ahhhhhhhhhh! i need LIM help

jackal2000 · 03-31-2008, 03:28 PM

long story short: me and sound_xtreme and bad99olds replaced the LIMG on a 99 grand am gt (my wife's). i know i didnt put enough RTV on the ridges of the heads because even though the car hasnt officially started yet, the process of starting it has already resulted in coolant pooling on the transmission. thats not what i am worried about. when i try to start the car, i have mysterious blue smoke rising from behind/under the alternator and i dont know wtf is causing it. im going to have to tear it apart again anyways but if anyone has any ideas, let me know. im just glad its not my car

lonnie · 03-31-2008, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackal2000

im just glad its not my car

That's cold. LoL

jackal2000 · 04-01-2008, 01:30 PM

bump...looks like i am not the only one stumped by the smoke eh?

Bad99Olds · 04-01-2008, 02:02 PM

ooh ooh ooh i wanna help again. lol.

Bad99Olds · 04-01-2008, 02:43 PM

make sure your plug wires got connected the right way...

jackal2000 · 04-01-2008, 03:06 PM

u dumbass, way to steal my thunder and try to look smart...noob.

but yea i (we) put the wires on wrong. the car runs, i just drove it around the block, no more blue smoke BUT it is still over heating which is gay. i swear the heater works now though.

jackal2000 · 04-01-2008, 03:34 PM

alright boys and girls. my new theory is yet to figured out....its not the water pump. kind of thinking it is a blown head gasket and its just somehow not burning anything....

WhiteV6 · 04-01-2008, 05:42 PM

Do a compression test on your cooling system.

Are you sure the stat works or that you got all the air out of the system?

jackal2000 · 04-01-2008, 05:51 PM

i assume the stat works, its brand new. i have no idea how to do a compression test on the cooling system or if i got all the air out. i didnt do anything besides add 50/50 mix coolant through the resevoir.

WhiteV6 · 04-01-2008, 06:17 PM

Can't trust a new stat. Ive had a new one stay closed before. The compression tester is a loaner tool set from autozone. it goes where your radiator cap went and pressurizes the system. 15 psi is where it should stay.

jackal2000 · 04-01-2008, 06:31 PM

i dont think i am lucky enough to have 2 bad t-stats.

Ryan from Ohio · 04-01-2008, 07:22 PM

Maybe it got put in wrong?

Did ya bleed the water pump? Or is it full of air still

jackal2000 · 04-02-2008, 09:56 AM

and how does one bleed the water pump?

Ryan from Ohio · 04-02-2008, 12:08 PM

Ok this is gonna be hard.

Look at the AOTM photo, look LEFT. Theres a black tube running up from the water pump, brass bleeder screw on top.

Crack it open, start the car up. Get all the air out. Tighten back down.

Even if its full, there probably all air in it. Hope ya didnt burn it up?

jackal2000 · 04-02-2008, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryan from Ohio

Ok this is gonna be hard.

Look at the AOTM photo, look LEFT. Theres a black tube running up from the water pump, brass bleeder screw on top.

Crack it open, start the car up. Get all the air out. Tighten back down.

Even if its full, there probably all air in it. Hope ya didnt burn it up?

im not gay but i love you man. i left the cap off until coolant started bubbling out (i swear it took like 5 minutes), turned the car off and put the cap back on real quick. restarted the car and it got a few tick marks past half way and then i heard a click and the temp went back below half by 2 tick marks. let it run and run and run and it never got over 1 tick past half way so i drove it to auto zone down the street and bought some oil and filter for the necessary oil change and it stayed right at half the whole way. one thing that concerns me slightly is the heater will now blow hot at first but it gets cooler and cooler.

Ryan from Ohio · 04-02-2008, 06:45 PM

Hmmm, now thats odd. Is your coolant still low?

Best way to do it that I know is to loosen that bleeder. Take the rad cap off, fill er up until it starts to come out.

im guessing your probably still low on coolant, double check it.

jackal2000 · 04-02-2008, 07:12 PM

yea i wanted to wait until it was stone cold to check the coolant level. will do.

Bad99Olds · 04-02-2008, 08:53 PM

john im having a psychic preminition that you should check ur water pump/coolant system.. haha

jackal2000 · 04-02-2008, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bad99Olds

john im having a psychic preminition that you should check ur water pump/coolant system.. haha

you're an ass.

whats funny is the whole air in the cooling system thing is probably what caused the over heating to being with. she had been driving for a long time (about year now with the LIMG leak) and when the low coolant light would come on she would just dump more into the resevoir. the last time the light came on was when the first time it over heated, after she topped off the coolant. it all makes perfect sense now!

she drove the car from my house to her apartment and it did fine. again it went half way between 1/2 and 3/4 before dipping back below 1/2. not sure whats up with that since the t-stat should be opening before that temperature, maybe i need to bleed it some more. i stopped when it started bubbling, perhaps it needs to bleed until its basically pouring out?

jackal2000 · 04-03-2008, 01:33 AM

ugh. wife just called. the car over heated again tonight. she let it cool down so she could at least drive it home and the low coolant light came on. she put more 50/50 mix in and drove it home and she said it did fine. anybody know a good exorcist? lol

its obviously got a leak. maybe the leak is so big that enough air is getting in to cause the over heating? i'll inspect it when i get off work in the morning. she said it looked wet by the resevoir which tells me that some coolant was expelled out of over flow tube. not sure why it would do that though....