dreamingls1

I know the temp gauge isn't very accurate but I've had the car for over a year and its never gone beyond about 210 and now she'll just keep going well running unless I keep the car moving along fast through the cold winter air.

I checked the fluid level by the gauge on the overflow and its full at the cold point on that meter.

The fluid looks really dirty and I want to do a flush but don't have money this week.

Also the radiator when I look in it looks practically empty but no light in the car is coming on about low coolant.

The heat doesn't seem to be blowing hot either.

Is this just an issue of being low on fluid??

91RS383

Your overflow tank may be clogged not letting fluid back into the radiator. If you're broke you may be able to clean out just the overflow tank and hose. The longer you wait to service the cooling system the more it will cost you.

bjamick

iTrader: (31)

Yep you need to get it fixed, bc if it runs how you will be pulling the heads for a head gasket.

dreamingls1

I live on campus so I've just been letting it sit and starting it every few days and letting it warm up. I haven't been driving it around at all since it started doing this.

Can I do this work myself or is there special equipment necessary to get this done?

I can swap a transmission or swing a motor in a mustang just fine but I've never dealt to much with more basic things like coolant system maintenance.

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

You probably just need a new radiator cap.

BUT.............

As you get low on coolant, YES, you will get hotter and hotter. The more air thats taking up space in the cooling system, the more and more, and faster and faster it heats up the remaining low coolant. Keep driving it and one day it will just overheat completely and you're be stuck. BUT....always top of the coolant when you see its low.

Buy 2 jugs of Dexcool and the flush is FREE. You can do it yourself. All you have to be able to do, and anyone with a tiny bit of knowledge can help you...is to open the radiator drain valve.

You should remove the battery and then remove the over-flow tank that is under it. 2 bolts. One for the battery, one for the tank. Clean the over-flow tank out real good. I had power steering fluid in mine so I used gasoline to clean mine out. I filled it about 1/3 of the way up with gas, shook it like crazy, let it sit for awhile, shook it again to loosen everything up and a TON of black slimy crap came out. I then kept filling it with water and dumping it out till it was clear water coming back out. Took about 10 fill ups to get it clean, but my was all slimed up. Then you need to make sure the metal line and rubber hose are clean. That metal line will pull out of the tank. Blow the crap out of it so water flows freely through it. You can take that factory rubber hose and yank it off and replace it with a clamp and a new piece of 3/8" heater hose. That factory hose collapses and gets soft over time. When the radiator tries to suck coolant back in....that hose will collapse and you will get no coolant sucked back in to the radiator. The heater hose will not collapse.

Here's the flush. Looks like alot but its easy and you're done in 20-30 minutes.

Best/easiest way to flush and get every drop of old coolant out.

-Cold engine.
-Remove radiator fill cap.
-Remove the t-stat from the housing. Leave the housing attached to the rubber radiator hose, just remove the 2 housing bolts and pull it away from the water to pump to get to the t-stat. (2-3 minute job).
-Put t-stat housing back on. (1 minute) Just put one bolt in, no need to put them both in, there’s no pressure in the system during the flush.
-Take the entire radiator drain valve (petcock) "off" and let it drain, don't just open the valve itself. It'll drain faster with it off and that’s what you want. ((Buy a new petcock valve before starting this flush process, sometimes they break when you remove them all the way just because they're cheap plastic and they get briddle over time, they're like $2.00))
-Take a hose and stick it in the radiator fill cap, running medium to high.
-Start the engine.
-Let it run for about 15-20 minutes or until the water is running out the drain CLEAR.
-((If you want to, you can wait till it runs clear, close the drain valve, add a bottle of radiator flush and let it run for 15 minutes, then drain it all again. Then open the drain and put the hose in for about 5 minutes run it all out till its CLEAR. The flush chemical will help break up the crap thats stuck DEEP in there.))
-When it runs clear your entire system is clean.
-Remove the overflow reservoir from the car and clean it out real good. (I had to use gasoline to clean mine out because the sludge and grime was so thick inside. The gas broke it all down and then it flushed right out. I filled it about 1/3 up with gasoline and shook the hell out of it real vigorously, the black stuff kept coming out. I did that like 4 seperate times till no more chunks of black crap came out. Make sure the lines that go to the reservoir are also cleaned out. My sludge came from my power steering fluid leaking into my coolant system.)
-Put the t-stat back in.
-Put the overflow reservoir back in.
-Put the drain valve back in. Use the new one, what the hell.
-Put half a jug of Dexcool in the radiator. (Or if you live in very cold places, 1 to 1 ½ jugs of Dexcool)
-Fill the rest with water.
you do not need to use distilled water, clean hose water is just fine, just make sure your city water is clean and not total crap quality.

**Bleeding the system of air:
Start it up and let it run and warm up till the t-stat opens. I rapidly squeeze the upper radiator hose like 20 times while its warming up to help move any air bubbles through the system and by the t-stat on the engine side. You’ll see the level drop as you squeeze it, its sucking the coolant through the system. You wioll soon see the coolant start to flow in the radiator fill neck, once it starts to flow the level should drop down alot, immediately top it off with coolant/water. Then the flow will stop. Wait one more time for the t-stat to open again and start to flow, if it drops down again top it off again. Do it a 3rd time if you want to make sure. I always massage the upper hose during the whole process to keep any air bubbles moving through. Always works like a charm. Just keep checking your temp gauge until the t-stat opens for the first time to make sure it’s not sitting there overheating from a trapped bubble. May take 10-15 minutes for the t-stat to open the first time.
If you do start to get hot while sitting there and the t-stat will not open…..you have an air bubble on the engine side of the t-stat. Shut the engine off and rapidly squeeze the upper and lower radiator hoses again. Then start the engine again and see if the t-stat will open. Sometimes you just have to work those hoses to move the air through. Even after it seems topped off after a couple cycles…check it the next time you have a cold engine…top off if needed.


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dreamingls1

Thanks, I live in lower NY so its going to get quite cold so I'll go with the 50/50 mixture.

I'll buy a new radiator cap and top the radiator off till the end of next week when finals are over and see if I can get home to do the flush.

Thanks again

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

If you get the 50/50 stuff....you will NOT end up with a 50/50 mixture in your cooling system.

Only way to know you have a 50/50 mixture is to 100% completely empty the engine block, heads, heater core and cooling system of water after you do the flush. Thats impossible.

Do the flush....put the new drain petcock valve in.....get 2 jugs of 100% Dexcool and put 1 1/2 jugs into the radiator and top it off with water. Then while you're running the engine to make sure all the air is out, keep topping it off with Dexcool till your done.

You will then have as close to a 50/50 mix as you're gonna get. You will probably have a little more Dexcool then water, which is better than having more water then Dexcool up there in freezeville.

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dreamingls1

Ok, Should I just use a jug of 50/50 to top it off and get it up 2 my friends garage or should I use straight Dexcool

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

If you're just gonna drive it to a shop, just top it off with water and take it over there. As long as he's gonna drain it all and give you a flush it makes no difference.

But remember....flushing it will most likely NOT solve the overheating issue. You have something wrong. Dirty coolant will still cool the engine just fine. Most people in the world are driving around with coolant that is years and years and years old and its just fine. Hell, your average person doesn't even open their radiator cap the whole time they own their car.

I think your radiator cap is bad and simply needs to be replaced. But it could be something else. If I were you I'd get a cap, top it off with 100% Dexcool and see if that fixes it.

If you want to have them flush it.....Get a new cap along with the flush. See how it works. Or if you're really short on cash, just do the flush and see if that does the job, if not, then get the cap.

Also, make sure they bleed the system of air bubbles before they give it back to you, otherwise you'll overheat 2 miles down the road. It looks topped off, but it usually never is the first shot. One of buddy's had some work done on his $65,000 Porsche, and even they didn't bleed it right. He had to go back running real hot.

And feel free to ask us here first about repairs they recommend...even though its your friends shop.

Good luck..........

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dreamingls1

Replaced the cap, still over heating but it took a lot longer to get there. Going to top it off with 100% next and see what happens.