Hi gang,
My 3.4L is boiling over somewhere and I can't find out why.. here's what I did.
One day I looked under the hood and found antifreeze everywhere but couldn't find the source.. thought the Water Pump died so I replaced it.. My temp guage goes over the 260 mark after driving for 15-20 minutes. My antifreeze still boils over.. no smoke though. I still don't exactly know where it's boiling over from but it is. But not always. When the car is idle, it doesn't get all the way up to 260 and above.. seems like only when I'm driving. The needle goes from halfway, all the way up.. and then about after 10-12 seconds, it goes back to halfway again. It's constantly doing this.

I decided to replace the thermostat. The original was a 195 temp so I stuck with that temp but got a new one. Replaced it. It still runs hot. Sometimes my upper radiator hose starts knocking loud with air even though I blead all the air out of the valve. Now I'm trying radiator flush and seeing if there's some gunk that's backing up my flow of antifreeze but I can't seem to find the problem. If the flush doesn't work, I might try and replace the radiator. That would suck if I replaced it and the same issue was happening.

Any ideas?
Thanks guys.

 

Hi J.T., sorry 2 read about your Problems...Below are some links to check out....Hope it helps. Check back on your post thread later & see if any of our Expert MCF Tech Member's post a suggestion/Solution...Good Luck


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my question is... are your fan(s) running? if not you may have a deeper prob

 

lol I would pressure test the radiator, see where it leaks to. while you do this have the spark plugs out and have a flashlight to look in the holes or use something dry in each. Its just to see if fluid is leaking in the cylinders.

Just for a bet, Your leaking compression gas into the coolant system.


This may not be seen in the pressure test but you can run the car with the radiator cap off and note what the fluid does when the therm is open (should look like a whirlpool) if you rev it up and it explodes everywhere violently (like 10 ft int he air) you have big problems.

 

Hey guys,
Thanks for getting back to me.
I flushed the system with radiator flush yesterday. I think I'm gonna try the pressure test
first to make sure it ain't my radiator. 2nd, I'm gonna take the flume ooff and check
to see what's up with the gasket because I remember it never overheated until I took that off and replaced the spark plugs in the back.

I took it to a mechanic, a friend of my father's who comes into autozone all the time. We saw some white smoke, not a lot, come out of the exhaust. He said straight out that it's a headgasket issue. Apparently, if air is sucked in, it makes it rich thus creating a problem with it overheating.. maybe that's the issue. So I might have to do that. I did notice that one of the long bolts that require a deep socket on the right side of the flume is stripped and wont tighten.. that I think, could be the problem right there since that could allow for air to get into the head. I'm gonna go to the boneyard tomorrow and see if I can nab another bolt to rethread it in.. if not, I think I may have to litterally thread a new hole completely.......... that would suck!

Another thing thing I've noticed a considerable amount of wet underneath the front head by the manifold pipe.
It's sludge-ish so I'm assuming it's oil. I could be wrong but it always has a slick surface.
My oil light is always saying it's low but it isn't. I always get the "low oil" and the "change oil soon". But then they disappear after about 3-5minutes. I dunno.

KidSpace:
Thanks for all of the links. I looked through some and found some interesting information. Lots of good stuff here. I think the solution may be in one of these related articles.

Budsjlm:
The fans are running but they don't seem to kick on until it's practically on fire for some reason. I wanna say they turn on around 180 degrees to 195. Then spin and turn off.. which may be the reason for the sudden fluctuation in my temperature guage on the dash. So yea they work. Thank god...

MonteDriver:
How would I find that out if I was leaking compression gas into the coolant system? Not quite sure how that works really. I got pressure in the radiator but like I said before. I started seeing some smoke and thinking it's a headgasket issue.

I'll keep you guys updated on what's up with it.

Thanks for all the help so far.
Johnnie

 

you coolant would go into the oil if it's a headgasket i believe.

 

fk last post did not go.

Ok shot and sweet the compression can get into the oil coolant or coolant into oil, or coolant into cylinder.

Use the pressure test and see if it bleeds off but have the spark plugs out and have a flashlight.

the oil problem, try for giggles take the oil sensor out and clean it off also check the area it goes into for sludge.

have thread sealant to put back on the sensor threads when done NOT LOCK TIGHT

 

UPDATE:
Ok so here's what's been going on...
I did a compression test in the spark plugs. Each cylinder is reading between 195 and 210 so I think everything is good. But here's what I'm doing..
I'm taking off the manifold to reveal the gasket regardless. When I was looking with a flashlight I saw that there is a puddle of oil sitting underneath the manifold and I don't know where it's coming from. I figure if I already have it apart. Might as well keep going.

Also..
I noticed that I put a nice coating of sealant on the arm (From Plenum to Master Flow system elbow) but it wasn't like doused with it.. It seemed that if air was to get into it, it probably could cause it to boil over.. so I'm going to make sure that I put a good quarter inch layer of the gasket sealer on the arm when I seal it back up.. that way there's no excuses with that.

So far the Intake Plenum gasket looks fine. But there was something weird I noticed. There are two long carriage bolts for the Plenum all the way on the left and all the way to the right that screw directly into the intake manifold block. They are measured at m8-1.25 metric meter bolts about 6.5 inches long. On the manifold block, the hole on the left side had a type of a "guide pin" in it while the one on the right didn't AND the top half of the threading in the manifold hole was stripped. I can't get that bolt on the right sealed. Thoughts?

I'm probably going to replace the manifold gasket regardless how it looks. They sell a kit for about 100 bucks with 3 different gaskets at autozone. Might as well seal them all.
Someone was telling me that the factory installed gaskets are like plastic. So after like 40,000 miles, they heat up and melt out, which is probably a reason why mine is overheating now.

btw, anyone have any ideas on finding a 3.4L engine diagram online? I suppose I could go to the dealership and have them print me one but no way of me getting there. :P

Check out this diagram.. It's not the same as my motor but it's close. It helps other understand a little where I'm coming from.

 

Click here for a better picture of that diagram.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2657/...75e4efc1_o.jpg

 

get this asap?? but i'm sure someone on here has the diagram for you! goodluck man