anolis

Ive got a bit of a problem it seems. My Trans Am is overheating. Earlier today it went all the way to red at which point i turned the engine off after parking in a parking lot. Checked radiator fluid, it was low so i added the lime green prestone stuff and an equal amount of water. So tried again and it did the same thing except when i slowed down the needle would go back down to around 160 (normal for my car) the dipstick was nasty, completely brown and rusty looking. Im wondering what is wrong and what possible course of action to take. I'm not going to drive it til the problem is fixed and am going to have it towed to the mechanic tomorrow.

Slash8915 said that the brown stuff could be dex-cool congealing.

Any ideas?

Slash8915

iTrader: (21)

Hey Bill, does it look like this?

anolis

Yea actually and it smells pretty gross too

Slash8915

iTrader: (21)

Definitely DexCool sludge...

This happens when you combine air with dexcool.

Pwebbz28

iTrader: (31)

You need to flush it immediately! Green antifreeze and dexcool do not mix and will gum up even worse.

5w20

iTrader: (21)

more than likely the head gaskets need to be replaced now that you pegged the temp gauge. you still need to find the issue that caused it to overheat.

could be

low coolant (leak)
bad head gasket(s)
bad radiator
bad radiator cap
fans not working
bad water pump
bad coolant temp switch
etc

Slash8915

iTrader: (21)

+1 that's what i was saying in that text, bill. Do NOT run it without a flush.

anolis

Well its grounded til it gets fixed.. I hope it didnt get damaged too badly :/
Thanks for the suggestions guys

bren5666

iTrader: (2)

Hopefully it didn't get ran for long if you mixed the green with decool. It will turrn to sludge real quick.

anolis

5w20, do you think it could be the thermistat?

mitchntx

iTrader: (14)

Oil that looks like a chocolate milk shake is a sign coolant is in the oil. Combine that with strange overheating issues, typically, that means a head gasket.

5w20

iTrader: (21)

yes, it is possible

jaysan

iTrader: (8)

LT1 is the problem haha , but seriously one way to help you determine the problem is to turn on the heater . I've read some where that if the car doesn't blow heat it is the thermostat , water pump , or a radiator clog .

jay7199

iTrader: (9)

i would start with the coolant flush, then go from there.

anolis

okay took it into the shop, guage is bad, so is the mechanic. He's saying to get a capillary addon guage (wtf ever) Anyone know a good place I can take it to get the work reviewed by someone that actually KNOWS anything about LT1's in Houston?

Head gasket is fine as well as everything else except for part of the wiring harness which he took upon him self to royally rip to shreds
not to mention he pulls this sort of stunt where he got the radiator to leak everywhere and was making it seem like it was broken, however when i took it in the radiator never had any problems leaking

Slash8915

iTrader: (21)

Wth is a capillary addon gauge?

anolis

not too familiar with this, but from my understanding.. its an add on gauge where you put a probe somewhere in the engine and mount the gauge somewhere in the cabin to give an accurate reading of temperature if the original gauge is bad

ie.. http://www.revingtontr.com/shop/coll...pe=TR3&CID=792

Slash8915

iTrader: (21)

Oh, like a regular aftermarket gauge. Why not get a gauge pod and a couple of gauges? It would look cool.

anolis

You know, those were my thoughts exactly.

228bluebird

I guess too late for just a flush now, I tried doing a flush with that preston rad flush mix but it didn't work so well, instead I filled radiator with water turn on the car, max on heater and waited for car to reach normal temp, once there I turned off the car, took off the flush **** completly and loosned the bolt on top. Then I kept on pouring a bunch of hot water through the radiator, this did the best job of flushing out all the crap. I repeated the whole process a few times until sattisfied and finally filled it back with some of that preston "mix with any color antifreeze", I hear its ok as long as u get rid of all the dex cool