01 SS 1LE

I have a 2001 SS that constantly overheats. If i drive the car for a while then shut it off and restart it within a few minutes, the temp gauge is all the way in the red zone with the CHECK GAUGES light yelling at me. The temp will drop back to the normal zone in a minute or two once the car is moving again. It never overheats while driving only when its shut off and restarted in a short period of time. It even happens when the outside temperature is relatively low. I'm Confused. The fans run fine and still run when the car is shut off but it doesn't seem to be helping. Any advice would be appreciated...

5_02ls1

iTrader: (20)

sounds like a head gasket leaking around fire ring}ring that sels cylinder]when you cut it off compression escapes past the ring into a water jacket at hogh temp.check your coolant resevoir after shutting it off i bet its pushin water

01 SS 1LE

What would other symptoms would a leaking head gasket exhibit?

gnomee

iTrader: (16)

You could be burning coolant, which will be white smoke out the back
You could be burning extra oil which will be oil smoke out the back
You could get coolant /oil mixed with each other.

Or it could just pressurize your dang system and cause you greif like it is now

I had this exact problem on a buick once, turned out to be a crack in the cylinder wall.

5_02ls1

iTrader: (20)

i didnt want to scare him by mentioning cracks,just thought id start simple.i would pull those heads you are gonna ruin somthin if you keep running it this way

01 SS 1LE

Would a flush of the coolant system and refill and pressure test be a waste of time, or is it past that point? Tell me more about a crack in the cylinder wall... I haven't noticed any smoke coming out the tail pipes, white or blue... and the reservoir is full.. i don't want to pull the heads if I don't have too... Should i try a flush first?

FU_I_AM_UltraZ

iTrader: (20)

maybe your t-stat is stuck and the higher your rpms while driving, the more its flwoing thru a stat that is stuck somewhat open/closed? do you hear whistling noise like pressure building and releasing? one way i've heard to test for a bad head gasket is...
on cold start, pop off the rad. cap and start the car. if dex cool splashes out, then that's a bad sign, if nothing splashes out, it a good sign... hope this helps...

Mr Incredible

Before you start yanking heads off, you might want to make some basic checks.

Check for coolant in your oil and oil in your coolant. The first would show up as tan goo on the oil filler cap. The latter would show up as floating oil in your radiator.

A pressure test on the cooling system is not a bad idea. You don't need to do a flush to do the pressure test.

Go to http://www.blackstone-labs.com/ and order a test kit for a used oil analysis. That will check for coolant in your oil and provide other clues as to whether you have issues that may need to be addressed. You can either take your oil sample while you drain your oil or you can order a vacuum pump kit that removes it through the dipstick tube (for $25). However, I was unable to get the sample tube to fit all the way down the filler tube on my car and had to take it while draining the oil. It worked on the other three cars in our driveway.

There will be other replys from other posters that have more experience with your specific issue than have I. However, these things I mentioned are a good start. I'd get the oil test done ASAP, as that will definitely confirm whether there is coolant in your oil.

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

Begin with the radiator cap and burp the cooling system to
eliminate any air from the heads. What is happening here is
the heads have a "pipeline" full of heat that is taken out by
coolant flow and when the coolant stops, the heat in the
"pipeline" can locally boil the water (against whatever the
coolant jacket pressure is, pressure is what suppresses boil).
Once it's steam rather than water there is much less heat
transfer and the aluminum around the ECT sensor can zing
right up. If you have air in the system it will tend to hang
out up in the heads making things worse this way.

Once you know there's good pressure integrity, get the
fans set to run -below- boiling temps (stock 'stat, try like
200/198 FAN2 and 196/194 FAN1 on/off).