FAST RS

I posted this on the cooling forum but didnt get much of a response.

Today i was driving to work nice cool morning out and noticed when i started to accelerate my car was heating up past 220 and at idle it would then cool down to 220 normaly it runs at 180 and sticks there. So i got to work let my car cool down for a few hours. Durning lunch i went to go and check it out i was thinking it might be a bad sending unit then i decided to pop my radiator cap and to my surprise it was empty i could basicly see down as far as i could see. So i checked around for any leaks didnt see any checked my oil looked perfect so i went to the store got antifreeze and put it in car runs at its normal 180 now but where could the coolant of gone i dont get any white smoke out the exhaust. For the longest time i would fill up my coolant tank and in about 2 months it would be empty so i knida gave up on filling it up i did neglect my cooling system last time i really checked my coolant was when i flushed the system about a year ago. But i would like to know were my coolant is going. Only thing i can think of is i have a small head gasket leak and it is buring when i am driving. If this is the case how will this effect my emissions since i have a test comming up in a month.

JamesY

If you think it might just be a little leak try and find some of that Coolant Leak fix **** in the can, same as the engine oil leak but for coolant, may plug your little hole and solve your problem. I know it has for others.

FAST RS

What about the AC delco coolant tabs i cant remeber what they are actualy called but they come in a pack of 5 and you put like 3 of them in. I know on my firebird i was told to do this even tho the enigne and all the gaskets were new im not 100 percent sure what it does but i think it is like a stop leak am i correct on this?

Also will the coolant in my exhaust cause me to fail CA smog?

JamesY

Haven't heard of the tabs but its probably the same philosphy except mien sliquid and urs is a solid.

I'm not up to date on smog **** as I don't have to be so youll have to get someone else to answer that one.

drdave88

iTrader: (3)

pull the spark plugs, see if theyre white. these 60 degree engines are extremely notorious for the intake gasket leaking. but it could be a headgasket as well. thats a good spot to start

FAST RS

Do you mean the porclin sp? or were the prawn is.

drdave88

iTrader: (3)

the very end of it that is in the combustion chamber where the electrode is. the part that can be gapped.

mvftw

iTrader: (1)

Are you sure your oil isn't rising? I just did my intake last weekend ('86 2.8). Losing antifreeze and gaining oil, with no white smoke is intake manifold...

2_point8_boy

could also be a bad radiator cap. A lot of people neglect this and when it goes bad, you start to lose collant fairly quickly without leaking it out anywhere that you can see.

TomP

Didn't know that, 2_point_8! Thanks!

Try popping the hood as soon as you shut the engine off. With the engine hot, there'll be a bunch of pressure in the cooling system.

I found a pinhole leak in a heater hose this way... I was always losing coolant, but nothing was dripping. One day I popped the hood after coming back from the parts store with oil and an oil filter- and I saw my leak. The pinhole in the heater hose was spraying a thin stream of coolant right onto the exhaust manifold- so everything was just evaporating! Then when the engine and cooling system cooled down, pressure went to zero, and the spray/leak stopped.

KED85

Fast RS's engine is aged and high milage.
I told him a weak head gasket is more than likely what's happening.
The GM "stop leak" item is available at AC Delco stores & GM dealers. Yeah it's a charcoal bricket sized item (very small one) that gets dumped into radiator tank.
Won't hurt to do it or the real solution is to find that 3.4!!!!
I know Fast RS, I know.
New rad cap wouldn't hurt either.

FAST RS

Well today i found the probelm the plastic tank on the side of the radiator cracked and i guess its been leaking there for years and has finaly gotten bad because i was very low on coolant again. Got a new radiator from AZ the almunium one 150 bucks.

BTW what are those radiator zip tie things called the ones that are square and have foam on the back and go though the fins to hold the trans cooler in place.

TomP

Damn, that's two V6 people with cracked side tanks in the past month? Yikes...

I guess they're called trans cooler mount zip ties? Try this, BMM # 80278... and I think I've seen those kits in Pep Boys, too.

http://store.summitracing.com/defaul...rt=BMM%2D80278

FAST RS

When this crack was small could it have made my car get really hot when i had my AC on? My car would hit 260 with my AC on only when i was at driving speeds it has done this for a while now maybe 3 years. But when the AC was off even now with the cack as big as it is i am running at 180.

2_point8_boy

chalk mine up to the count. that's why I had to replace mine. It got a small crack in the passenger side.

It's definitly that time of year when everyone's cooling system gets put to the test. Some make it, others don't, FAST RS, RedRaif, KED85 and Myself all didn't make it.

Just in the last 3 months, everypart of my cooling system has been replaced. 3 months ago, the water pump, 2 months ago, the radiator and hoses got replaced, and last week, the heater core. I replaced the radiator with an all-metal one and the hoses with goodyear hoses, and the heater core with an OEM replacment, so I should be good to go dfor another 15 years on that stuff.

I think it was all original equipment on mine because it still had the GM stamping on it all. Hoses too. I was suprised. I mean, who actually goes to the dealer to replace hoses?

KED85

I DO
I WANT THE UNDERHOOD OF MY 1974 CORVETTE TO LOOK AS 1974, STILL, as possible!
AND BESIDES what places stocks those hoses for old Corvettes as easily as a Chevy dealer?
I held onto my old hoses because the parts markings were decent looking "yellow" parts numbered marked.
Try asking who holds onto old used mufflers?
I DO, I scored a set of "dated" Corvette mufflers dated 1978!
Corvette people are sick!
Kinda why I enjoy so much this Firebird because I can be "creative" with wrecking yard parts & Camaro parts mixed with Firebird parts.

FAST RS

Got the new radiator in cools great let all the air out of the system replaced the hoses good thing too one was mushy and rubbed down to the thredding inside. The radiator was about a 1/4 inch thicker. One word of advice before you put the radiator in hook up the Trans fluid lines i didnt and had to take everything back apart and shift it over an inch becasue they would not reach. First time doing it about 3.5 hours

2_point8_boy

But that's a completly different thing. our cars ARE NOT collectable as factory V6's. Therefore, it's not worth keeping everything as factory as possible. A '74 'Vette is a different story.

Most of us have V6's because we are on the economy side. Not everyone here is, but most of us are, we either can't afford a V8, or just like our 6's the way they are for the economy versions that they were meant to be. Like I said, this does not apply to everyone (like Doward, RedRaif, RTFC, etc.) So we go out and buy the cheaper alternative or even, heaven forbid for a 'Vette, Reman'ed parts (EEWWWW!!!!!)

FAST RS

Took the car out tongiht had no problems with cooling had 3 people in it so it had a load and had the AC on and it went a tad above 180 maybe like 185 and with the ac off it was at about 175.

Only thing i notice now is that my window inside fogs up when the air is on didnt do that until today could it be just coolant in the eninge bay causing moisture to come through i spilled a ton of coolant in the engine bay.

Next task tune up and a new smog pump.

KED85

Kinda why I enjoy so much this Firebird because I can be "creative" with wrecking yard parts, Camaro parts mixed with Firebird parts.

Be seeing ya Sunday AM for smogging
Don't worry about the AC & fog thing.
It also happened to me after I did the heater core work. As long as AC operates, that tends to happen (extra moisture in air is being circulated). It is, in this case, nothing to worry about. You would know if the same thing with other warning signs, is happening.

FAST RS

Cant make it my car is not ready for smog yet i have fuel injector cleaner going through it right now gotta replace the O2 sensor plugs cap rotor fuel filter and put my stock chip back in. I have all the parts probly going to do it next weekend when i put in my new head unit. My back is killing me today from working under the car i hate haveing a slipped disk.

When we gonna meet up in simi so i can show you my bird.

TomP

Oh hell, I better replace that ancient heater core soon then, huh? I should've borrowed $50 off someone 9 years ago when I had the dash apart...

FAST RS

Just so you all know i am very happy with the radiator i got from AZ my car runs cooler now then it ever has in traffic it was below the 180 mark never seen it that low before the real test will come this july when it heats up and i really begin to use the AC but i am very happy so far with the quality the core was actualy thicker then the stock one. Just dont like the plastc part about it but i guess they are all now plastic.