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I just had the transmission replaced about a month ago, and I know the car has a transmission cooler, so I don't know if that has an impact or not.
I've about had it wit this car, so nothing would surprise me.
Any suggestions or pointers.
Thank you,
Juan Valera
I'm wondering if:
a) I got a bad water pump and, despite the fact that it looks ok, for some reason it's not flowing enough water on the passenger side.
b) there's sludge or some other blockage in the block or head that I can't see.
c) there's an air bubble on the passenger side that keeps forming every time I drain and refill the system.
Any help or insight anyone can provide would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Chris
Oh, one other thing I did (and I know this was a bit dangerous) was to unscrew the temp gauge sending unit almost all the way while the engine was at operating temp to see if steam would escape past the threads. Nothing but coolant came out.
Despite that, I'm still leaning toward the possibility of a bubble and here's why. When the engine is cold and I start it up, the gauge rises normally while the engine warms. After the engine gets to operating temp, the gauge still reads normally for a minute or so. Then, all of a sudden, it'll start to rise. Sometimes it'll rise slowly and sometimes it'll rise really quickly. By quickly, I mean it might go nearly all the way to 260 in a matter of 10 seconds or so. And that's at an idle. I wouldn't think the temp would rise that quickly unless there was a pocket of air in there that gets bigger after the engine warms up. That is, if there were a blockage somewhere on that side of the engine and no air pocket, I'd think the temp would rise more slowly.
Thanks,
Chris
Thinking I could get a little more AC in the summer, (this motor has a constant coolant flow through the heater core, there is no cutoff), I put an old type screw down cutoff in one of the heater lines on my 1994 4L Ranger pickup.
You should have seen the screwy temp gauge swings I got with this in place. On a guage that previously never got over about 1/4 or 1/3 guage, after the above change and with the cutoff closed off so no coolant flowed thru the heater core, the guage would climb rapidly to about 3/4 gauge, then drop below its normal postion. Then a minute later, it would go thru this wild swing again. It continued these wild swings as long as you drove at 30-40mph around town. Only if you took it out on the road at high speed would the gauge stablize at it's usual 1/4 postion.
This was so flacky to me, I just opened up the cutoff, which put the system back like before. The wilds gauge swings stopped when I restored the flow through the heater core.
What happened? I don't know. Probably something about the flow not going through a bypass mode, so the temp gauge switch was seeing a high temp just before the theromostat opened????
Do you have part of the original coolant flow shut off or bypassed? And maybe you are seeing something like what I saw on my 4L Ranger?
Three questions: 1) Shouldn't there be some kind of guarantee on the system flush that I had before? 2) How do I find a reputable place that could do the repair right and still keep the price at something I can afford? 3) What would be the risks of driving it without replacing the heater core thru 3 or 4 months of cold (Michigan) weather until I can afford the repair?
That's indicative of a leak in the cooling system. The coolant has to going somewhere. It's possible that the heater core is blocked, which is a different problem. Was a pressure test done on the cooling system?
$750 for that job at dealer rate sounds about right. It's a big job, removing the dash, etc.
If anyone has any additional ideas, I'd be glad to hear 'em.
Again, thanks to everyone who has posted.
Chris
Thanks,
Chris
I own a 95 Mazda millenia. I have recently been having problems with my radiator fan not turning on. This results in my thermostat giving a high reading and the the radiator coolant leaking out of the overflow shaft since its practically boiling. At first I thought that my radiator fan had burnt out, but I have noticed that when I turn my air conditioner on the radiator fan also kicks in. And the car does not overheat as long as the airconditioner is left on. So the fan is fine, but can't figure out the real problem. Could it be an electrical problem? I have also checked the main fuse box and all of them look fine. I would really appreciate all the help from anyone on this forum.
Thankyou,
Kirshad
Anyways.. Got a new radiator and received it in the mail yesterday. M problem is having a guide or help to replace on my own. Wondering if anyone who has done it or has help for me can point me in the right direction.
I have a 95 Acura Integra LS ... if you need anymore info please post..
thanks so much
http://www.performanceradiator.com/Publications/Information/Motor%20mag%20cooling%20sys.pd- f.pdf
You are not running straight water are you? You need antifreeze for chemical protection.
Is the radiator secure? Meaning, you didn't take out the rubber insulators the radiator sets on? If it is flopping around, the vibration could be breaking the welds.
Are all radiators the same make? If so, you might be getting the string of badly made Ford Expedition radiators some company incorrectly built.
Other than these wild zzz guesses, I'm also interested in someone elses' possible solution.
I was planning to put off repairing this as long as leak was only external...which I thought it was. But I have just discovered that it actually seems to be leaking coolant into the oil. Every time I drive now the coolant level goes down a little and it seems that the oil level is rising also. I actually think this problem may have been happening for about a year...I had noticed the oil level was really high last fall, but thought someone had over-filled the oil.
The oil on the dipstick looks normal, but yesterday took off the oil fill cap and there is what appears to be oil/water slurry on the bottom of the cap and on the sides of the opening that the cap goes in.
I don't really need to use this car much for the next six months or so, it is temporarily an extra vehicle for us.
Has this leak likely already caused permanent damage? The best price I have found for the repair is about $1300...so I don't want to do it if it is too late. I'm also concerned that after fixing this some other crappy ford gasket, such as the head gasket, will leak.
Is there anything I can do to safely put off the repair? I'd been driving the car once every week or two, as I thought that was better than just letting it sit for six months...but that was before I knew about the internal leaking.
I do know there are some cheaply made aftermarket radiators out there and maybe as someone else suggested, they made an especially bad batch.
I know radiatior shops are pretty much a thing of the past but there are still some out there. You might want to check with one of those guys since this is ALL thy work on.
300,000 miles!! WOW!
You might consider an aftermarket radiator of higher quality, such as used for heavy duty towing or racing.
The radiator is mounted in it's rubber mounts and is secure, no rubbing.
I was getting them from a friend at a parts wholesaler but they stopped replacing them so the last one came from ford and the same thing happened in the same time.
Will leaving the radiator cap loose possibly reduce the leakage from my failing timing cover and gaskets? I was thinking that with the cap loose, there will not be pressure in the cooling system and less water/coolant will get forced into the engine.
Does this make sense? Will it cause any problems on short trips in cooler weather...I only drive 9 miles to work and am in Wisconsin.
Over the counter flushes can only do so much. If there is heavy scale or clogging in the radiator I don't think flushing is going to get it out, but light scum or rust film, yeah, it might help.
just flushing the old coolant out helps on its own.
I have a 2000 chevy cavalier. Engine temp. starts to climb while stuck in traffic. cooling fan doesn't come on unless I switch the ac on. Any suggestion how to fix the problem.
Five months later I started having lifter noise in the engine. I added some Resoline to the oil and the noise got better. At the next oil change I added Resoline again. Everything was fine for another four months. Then the lifter noise came back and I started having coolant leaks around the heads. I had wrapped heads and bad head gaskets. I want to think this problem was caused from the vehicle over heating. But the body shop and insurance company say I would have had engine problems sooner if it was related to the over heating when picked up from the body shop. What do you guys think?
38,964 miles at time of body shop repair.
47,427 miles when lifter noise started. Probably coolant mixing with oil.
51,631 miles when gaskets completely failed and I had engine repaired.
Are they possibly related? Sure, it's possible. Is it probable and likely? I'd say no. Which is a fancy way of saying I don't know for sure.
If you had small but persistent coolant disappearance during that time frame, that would be an interesting bit of evidence.