Recently i have noticed after some stop and go traffic driving, when i stop or turn off car i can hear the coolent bubbling... Anyone know what may be causing that?
When the car is cool i check the coolent level and open radiator cap and coolent looks full and fine... its orange so im sure it has dex-cool in it. I am planning on adding a 160 degree thermostat and draining the whole system and adding new dex-cool to it in the next couble weeks but wanna know what could be causing the coolent to bubble... it is a 2000 Trans am with 93,XXX miles..im a new owner so i am not sure if it has ever been flushed before... thast why im gonna drain and refill it.
If this helps when i open radiator cap i can see or feel any sludge as i know when air comes in contact with hot dex-cool acid forms to eat away aluminum but then again right now radiator is full and so when i drain i will actaully be able to see if any sludge is present....Also when i look at overflow coolent cap which shows level of coolent, level is fine but i do see A LITTLE white paste thing... help me out if yall knopw whats up....a local performance told me i may have a head gasket leakin air into cooling system, but thats a costy replacement for me right now and if i do that i want to be sure its the problem... any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated...
One more thing if this helps or not, i recently got car dynoed and after first run when car was turned off, the coolent overfloed out or overflow cap on the floor, how bad is this and what do i need to replace to get coolent to stop bubbling and cool system like its supposed to?
car usually sits at or 2millimeters from 210 in inside car gauge(i know its not accurate but this is all to better help yall know whats goin on...thanks for all ur help and pm back asap

 

bumppp

 

What kind of water temperatures are you running at? Can you get an accurate temperature? I wouldnt think so since you have a 2000 and every water temp sensor after 98 was pretty worthless. You may want to check the thermostat to make sure its not sticking. If the car has 92k miles on it and the thermostat has never been replaced that is more than likely the culprit

 

Yea i cannot get a accurate temprature of the water, i am thinking about buy a couple of gauges, water, air/fuel, and i donno whatelse, mayby in the ac vents or in an a-pillar... anyways i will replace the thermostat, i REALLY hop that is the problem... like i said a guy at a local shop said i might have a leak in a head gasket and that is a costly replacment... anyways i hope to get more input but i really appreciate ur help... ill try to find out whats wrong and will repost...

 

the rad cap could be the culprit as well, pressure test the rad cap before replacing any parts

 

A blown head gasket is defintly a possibility. I had the same symptoms with my old mustang. I tried everything, rad cap, thermostat, water-pump, hoses. I was replacing everything regardless, but I did each one seperatly to see what helped. It turned out to be a small leak in the head gasket. Not enough to get into oil, or make exhaust or coolant smell. But just enough to cause heating problems. It would bubble after shutdown, and overflowed a couple times after burnouts. haha Good Riddens!!!!

BTW, good luck. Start with the simple stuff first.

 

the coolant isn't circulating correctly....maybe there's a blockage somewhere....it happened with me in my older f body.....i would suggest getting a nicee radiator flush!