoke came out of the throttle body.
yeah, i'm not so sure the 02 and emissions controls is in closed loop mode when first starting, but, perhaps with a cracked manifold, the back-pressure on the engine is grossly off.
2002 forester: There is a high pitched whistling noise comming from someplace around the radiator what the car is off, if I un hook the battery is stops and hooking it back up starts is again, I can't seem to pinpoint where it is coming from because it is such a shrill high pitched noise it echoes around a lot. any ideas?
Hi everyone I have a question in regard to changing my fluid. I changed the fluid in the rear end of my 1997 jeep yesterday. It was a windy day and I noticed that a few particles of road sand may have splashed up into my differential while I had the case open. I did not see very much if any and I did wipe it clean but Im sure there is some microscopic sand particles in there. My question is..Do I have anything to worry about.? Should I change the fluid again? Or does my logic which believes that if there was any very fine sand pebbles in there it will all get crunched up over time serve me right. Or could even he smallest dust particles ultimately cause any damage? The fluid change with lucas rear differential fluid really did quite the rear down. I had not changed it in 120k and it does sound great. Any help with this question will be greatly appreciated
My 2003 Pontiac Vibe has been losing around 2 quarts in between 6,000 mile oil changes. I took out a sample of the coolant and it looks like mulch in the coolant. What has happened to allow the mixing of the two, and what kind of damage has been done to the engine? I have no external leaks, and I have not detected any coolant on the dipstick; only brown gunk (oil I presume) in the radiator.
Agree with taking it to a dealer or good mechanical shop and checking it visually.
Do you mean you lose two quarts of oil in 6000 miles? That's one quart per 3000 which is good from what I've always thought.
You don't say how many mile are on the car and if you know the whole history from new or it you bought it used.
If you mean the orange coolant is brownish with gunk in it, that may mean the Dexcool coolant has never been changed or someone added green stuff to it. The Dexcool will turn dark and form goop when overheated or run low with air in the radiator (even though the overflow reseroir is full) the air mixes with DexCool while running hot and causes deterioration.
If your crankcase has coolant that has gotten into it, the oil looks milky and like chocolate milk is in it.
I'm not hearing that to be what you're saying. But the car needs a professional, trustable person checking it.
Isn't a Vibe a Toyota or am I all confused? :confuse: Might not have the dreaded Dexcool then....but either a coolant mishap or another idea is a bad radiator tank, which is allowing transmission fluid into the coolant (the radiator cools the transmission fluid). How's the tranny fluid (if it's an AT I mean).
I've never looked into the hood of a Vibe to see if they use the GM coolant or the Toyota (is it red?) stuff.
The description of the goopy precipitate sounds like descriptions of other Dexcool stories and the Fords had a similar description years back. One factor is mixing with air in a system that's not been purged. A seep around the radiator cap allowing air into the radiator instead of recalling coolant from the reservoir allows that air. Mix with hot DexCool and they describe it as crud in the reservoir.
DexCool often got the blame for a lot of poor carcare. GM also gets some blame for the idea you never have to check it for 100K mi and 150K mi... The product is great for the cooling system. Trouble is they need to be checked regularly and maintained. Set it and forget it doesn't work.
I change mine every two years. Fill and drain a couple of times with distilled water. And refill with DexCool. I suspect the car above has never been drained and cleaned in 4 years.
I hope it's just needing a flush and cleaning chemical for them to be okay. If air's been in the radiator while running hot the mixing with air makes the precipitates or sludge form. That was the Ford problem and I believe some Century/Regals had a crook in the radiator cap making them hard to fill and purge completely. That was one cause my dealer service manager told me.
No Dexcool; the Vibes came with regular Toyota silicate antifreeze. I have had the fluid replaced before. The car has 70,000 miles and has been well maintained (by me). The tranny fluid was just flushed at the dealer. Yes, I have been losing about 2 quarts every 6,000 miles. I do my oil changes with Mobil 1. I absolutely have no external leaks, and I have not noticed any smoke bellowing from the exhaust. Given the fact that the radiator was drained a little over a year ago, and is now a merky tobacco color, what happened, and more importantly, what is the damage potential to the engine?
I have a 2002 jeep liberty. My key is stuck in the ignition after stopping. the steering wheel does not seem to be locked. The only way I can get it out is turn the engine back on and turn off or step hard on the brake. This does not happen every time. Thanks
We are looking into buying a 99 Chevy Suburban. The guy who owns it, has size 20 tires/rims on it. He told us he had the transmission adjusted for these. Does this make sense? I would appreciate an info on the subject. Thanks.
I have a 95 Dodge 1500 Ram 4X4, the interior hood latch will release, the exterior under the hood is broken and missing. I can not get the hood up. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your assistance.
no, doesn't make sense to me. He could maybe have had the speedometer/odometer adjusted for it. If you gave us the exact size on the 20s and the exact size of the stock tires, we could tell you how far off the speedometer reads.
congrats user777, looks like you win the prize. My very able mechanic did a pressure test and found no leaks in the system. He also found no carbon residue in the antifreeze. He did find the spring broken in the PCV valve. Apparently, those little 2 cent buggers are capable of costing a quart of oil every 1,000 miles. I'll do a full oil change myself this weekend and monitor the oil level. My mechanic also printed off several TSBs relating to not only the Vibe, but to all GM vehicles losing oil, albeit standard practice. Given that the Vibe is a Corolla, I'm not sure of the relationship, but hey, the PCV valve appears to be the problem in this case. Thanks to all of you who responded to my dilemma.
yes, the car seemed to idle just fine prior to replacement (as best I can tell, since the Mrs. drives the Vibe). As for the brown tobacco, so far, it looks like I am to blame for that. I had the OEM radiator fluid flushed out at 30,000 miles. The car now has 78,000. I think I went a bit too long this time on changing the antifreeze this time around My mechanic put in a "gold" formula which is supposed to be OK for radiators with either regular fluid, or Dexcool. Anyone heard of it? As a Maxx owner with Dexcool, I'd be hesitant to use it in my Maxx.
I just had my motor rebuilt put it back into my 1997 Jimmy got it running good then transmission went out so i had that rebuilt now that we have put it all back together again. I can shift it to all gears but it wont move. I tried putting it in neutral and you cant even roll it does anyone have any idea what this could be. :confuse: I am so stumped on this one. :sick: Please help.
When you say you put it in neutral, and it won't move. Are you saying that you absolutely can not push the car with the engine off and it is in neutral? If so, sounds like either the output shaft of the transmission is bound up (not allowing the driveshaft to turn when vehicle pushed)....or you have a parking brake jammed on.
I'm not an automatic transmission guru, but what you might want to try is dropping the driveshaft, to see if the engine will turn the transmission output w/o any driveshaft. If it doesn't, then you know you have a transmission problem....and most likely the transmission is coming back out anyhow, so not wasted work dropping the driveshaft. If it does turn the shaft, then you know the problem is in your differential/axle/brakes.
automatic yes i am saying it doesn't move at all. Checked parking brake it is not pushed in at all. yes the fluid is full. thank you for your help I will give that a shot.
And while the engine is running, when you take it out of park and put in R, do you feel it drop into gear and slow the engine? Then when you shift to N you feel it come out of R and idle slightly faster? And then when you shift to D you feel it drop into gear again?
Oh sorry, thought you had indicated it was shifting into gear, but just locked up and not moving.
So to understand your situation correctly, did you take the transmission out of the car and take it somewhere for them to rebuild it, and then you put it back into the vehicle? or did you take the vehicle to a transmission shop and they rebuilt it in the car?
Can you get the vehicle towed to the transmission shop?
that is ok I didn't explain it very well anyways.me and my dad took the transmission then took it somewhere and had it rebuilt. then me and my dad put it back in.
Comments
My engines intake gasket/valve cover gaskets have been replaced and the motor was flushed. Within 30 days after the repair the car overheated and another mechanic is diagnosing this again as the problem. He told me that the thermostat should have been replaced when this work was performed the first time and that any certified mechanic should know this. Thanks for any help or enlightenment you can give me. ~MB
I suppose if the cooling system was all gunked up that yeah, replacing the thermostat is a good precautionary move. But it has nothing to do with a crankcase flush.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
we can't remove the ignition key.
engine can be switched off, but lock won't go back to release
position.
this started happening out of the blue.
is this the key itself, the lock or an electrical problem?
Have you tried yanking the steering wheel to its most extreme position (left or right) while trying to remove the key?
Is the shifter in Park?
Hope this helps.
- shifter is in park.
- yanking on the steering wheel to no avail.
- we were driving the car for 90+ minutes before this first happened, everything was running normally during this time.
- in the position where the key is stuck, it appears that the battery is getting drained.
- after a jumpstart of the battery, car comes on normally,
except that the dash board now shows a 'SECURITY' warning.
car's in the shop now, i'll let y'all know what the finding was.
When I start my car the radio plays, but when I shift into anything but park or neutral I can't hear it.
All lights are on and digital volume displays,and I can change stations, just no sound. My C.D player doesn't work either.
Gear shifter is on the console between the seats.
Occasionally it will come off and on as I'm driving, ie.. hitting a bump or not just does.
Any suggestions as to what this might be? :confuse:
TIA,
Whit
but water from the exhuast is probably a natural consequence or byproduct of combustion.
i think you may be flooding your engine. why not try giving the vehicle a few secs to establish pressure at the fuel rail via the pump, before turning key all the way to start. avoid pressing on the accelerator.
other things: maybe really fouled plugs. possibly excessively clogged engine air filter (cheap to replace). i'd also run a can of Fuel Injector cleaner through when I filled up (you pour it into an empty tank).
maybe someone else can help with other suggestions.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
I had it replaced - things are working again.
Thanks for all contributions here.
I have a question in regard to changing my fluid. I changed the fluid in the rear end of my 1997 jeep yesterday. It was a windy day and I noticed that a few particles of road sand may have splashed up into my differential while I had the case open. I did not see very much if any and I did wipe it clean but Im sure there is some microscopic sand particles in there. My question is..Do I have anything to worry about.? Should I change the fluid again? Or does my logic which believes that if there was any very fine sand pebbles in there it will all get crunched up over time serve me right. Or could even he smallest dust particles ultimately cause any damage? The fluid change with lucas rear differential fluid really did quite the rear down. I had not changed it in 120k and it does sound great. Any help with this question will be greatly appreciated
Mike
Do you mean you lose two quarts of oil in 6000 miles? That's one quart per 3000 which is good from what I've always thought.
You don't say how many mile are on the car and if you know the whole history from new or it you bought it used.
If you mean the orange coolant is brownish with gunk in it, that may mean the Dexcool coolant has never been changed or someone added green stuff to it. The Dexcool will turn dark and form goop when overheated or run low with air in the radiator (even though the overflow reseroir is full) the air mixes with DexCool while running hot and causes deterioration.
If your crankcase has coolant that has gotten into it, the oil looks milky and like chocolate milk is in it.
I'm not hearing that to be what you're saying. But the car needs a professional, trustable person checking it.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
The description of the goopy precipitate sounds like descriptions of other Dexcool stories and the Fords had a similar description years back. One factor is mixing with air in a system that's not been purged. A seep around the radiator cap allowing air into the radiator instead of recalling coolant from the reservoir allows that air. Mix with hot DexCool and they describe it as crud in the reservoir.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I don't know anyone with a Vibe whose hood I can look under
I change mine every two years. Fill and drain a couple of times with distilled water. And refill with DexCool. I suspect the car above has never been drained and cleaned in 4 years.
I hope it's just needing a flush and cleaning chemical for them to be okay. If air's been in the radiator while running hot the mixing with air makes the precipitates or sludge form. That was the Ford problem and I believe some Century/Regals had a crook in the radiator cap making them hard to fill and purge completely. That was one cause my dealer service manager told me.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I absolutely have no external leaks, and I have not noticed any smoke bellowing from the exhaust. Given the fact that the radiator was drained a little over a year ago, and is now a merky tobacco color, what happened, and more importantly, what is the damage potential to the engine?
after stopping. the steering wheel does not seem to be locked. The only way I can get it out is turn the engine back on and turn off or step hard on the brake. This does not happen every time.
Thanks
What happened with the brown gunk?
Glad you found a cheap reason for the oil consumption! Did the car idle okay with the PCV valve problem?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
When you say you put it in neutral, and it won't move. Are you saying that you absolutely can not push the car with the engine off and it is in neutral? If so, sounds like either the output shaft of the transmission is bound up (not allowing the driveshaft to turn when vehicle pushed)....or you have a parking brake jammed on.
I'm not an automatic transmission guru, but what you might want to try is dropping the driveshaft, to see if the engine will turn the transmission output w/o any driveshaft. If it doesn't, then you know you have a transmission problem....and most likely the transmission is coming back out anyhow, so not wasted work dropping the driveshaft. If it does turn the shaft, then you know the problem is in your differential/axle/brakes.
You have fluid in the transmission, right?
So to understand your situation correctly, did you take the transmission out of the car and take it somewhere for them to rebuild it, and then you put it back into the vehicle? or did you take the vehicle to a transmission shop and they rebuilt it in the car?
Can you get the vehicle towed to the transmission shop?