Car is over heating....

[TODD 2000 V6 CAMARO]

Ok, I was driving home from taking my wife to get her car from the repair place after paying $900 to replace her water pump, and then MY car starts to over heat. I quickly pulled into a gas station and shut it down. It was a bit low on coolant, but not overly so. After I added coolant and got going again, it would get almost up to the red-line on the temp guage and then drop back down to about 220 (it usually stays right at 210) then it would hover around 230 or so and then cool off and so on and so forth. Is this most likely the thermostat sticking? I can't hear any unusual noise from the water pump or anything, and the pully seems to be turning fine. Any ideas, guys?

[ConElite]

The Fans are turning on fine and everything right?

[brothapig]

This sounds like a blown head gasket to me. My car did the same thing to me, just out of the blue. Temp would climb way up, then shoot down as water started to circulate again.

[Joshu]

This sounds like a blown head gasket to me. My car did the same thing to me, just out of the blue. Temp would climb way up, then shoot down as water started to circulate again.

My thoughts exactly.


I posted this thread over the summer:
http://www.f-body.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17755

two weeks later we were fixing the gasket

[TODD 2000 V6 CAMARO]

How involved is a head gasket replacement? Is it pretty pricey to get done? We just moved to a new apartment, had to get my wife's car fixed, and are dang near broke at the moment. This was the last thing I needed right now. Oh, and yes...the fans seem to be working fine. It was doing exactly as you guys were describing, climbing..then dropping in temperature. It seemed like it was fine as long as I was moving at a decent speed, but when I was going slower it got hotter. Makes sense with the wind factor while moving and all. Oh man.....I need to win the lottery or something. Is there something I can look for to find out if it is a head gasket?

[ConElite]

Well Try this. Take off the Radiator cap and the crank it. If water shoots out then its a head gasket. I know most shops have this, Its like some liquid that u put in a cylinder. What it does is if any Exhaust comes in contact with the liquid it turns colors. So what you do is put it in the radiator hole and turn on the car. If the liquid changes color the Head Gasket is done. We have one of these kits Here at my house. I have not used one since i was about 13 so I have No idea what its called but it works great. There could be a chance the Thermostat is done as well and Opens up at a much higher temp than it should. Who knows. I know my brother 96 Z did the same thing once but it was simply air in the cooling system.

Ill be honest with you, its not a weekend project at all to replace a head gasket. It will take at least 2 weekends. I did one on a Toyota in 2 weekends but that was only one head. If your going to replace one head gasket your better off replacing both while your there. The intake Manifold is coming off and all that good stuff. Its about a 16 Hour payed job (Used to work for Chevrolet). So If you are not pretty mechanicly familiar with engines, I'd take it to a shop.

[Joshu]

Is there like a sweet smell of coolant coming out of your exhaust? Or any type of fluid that doesnt resemble water?

[Joe 1320]

The headgasket breach can cause several scenerios....

The breach is usually near a water jacket and coolant is either siphoned out of the water jacket and into the combustion chamber or a combustion event vents into the cooling system causing a pressure buildup in the cooling system, thereby forcing the water everywhere. Sometimes it ends up going thought the cylinder and out the exhaust, sometimes the water mixes with the oil and ends up in the pan. It's a crap shoot as to what the symptom might be. I usually hook up a cooling system pressure testor. Fire up the engine and if the pressure starts climbing fast, you've got yourself a bad headgasket.

Another test would be to pull all the spark plugs. There is a air fitting that has the spark plug threads and a compressed air fitting, used mainly to hold the valves in place when swapping springs with the heads still on. Test each cylinder and compress with air. Any leaks into the cooling system will immediatly start forming air bubbles in the cooling system.