Last night, I was in the line at Wendy's. We had just left Walmart where my car had sat for approximately 30-45 minutes. While we were in the drive-thru at Wendy's with the A/C on, the dashboard light/warning came on about hot coolant. I looked at the temp gauge and it was in the red. I immediately pulled over and popped the hood. The reservoir that holds the DexCool was empty. I ran over to Walmart and got some Prestone 50/50. It took almost the whole gallon. Then there was DexCool coming out of the bottom of the car. My brother picked us up and we went home to get a flashlight. When we got back to the car, we added some water. No leaks after that. I went ahead and drove my car home (about 2.5 miles). It didn't get hot or leak after that. What could be wrong? I just bought this car 4 1/2 months ago. It has about 36K miles on it and drives like new. I'm bummed about it getting hot.

I went out a little while ago and drove it around the block. I let it sit with the A/C on for about 10-15 minutes in the driveway. It didn't get hot or leak. Very strange. I am afraid that it will get hot again. What do you Monte Carlo experts think should be checked first?

 

Somepeople here are reporting bad thermostats. Even to the point where new ones are sometimesbad and thatit may take 2 replacements.

 

I havn't heard anything about the thermostat thing, but to put your mind at ease a little bit. That first time it leaked could have just been the overflow, since it was hot, it could have cause it to overflow. Probably too late now, but I would have checked to see where it was wet, and looked for the overflow hose, checking any relation. To me though, SolaraSlayers answer of a thermostat sounds reasonable. It just got stuck, and wasnt allowing the coolant to flow.

 

Has ABOUT 36000? or has MORE than 36000?

 

See if you can still see WHERE it is wet. That will answer your question onto where the problem could be.

It might be a soft hose as well or coolant overflow from a faulty tstat.

 

I'm assuming since you didn't say SS it's the 3400. FYI, I had my Radiator replaced at like 34 k on my old 2003 LS because there was actually a crack in the radiator. It's weird, because it didn't leak all the time... but cold mornings when I had the heat on sure enough there was a steady drip.

I didn't understand how a crack in the radiator would only leak occasionally, but it was repaired. Worth looking into..

is it possible the car just got low on coolant? The overheating could cause some to boil out.

 

The metal will get softer as the car heats up. Could be an issue there. Could be a radiator crack as well that once the pressure gets too high it starts to leak.

 

Thanks for the replies!

So far, since Sunday night, I haven't had any problems with my car. Yes, it is an LS. It runs perfectly and hasn't gotten hot and I see no leaks. I am keeping an eye on the coolant level and it isn't getting low. I really appreciate the help. I know very little about cars.

I have 2 Monte Carlos. I bought another one because my '97 is such a good car. It has 198,000 miles on it and still runs great!

 

I thought the issues with the Dexcool leak were resolved, but they are not. It has been about 4 months since the first time the car got hot. I noticed that last weekend, the heater wasn't warming up very well. I checked under the hood, and the plastic reservior that holds Dexcool was almost empty. There is also Dexcool on the garage floor. I must have a slow leak somewhere. I hope it is not going to be an expensive repair.

 

The leak turned out to be the water pump. It costed $415 to repair. I hope that fixes the problem for good.