Aftermarket coolant reservoir

[kwhauck]

thats why i just pull the whole UIM and TB assembly, much easier that way!!!

[Psyfox]

Originally Posted by kwhauck

thats why i just pull the whole UIM and TB assembly, much easier that way!!!

Yeah, that's what I ended up doing. Ruined a shirt and basically showered in coolant in the process...couldn't move my crawler fast enough on the rough concrete street to avoid the drain.

[Redog]

^^ Did you do it after the car was driven? Did you drain the coolant first?

The fan switch is between the upper raditior hose and the engine. If it's broken, the temp gauge won't work either. I doubt that's the case since the car is "almost" overheating. w/o a temp gauge, he'd overheat it pretty quick

I can't see that much pressure building up. Typical cooling systems only build 15 PSI, you'd blow a hose before blowing a cap.

The STOP LEAK thing seems reasonable. Could have been done, assuming you have the 3400 engine which is proned to the LIMG leak. Mixing of coolant doesn't make sense with the problems your having, but you never know.

What color is coolant? green, black, red, pink?

[Gr1m]

if he has upgraded clamps on his hoses, its possible for the top to come off before the hose.

[[ion] C2]

Originally Posted by Gr1m

actually i believe the tstat would tell the fans what temperature to turn on and if he had a sticky tstat it would cause the coolant to read a lower temp then what it was actually at causing the fans to never turn on, correct me if im wrong but i think thats how the cooling system works in our cars? lol

The ECT sensor at least on the LD9 is on the water outlet assembly. It sees the coolant that's in the engine. It reads accurate as long as it's not a faulty sensor. The thermostat has nothing to do with it.

[ChadCy75]

Yeah, it's the 3400, but it doesn't have any symptoms of a a blown gasket. The way I'm losing water is from the thing boiling over. But, just to be sure, I'm calling around to schedule a pressure test, because I figure if it's one of the gaskets, I want to find out as soon as possible, because if that's what it is, and I just keep avoiding it, I'm going to either mess up the heads or crack the block, and I don't want to do that!! Right now, it has mostly water in it for coolant, but there is still some green coolant mixed in with the water from what was already in the system after I thought I had it straightened out a few weeks ago.
Also, do you think changing out the spark plugs had something to do with it? I know that after doing certain procedures on these computerized cars, it takes about fifty miles of driving before the computer straightens back out, in a manner of speaking. Really though, before I do anything else, I'm going to wait and see what happens with the pressure test, because I don't know how that's going to pan out. If everything checks out ok with it, though, I still have the timing to check, getting a coolant flush, changing out the thermostat, having the serpentine belt and tensioners checked, and let's not forget the water pump! Anyway, thank you guys for your help so far, and I'll keep you all posted!

[ChadCy75]

Forgot to mention that the temperature gauge is working fine, because as soon as it gets up to the 3/4 mark, I start looking for a place to pull over and shut the car off. Again, it's not blowing the cap off, it's popping the center of the reservoir cap, so that there is a bubble right in the center of it, like when you open a bottle of Lipton's Iced tea, or a Starbuck's Frappaccino in a bottle, only with this reservoir cap, the center sticks up a LOT more! Anyway, I need to get back to these calls, so thanks guys, and I'll keep you posted.

[Nate's Alero]

pics?

[ChadCy75]

No pics yet. I still have a lot of ducks to line up before I do that, because after I get this near over-heating thing straightened out, I have a few other things to do to it, because while the previous owner didn't take care of it, the body isn't really in that bad a shape. The biggest complaint with the body would be the hailstone dents in a few places, but I think they are all on the doors, for some reason. That will just be a matter of buying two doors for it, but then sometime down the line, I'm going to have to deal with the interior. The driver's seat is the only one with any rips or tears in it, but the passenger seat, the back seat, and pretty much the rest of the interior has stains that aren't going to come out, and will have to either be replaced or covered up. Funnily enough though, the floors are pretty much spotless! And of course the dash has that famous rippling effect! Other than the hailstone dents, it has a few missing paint chips here and there, mostly on the hood, but all of this cosmetic stuff will have to be dealt with somewhere down the line, if I deal with it at all. But, I need to get back on these calls to schedule a pressure test! Catch you later, and thanks for the help!

[ChadCy75]

Hey Nate, what is that cone thing on the end of your air filter?

[Nate's Alero]

Originally Posted by ChadCy75

Hey Nate, what is that cone thing on the end of your air filter?

the air filter?

[ChadCy75]

Well fellas, it's not good. I need a LIM gasket, a water pump, AND the serpentine belt! Drat!! The gasket and the water pump both have a leak, and the belt is just old as hell, but hey, after dealing with the oil and the spark plugs, it doesn't surprise me. I'm not going to say that it is the original belt, but I would be willing to bet that it is. Oh well, like I figured, I'm going to have to get these few little problems worked out, and I'll have a champ that's going to last for a long, long time. I'll keep you all updated on my progress.

[Gr1m]

hehe i was right, good luck with it