My 97 3.4L seems to constantly suck in air into the coolant. I would bleed it every day to no avail. Would cause the temperature gauge to get hot during highway speeds and come back down during idle. Sometimes it would expel the air and would stay somewhat cool at highway speeds. Cant seem to find where the air is coming in from, here is what I have done already. Replaced the thermostat, thermostat gasket, top radiator hose (was very soft), intake manifold gaskets and the temperature sensor. My question is where on earth would the air come in from? My guesse as of now is the metal coolant tube from the throttle body that inserts into the intake manifold. I'm thinking its somewhere up top because the heater core bleed valve typically doesn't have air coming out when I loosen it. Also I always get hot air when using the heater so I think my pump is fine (was replaced at a shop in under 10k miles ago). Please please please shoot me some ideas its been one month and $250 plus dollars and countless hours on this car and I really need it for work. Thanks guys I really appreciate it!

matt milford

 

Had that problem in my 95 lumina.

turned out to be a bad head gasket.

 

Haha ah horse****! I am taking the car after to work to get pressure tested. Guy from the shop yesterday said it could be the heads as well, hope you are both wrong! If not how many many hours is the gasket replacement job? I replaced the gasket on my jeep years back and took the head to get it magnafluxed resurfaced. Should I expect this as well?
If by some stroke of luck it isn't the heads ever heard of where the air could be coming in from? Before I replaced the manifold gaskets I could squeeze the top radiator hose and hear air being sucked in somewhere. Though it was the manifold gasket but wasn't it.... any ideas? Nice car btw!

matt milford

 

Unfortunately I don't know the labor cost. When I was having that problem I actually sold my Lumina to a friend for $500. I sunk about $1000 into the car and it still wasn't fixed, and I gave up. Sold it to him, he had a buddy look at it and tell him it was the headgasket and replaced it.

That SOB still has my Lumina lol

I took that $500 and bought a ****ty Chrysler beater car, to get me through the winter until my parents and I worked out the details with me buying the Monte from them.

 

Called a local shop yesterday, explained the problem/engine/car/year and they flat out refused to work on my car. The next shop was nicer and talked to me about it, the two mechanics there said that it sounds like i could just have a nasty pocket of air in there. Bought a larger funnel and electrical tape, and burped the car for about 15 minutes. The coolant surged quite a few times in and out of the funnel then finally lower and leveled out. Must have been quite a bit of air in there. Drove to work today and the first 5 min the temp gauge topped out, then came back down when i got on the interstate (traffic with top speed of 45 mph) and the temp was fine. When the traffic did let up and I was doing 70 the temp gauge came back up to hot and I heard air again. My question is when burping a car is this usually done once and it works fine or should I do this a couple times? Do you think there could still be air that hasn't been sucked in on the commute in my car or do you think its the head now? I'm driving a couple hours again after work and this will be mostly interstate speeds so I hope it doesn't kill my engine but at this point honestly I'm about to drive the damn thing into the nearest telephone poll (after jumping out). Thanks!

 

when i had the headgasket problem, i was bleeding my car 2-3x a day.

 

if you can get your hands on a pressure tester, or have a shop do it, you might be able to hear the leak (if you have a leak and the pressure bleeds off). if you can hear it, you will pry be able to track it down. otherwise, you still have a nasty bubble somewhere.

here's a tip. try to find a shop that does a free diagnosis and estimate on the repair. then you're not out money just to find out what the heck is wrong. sounds like a stubborn problem. let us know what you find out. good luck!

 

The head gasket cant be too big of a job. I had it done a few weeks ago.

 

The head gaskets on a 3.4 is not a friendly job. If you pull the plugs you might see one plug is cleaner than the rest. That would be a sign of coolant going into the cyl. It kind of washes the carbon away so the plug is lean, no black or brown ect. If they all look the same then I would be taking a good look at the intake gaskets. Good luck dude. Try not to over heat it too much, aluminum hates heat.

 

im actually having the exact same problem with the exact same car. I had just replaced all of my headgaskets, intake manifold gaskets, etc. It was my first motor job so it took me quite a while. Bout 2 months But it wasn't that bad.. just money. You have to buy new torque bolts for the heads which will run you bout 60 bucks at NAPA.

My temp goes up and down like crazy and when it's hot enough, antifreeze squirts all over the place out of my radiator cap. The top radiator hose is so pressurized that I don't know what to do.. I bleed it all the time and nothing. I bled the heater core valve but coolant is making it's way through. There is tons of air in it trapped in the radiator hose. I'm wondering if I machine the heads if it will change anything.

The headgaskets and manifold gaskets will run you around 150-200 bucks.
I got the the whole Fel-Pro kit, costing me around 300 bucks which includes EVERYTHING. Even stems.

Any additional help would be appreciated... Anyone think the radiator is just shot?