QuestionQUESTION: I also have a 95 LHS that is overheating or at least appears to be. We have been adding coolant daily. The temperature gauge with go to hot after only driving it a few miles and the car is smoking from the reservoir, but nowhere else. I do not see it leaking coolant (at least it is not noticeable on the ground), so could it be the water pump?
ANSWER: Hi Teri,
If it were the water pump you would likely see it on the ground.
Unfortunately, I suspect something else that is also expensive. The early overheat and what may be pressurization early is a symptom of there being a leak in one of the two cylinder headgaskets. The way you could corroborate this is to observe the tail pipe exhaust when you first start the car from cold to see if there is excessive white smoke (steam) which when allowed to condense on your hand smells of coolant. Also listen for a bubbling sound early-on coming from the upper areas of the engine/radiator/overflow bottle. Those are signs of such a leak. You can identify which bank of cylinders by removing the spark plugs when cold, then cranking the engine while a helper(s) watch for the ejection of coolant from the spark plug holes upon first cranking it over.
If you verify such a leak, you might try one 'fix' that has worked out for me in the case where the problem was not a frankly turn gasket but rather a situation where the headbolts had worked a bit loose allowing the coolant to seep between. I loosened the bolts to the next to last torques setting (following the reverse pattern from that used in tightening the bolts, torque down to 65 foot-pound) then tightern all the bolts in the tighterning sequence used normally, exactly 1/4 turn.
If that doesn't stop the leak then the cylinder head must be removed and a new gasket installed. If funds are tight, you could also try a stop leak substance, such as Bar's Leak, put in the radiator, which might seal the leak at least temporarily. Whether it will work depends upon the type of leak (torn gasket, or loose bolts).
The 'gold test' for such a leak is vis an exhaust gas leak detector placed at the overflow bottle. If such gas is detected there it is sure confirmation.
Roland
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QUESTION: There is not any white smoke coming from the exhaust. I talked to a man at the auto parts store and he said I should purge the radiator. I have the 3.5L engine. How do you purge the radiator?
AnswerHi Terri,
OK, it may just be that he radiator is clogged sufficiently as to cause the engine to be unable to dissipate its heat. In that case you would want to "flush" the radiator using as strong a chemical as is available at the auto parts store, usually a powdered material that you would dissolve in water and then add to the cooling system. You would have to drain off the amount of coolant equal to the amount of dissolved heavy duty flush you are going to use. That would be done via the radiator drain on the lower right corned of the back side of the radiator. Then add the flush via the overflow bottle and follow the directions as to how long to run the engine before draining it out and refilling the system with normal coolant. There is a procedure that you would want to follow when both you add the flush and when you refill the system to avoid any trapped air. In fact, you might want to try this approach now, without doing anything other than to be sure that your problem is not caused by air in the system. Here it is as I explained it earlier to another LHS owner:
That engine has to be refilled with coolant in a manner that allows the air to escape. There could be air trapped in the cooling system from not having it filled properly after the radiator was replaced. Here is the way to get air out:
It would be good to start with only a partially filled system. Open the drain cock of the radiator and collect coolant fluid. It may not begin to outflow very much until you notice also that the thermostat housing has a bleed valve which if you open it will allow the fluid to drain from the radiator more rapidly. Drain about 3 quarts of coolant in a pan for reuse; then close the radiator drain cock.
Put a 4' length of clear plastic hose on the thermostat housing bleed valve nipple and direct the hose over the front of the car to a clean container to catch the coolant as you refill the system (You don't want coolant to get on the drive belts). Then take the cap off the recovery bottle and slowly fill the coolant recovery bottle until fluid starts to flow out of the clear hose. While adding coolant slowly as necessary to keep it running from the 4" hose, gently squeeze on the top radiator hose until all the air is exhausted from the system via the bleed valve hose. The outflow from the hose should have no air showing up. Close the bleed valve and fill the system the rest of the way until it reaches the to the mark on the side of the overflow bottle. Remove the hose from the bleeder valve nipple.
Then see if that has solved your problem.
If flushing doesn't work, then the radiator would have to be removed and 'rodded out' at a radiator shop.
Roland
