Overheating...

[SeaHoCaptain]

I did the search ... None appeared to address the issue.

Daughters comes to me the other day and says the 3.4 in the Alero is overheating, temp is on high, and no heater. I check resivoir and she is out of coolant. Read the troubleshooting in the Haynes and tackle the thermostat. Appears to fix the issue.

Three days later, she calls me. Car was running fine. She parked it and all the coolant was leaking out and it started to smoke. I come to the rescue expecting a burst hose or the likes.

I find the cap appears to have blown off but luckily it is still found. Top it off with coolant, run it, and watch. The coolant is being sucked out the overflow. I speculate I overfilled. Drive it home. Check, still full. Turn car off. ALL the coolant starts flowing out the overflow in a mass exoduse and steam rises like the dickens.

OK .. Ideas????

David

[burg03]

hey, what about that vent thingy you are surpose to use when filling up the coolant

[AftermathAlero]

sounds like u need a new coolant cap. there like 7 bucks at autozone.

[SeaHoCaptain]

hey, what about that vent thingy you are surpose to use when filling up the coolant
What vent thingy? Don't know about that one. I just poured directly into the resevior.

sounds like u need a new coolant cap. there like 7 bucks at autozone.
What will that buy me? The cap goes on and will stay put. Coolant is coming out the overflow tube from the pressure I suppose. How will new cap aleviate this? I'm just not understanding.

David

[AftermathAlero]

our coolant cap is the pressure of the system. If you ever looked at it, the cap says like 15lbs rating. Since our radiator doesn't have a pressure cap like others do.. the cap on the reservior bottle takes the place of one. The cap opens and closes for the vent/overflow tube on the bottle. (the tube that doesn't connect to anything located next to the cap).

when you have a pressurized system, it raises or lowers the boiling temperature. Since you said that your cap came off. that could be a problem. Doesn't hurt to change the cap for a few bucks. Since the design of the caps are shitty they break easy.

[SeaHoCaptain]

our coolant cap is the pressure of the system. If you ever looked at it, the cap says like 15lbs rating. Since our radiator doesn't have a pressure cap like others do.. the cap on the reservior bottle takes the place of one. The cap opens and closes for the vent/overflow tube on the bottle. (the tube that doesn't connect to anything located next to the cap).

when you have a pressurized system, it raises or lowers the boiling temperature. Since you said that your cap came off. that could be a problem. Doesn't hurt to change the cap for a few bucks. Since the design of the caps are shitty they break easy.

THANKS for the explaination ... and the FIX! Appears to be doing the job. The only additional step I took was that I notice in the Haynes in talks of bleeding the system when filling it. So I did that too. Daughter drove it around for about an hour last night with no issues.

THANKS again! Goodness know what I would have been swapping out in attempt to fix this....

David