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Maintenance & Repair Cooling Systems -- Problems & Solutions (Radiator, Fan, etc)
561 messages, Last post on Nov 12, 2009 at 1:37 PM
You are in the Maintenance & Repair Forum. Your Host is mr_shiftright
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i have 05 taurus and the transmission coolant line is leaking where it goes in radiator..the line just presses in..do you think it needs new radiator or what
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Replying to: bobillac (Dec 27, 2008 2:42 pm) |
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Replying to: stinger146 (Feb 22, 2009 10:34 am)
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Feb 22, 2009 11:00 am)
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Replying to: bolivar (Feb 23, 2009 2:30 am) |
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Hello all. I've done a bit of looking around, but nothing's been discussed that has to do with the problem I'm having, so I'll get right to it. '98 Sunfire GT 2.4l, engine's been rebuilt once, ~250k km (oooooh Canadians!). Last weekend, I was helping a friend move. The car got downtown just fine. When we left to go to his new place (probably about an hour in between arriving and leaving, definitely in the negative teens celsius), the car was shuddering. Stopped at a coffee shop, let it run for a bit with no change. Stopped the car, let it sit for 5, fired it up again and she ran smooth for the rest of the night. As I got back home, my coolant light popped on. Next day, light's still on, so I figure I'll run down to Tim Horton's for a morning coffee and fill up the tank when I get back. About 3/4 of the way there (short drive, about 2-3 minutes depending on lights), the air in the car went cold, and my gauge started climbing high. I gunned it the last few hundred meters, and shut her off in the parking lot. Popped the hood, opened the reservoir cap, and the overflow was smoking and empty. Had my sister bring me a 30% mix, filled it up, everything was fine until I got back to the house. As I pulled into the driveway, the light came on again. I checked the coolant level, and it had dropped about half. All this happened with no visible coolant on the ground. I've talked to a few people - one suggested that my head gasket may be gone, or that there might be a crack in the block which is burning off the coolant - but nothing seems definitive. She wasn't smoking, no notable smells either, and no apparent leaks. Just wondering if there's anything that I can pick up on the way home to check it out with, seeing as I'm on quite a tight budget, and anything that the garage quotes me over a certain number will have me heading to a dealer for a new car (there are a few other things that need to be fixed, but this is the most urgent at the moment). Any thoughts/ideas/help would be greatly appreciated!
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Replying to: scwop (Mar 17, 2009 7:12 am) So this diagnosis, fortunately, can be determined by one test to see if it's one or the other. What you need to buy, or borrow, is a coolant pressure pump. What you do is pump up the pressure to be higher than stock radiator cap pressure by a few psi (don't go nuts) and then check for a) a leak---which, under this extra pressure, should start gushing out somewhere. You may need to crawl under the car (yuck). No leak visible anywhere? Okay, then, with the coolant still under pressure, we remove each spark plug, one at a time, and look for green (or whatever color you have) coolant on the tips of the plug. See any? Good---I mean---BAD. You have a leaking head gasket or cracked head or cracked cylinder wall. Also be sure to check inside the hole with a flashlight if you can get in there at all, and look for signs of coolant on top of the piston (hard to do this without a special snake light). Good luck with it. If you have a bad head gasket, don't feel bad about driving with no coolant--it probably has been going on for some time.
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Mar 17, 2009 8:49 am)
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Replying to: burdawg (Mar 23, 2009 8:42 am) 
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I have a 2003 montana, I just had the intake gaskets replaced which cost me $975.00, but now I need to see if the elec. fans work. How is it done? is there a cheat way, or could it be the relay for the fan and would you know where I could find it on the van? thanks for your help in advance BruceinGeorgia |
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