# Overheating and don't know why....need help!



## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

Ok,

This started about four months ago. I drive an awful lot and my car was overheating but because I live on the road I always had supplies in my car and always had coolant. I could never find the reason why the car would overheat so I would always figure one day it's gonna show it's ugly face.

Finally one day the hose that is under the injectors that goes to the block popped. As much as it sucked I figured well finally I found the problem. I replaced the hose and it was all good.....for about three weeks and it started heating up again. For those thinking it's the thermo, it's not because the car would get hot and cool back down and repeat the cycle until it would finally run out of fluid. Turned out it was the bypass hose from the thermo housing that popped this time. Great! I replaced it and moved on....for about two weeks after that.

Finally I had it pressure tested and it was the waterpump. Changed the waterpump out and pressure tested again. No leaks!!!! Hooray right?! Wrong! A few times while the car would heat up I would check the fans, with the a/c off and they would be spinning. Finally I did the easiest thing and replaced the radiator cap with an OEM radiator cap but to no avail. A week later pressure tested it again for leaks and nothing. I've checked my oil repeatedly and it's not milky it's nice and black.

So in short, replaced three hoses, water pump, radiator cap, and still the car is overheating. After it gets hot I let it cool off and take off the cap and sure enough it is low on coolant. Where the hell is the coolant going? Is it just a bad or going-bad radiator or what? I need some help here.


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## ldwarwick (Jan 6, 2009)

Out of all the problems to have with a vehicle the overheating one is the worst because of the obvious implications and I hate it however you might get lucky yet. Do you ever see any white smoke/steam coming from the tailpipe? If you do then you are looking at replacing an intake manifold/head gasket because depending on where the gasket is breeched depends on whether it goes to the oil or exhaust. If you are mechanically inclined then you may want to take off the valve cover and verify the water thing because the dip stick does not always give you good info (I had a Lumina do the same thing) and it does not cost that much if you do it yourself. Do you smell antifeeze when the car is running? If you do you might want to check on the heater core, that is also a lot of fun! Because you have already changed the water pump you have already taken one part of the tshooting out of the equation, now you just have to figure out where the water it going. If you KNOW that it is not leaking from anywhere in the engine department and it is not the pump then more than likely you are looking at replacing a gasket somewhere. Good luck and let us know what you find because mine has been starting to intermittently heat up and then cool back down but it hasn’t gotten too hot yet. Good luck with it!


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

I forgot to mention that. No, I have never seen white smoke coming out of the tailpipe and I have looked and looked for it and never have I seen it.

Mine is like yours. I have had this car going on twelve years now and know it well. It will heat up but not too hot and cool back down. It'll do that several times before it begins to get to the too hot part and then I will always pull over and shut it off and let it cool off before putting some fluid in.

Funny you mention the valve cover because I just replaced it and all the gaskets last weekend. I replaced it with a B13 valve cover to be able to replace not just the gasket but the spark plug tube seals as well because it was leaking some serious oil into the number two plug and causing it to misfire. It's been a week and zero oil leaks thank goodness but when I had the valve cover off I didn't see any evidence of water. The oil was nice and black there as well.

This is driving me nucking futs. You would think having pressure tested it a few times you would've found something by now. The only thing I can think of is when the bypass hose blew, I couldn't find a replacement and used one from a B13. The one from the B13 is so much more frail then the B14 that in a few days it popped. I replaced it with a piece of hose from the power steering reservoir which are tough as hell but not soft enough to bend over like a question mark like the factory ones for the thermostat housing.

The new "makeshift" hose kinks. Although it has never popped, I'm wondering if the pressure is causing it to leak very very slowly but not enough to leak through the pressure test. I finally broke down and bought one at the stealership but it won't be here till Tuesday. Any other ideas?


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## RB24SRB24DETT (Jan 9, 2009)

*COOLANT*

WELL I DONT WORK AT A STEALERSHIP. I WORK AT CERRITOS NISSAN THE HELPERSHIP. I WANTED TO KNOW IS IT ACTUALLY HEATING UP OR ARE YOU JUST LOOKING AT THE NEEDLE. THE FACTORY GUAGES ARE MORE OF A GUIDELINE THAN REAL GUAGES. IVE SEEN SENSORS GO OUT ON THE CAR THAT WILL MAKE IT LOOK LIKE ITS EITHER COLD OR HOT WHEN IT IS ACTUALLY RUNNING FINE. LET ME KNOW WHT THEY TELL YOU AND I WILL TRY TO HELP YOU AS MUCH AS I CAN (PRICE IN PARTS WISE)


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

You could be right, it could just be a bad temp sensor. However the other day when that bypass hose popped the temp gauge went sky high and I pulled over just before it got to the "H" and turned her off.

You could see the steam coming out of the reservoir. Nothing is leading me to believe that the temp sensor is bad because it does go up then back down and it will do this several times before it will no longer go back down and only start to go up. I never let it get too hot but when I check the coolant there is none in the reservoir and the radiator looks empty. You can pour a whole two liter bottles worth of water into the radiator before it tops off.

Like I said, I've had this car since '98 and that needle never goes higher then the illustration of the thermometer unless there was some real overheating like the first time my waterpump went bad or the radiator went bad, etc. Since this crap started over four months ago, it's been the same ol' crap.


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## RB24SRB24DETT (Jan 9, 2009)

*HEATING*

WHAT DOES THE PLASTIC PART ON YOUR RADIATOR LOOK LIKE? AND HAVE YOU CHANGED THE THERMOSTAT


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

What plastic part are you talking about and no, I haven't changed the thermo in a few years but considering the temp gauge goes up and down I didn't bother.

I could pull her out and put her in the ol' glass coffee pot to test it to make sure it's working.


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## RB24SRB24DETT (Jan 9, 2009)

*HEATING*

THERMOSTATS HELP CONTROL THE TEMPERATURE, WHEN THEY ARE DONE THE CAR MAY RISE IN TEMPERATURE(WHEN STOPPED) OR DROP(WHEN DRIVING). MOST RADIATORS HAVE A ALUMINUM CORE WITH PLASTIC ENDS AND IF THE ENDS HAVE WHAT LOOKS LIKE CRACKS(EVEN IF ITS NOT LEAKING) ON IT, IT CAN BE BAD


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

Oooo! Didn't think about the corners of the rad'. I'm gonna check it out.

A thermo is cheap anyway so it's really no sweat to replace. When it comes to imports I'm still green. Even my little guy who I've had for ten years. What temp thermo do you suggest?


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## RB24SRB24DETT (Jan 9, 2009)

*THERMOSTAT*

WHERE DO YOU LIVE? CAUSE I WORK AT CERRITOS NISSAN IN CALIFORNIA


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

West Palm Beach, Fla. Faaaaaaaaaaaaar from you.


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## RB24SRB24DETT (Jan 9, 2009)

*THERMOSTAT*

WHAT YEAR MODEL AND MOTOR DO YOU HAVE? ILL GIVE YOU A QUOTE AND YOU CAN GO CALL A NISSAN OVER THERE AND SEE IF THEY CAN MATCH IT. OR COME CLOSE.


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

1996 Sentra GXE 1.6L GA16DE


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## RB24SRB24DETT (Jan 9, 2009)

*THERMOSTAT*

$15.84 IS MY INTERNET PRICE, SEE IF THEY CAN MATCH.


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## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

Guro305 said:


> You could be right, it could just be a bad temp sensor. However the other day when that bypass hose popped the temp gauge went sky high and I pulled over just before it got to the "H" and turned her off.
> 
> You could see the steam coming out of the reservoir. Nothing is leading me to believe that the temp sensor is bad because it does go up then back down and it will do this several times before it will no longer go back down and only start to go up. I never let it get too hot but when I check the coolant there is none in the reservoir and the radiator looks empty. You can pour a whole two liter bottles worth of water into the radiator before it tops off.
> 
> Like I said, I've had this car since '98 and that needle never goes higher then the illustration of the thermometer unless there was some real overheating like the first time my waterpump went bad or the radiator went bad, etc. Since this crap started over four months ago, it's been the same ol' crap.


I suggest you buy a IR thermometer, they are $10 to $20 and as far as i can tell mine is very accurate.
This will tell you what temp your thermostat housing is at, radiator etc.
that will answer questions about whether the car is really overheating, thermostat working, etc.
Yes you could be losing coolant only under pressure ( and temprature.) This might cause cracks that are there to open up that dont show when cold or left parked.
If you cant find where it going then you are back to the internal loss into the combustion chamber. 
A gas leak into the head causes air locks and hot spots which will result in these symptoms, but normally throw coolant into the overflow bottle.
this should be detectable with a coolant check for contaminants, acid etc.
Did you check the passenger footwell ?


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

Nothing wrong with the passenger's footwell. No coolant is going into the reservoir it's the opposite.

The reservoir will be dry. Coolant has been flushed out. Other then the normal ugly, it was fine....even reusable. I put new coolant anyway. I'm gonna try the thermo and change out the bypass hose when it finally comes in. It's all I got right now.


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

When refilling the coolant system, always remove the air purge plug to remove any possible air pockets. Jacking up the car helps to purge any air.


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

rogoman said:


> When refilling the coolant system, always remove the air purge plug to remove any possible air pockets. Jacking up the car helps to purge any air.


Air purge plug?


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## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

yes the plug on the thermostat housing, and i think there is another somewhere.


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

I'm gonna take a look today. I have read a few posts around here about burping the coolant system similar to bleeding the brake system.

Apparently they have about three valves one being the thermo housing the others being somewhere around the block that will allow or maybe in my case have allowed air in or out. Anyone know more about this?


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## RB24SRB24DETT (Jan 9, 2009)

*PLUG*

OUR NISSAN MECHANICS HAVE A RADIATOR CAP WITH A CONTAINER ATTACHED TO IT THAT HOLDS ABOUT 2QTS OF FLUID. THIS WILL HELP YOU BLEED IT IF YOU CAN FIND WHERE TO BYE IT IF YOU LIKE. NOT TO MENTION YOU CAN MAKE MONEY OFF IT AS WELL


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

RB24SRB24DETT said:


> OUR NISSAN MECHANICS HAVE A RADIATOR CAP WITH A CONTAINER ATTACHED TO IT THAT HOLDS ABOUT 2QTS OF FLUID. THIS WILL HELP YOU BLEED IT IF YOU CAN FIND WHERE TO BYE IT IF YOU LIKE. NOT TO MENTION YOU CAN MAKE MONEY OFF IT AS WELL


Cool! Do you know what it's called?


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## RB24SRB24DETT (Jan 9, 2009)

SPILL PROOF FUNNEL. YOU CAN PROBABLY BUY IT AT NAPA, OR OTHER PLACES WHERE THEY SELL TOOLS


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

*Re: Thermostat housing air purge plug*

Take a look at this gentlemen. Is this where there is "supposed" to be a plug that would screw/unscrew to let air out? As you can see, it's missing if there is something that is supposed to go in there.


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

*ANYONE????*

??????????


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## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

Is that a flat head screw in there ?
My SR20 doesn't look like that, its a hex head bold sticking out of the housing and there is a warning label.


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

IanH said:


> Is that a flat head screw in there ?
> My SR20 doesn't look like that, its a hex head bold sticking out of the housing and there is a warning label.


No, there is no screw in there at all and that is what I was asking. If there is supposed to be?


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## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

I don't have a GA anymore, so cant look but the bleed is on the thermostat hosing on the SR20, i think that this is just a blind hole, maybe its tapped on some cars to hold a bolt for some thing.

look at this from the 97 FSM,


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## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

the Air Bleeds are shown as A and B


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

IanH said:


> I don't have a GA anymore, so cant look but the bleed is on the thermostat hosing on the SR20, i think that this is just a blind hole, maybe its tapped on some cars to hold a bolt for some thing.
> 
> look at this from the 97 FSM,


Those are good but not clear. Did you find those out of the FSM and if so, do you have a copy?


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## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

see the link in my Sig, let me know if you have problems ....


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

It worked great man. Thank you.

I finally put the bypass hose on the car and tried the old fashion burping method of just topping off the radiator without the cap, starting the car up and letting it get to op' temp' until the thermo opens up and sucks everything down. I just let it run and watched all the bubbles go. It seems the radiator is flowing well. I didn't see any air purge valve on the thermo housing though.

The only screws I see are the ones that hold it together. I'm going to have to look at her more carefully later.


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## maroonsentra (Mar 3, 2007)

Guro305 said:


> It worked great man. Thank you.
> 
> I finally put the bypass hose on the car and tried the old fashion burping method of just topping off the radiator without the cap, starting the car up and letting it get to op' temp' until the thermo opens up and sucks everything down. I just let it run and watched all the bubbles go. It seems the radiator is flowing well. I didn't see any air purge valve on the thermo housing though.
> 
> The only screws I see are the ones that hold it together. I'm going to have to look at her more carefully later.


Pretty common to do, especially when you change or drain the fluid, this should be done. Common symtoms would be if you saw the gauge jump, meaning you have air in your system.


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

maroonsentra said:


> Pretty common to do, especially when you change or drain the fluid, this should be done. Common symtoms would be if you saw the gauge jump, meaning you have air in your system.


It's all I get left before changing out the thermo and doing the complete burping process. It'll go a little over 150 miles before it starts to go over normal operating temperature.

It'll go up I'd say around 220 degrees and then back down to normal. It'll usually do this from that point on a few times before it finally stays hot and keeps ascending. By that point if I can do it immediately, I pull over and shut her off. Running over 50 right now since changing the bypass hose and burping it so lets see. Hey, have any of you guys used fail-safe thermos and are they worth it?


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## maroonsentra (Mar 3, 2007)

Guro305 said:


> It's all I get left before changing out the thermo and doing the complete burping process. It'll go a little over 150 miles before it starts to go over normal operating temperature.
> 
> It'll go up I'd say around 220 degrees and then back down to normal. It'll usually do this from that point on a few times before it finally stays hot and keeps ascending. By that point if I can do it immediately, I pull over and shut her off. Running over 50 right now since changing the bypass hose and burping it so lets see. Hey, have any of you guys used fail-safe thermos and are they worth it?


never heard of these. just get the stock replacement, seal it good and burp it.


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

*Ok, getting somewhere now I need some help.*

Ok, after all that this past week I finally got like I said, around that 150 mile mark and finally when I got on the highway I saw that puff of white smoke coming out of the tailpipe as I was getting towards the exit. When I slowed down to get off the highway, it completely went away.

I never saw it again the rest of the time but I figured, "Ok, at this point it's gonna start to heat up." Sure enough about ten more miles at the light, I saw the temp gauge going up. I went back down eventually and up and down and up and down until I got home a few miles from when the heating up started. However, this time I could hear what sounded like steam. I looked under the hood and could hear the hissing noise but couldn't see it. No splashing water, no steam, nothing. It sounds like it's coming out the injectors area. I'm sure something was to be changed out somewhere.

Any ideas????


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## maroonsentra (Mar 3, 2007)

Guro305 said:


> Ok, after all that this past week I finally got like I said, around that 150 mile mark and finally when I got on the highway I saw that puff of white smoke coming out of the tailpipe as I was getting towards the exit. When I slowed down to get off the highway, it completely went away.
> 
> I never saw it again the rest of the time but I figured, "Ok, at this point it's gonna start to heat up." Sure enough about ten more miles at the light, I saw the temp gauge going up. I went back down eventually and up and down and up and down until I got home a few miles from when the heating up started. However, this time I could hear what sounded like steam. I looked under the hood and could hear the hissing noise but couldn't see it. No splashing water, no steam, nothing. It sounds like it's coming out the injectors area. I'm sure something was to be changed out somewhere.
> 
> Any ideas????


Check your gaskets, around the head and intake and thermostat housing.


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

*Looky what I found!!!!!*

I really hate the cold but I'm thankful for it now. If it doesn't dip below 40 down here in So. Fla., I'd never would've found this!!!!! Steam, beautiful steam, coming outta here!!!









I got a set of monkey pliers and low and behold this!!!








I believe this is the heater hose if I'm not mistaken. I'm hoping this will finally, finally solve the problem. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but if the car is NOT sufficiently hot that the thermo would be open, a pressure test would not have revealed even the smallest leak in this area past the thermo housing....correct?


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## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

I cant tell where you are ?
pull back a bit so I can see.
Thermostat open or closed doesn't affect max pressure, but pressure really doesn't get high until temp gets high.
If that a torn hose then you would lose fluid all the time, i suspect it just tore open.....


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

Picture one is just beyond the thermo housing. Picture two is me holding up the hose with the tear.

Obviously, I made the tear bigger for the sake of photography but when I found it, it was a tiny little hole. Just yesterday was the first time I was able to see some steam come outta this hole because it's been cold down here.
I've heard the hissing noise come out of this area before in past weeks but it didn't last more then about 10-20 seconds. Yesterday it was hissing for about two minutes and finally had steam shooting outta here.


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## maroonsentra (Mar 3, 2007)

Guro305 said:


> Picture one is just beyond the thermo housing. Picture two is me holding up the hose with the tear.
> 
> Obviously, I made the tear bigger for the sake of photography but when I found it, it was a tiny little hole. Just yesterday was the first time I was able to see some steam come outta this hole because it's been cold down here.
> I've heard the hissing noise come out of this area before in past weeks but it didn't last more then about 10-20 seconds. Yesterday it was hissing for about two minutes and finally had steam shooting outta here.



As long as it never overheated you would be fine. I've had this issue on a few cars before. Hoses rot out overtime. Good work


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

maroonsentra said:


> As long as it never overheated you would be fine. I've had this issue on a few cars before. Hoses rot out overtime. Good work


Well it did but it was a long time ago. I'd say a little over a year ago and it has been almost like a residual effect since then.

I'll replace the hose today and burp the sucker again. I'm praying it'll do it this time cause this has driven me nuts!!!


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## maroonsentra (Mar 3, 2007)

Guro305 said:


> Well it did but it was a long time ago. I'd say a little over a year ago and it has been almost like a residual effect since then.
> 
> I'll replace the hose today and burp the sucker again. I'm praying it'll do it this time cause this has driven me nuts!!!


Should be okay. Constant overheating is bad. You can blow headgaskets, etc, even warp a head. Keep it safe and never run it hot for too long.


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

*Nope......*

.......didn't solve the problem. It got hot this morning again. I had to pull over and add water to the coolant.

This time I could hear the water spraying while I was driving although I didn't see any water spraying when I pulled over. All the water was towards the back of the firewall. I'll have to get under her to get a better look.


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## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

So a question, you said this is a 98, how many miles ?
I have a 97, 110K, do i need to replace all my hose, like now ??
what about others out there, have you have hoses popping, what yr and miles ?

Thanks !!


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

No, mine is a 96 and it has over 180K miles. Is it possible that it could also leak outta the air purge valves?

Where are they located on the engine block? I had her running for almost 25 minutes and it never got hot. This is considering I never topped off the coolant. I just left it with whatever coolant I had put in this morning. I couldn't see any steam or any water coming out of it. Could it be also that I'm filling it with too much coolant? If it was too full, I would think it's gotta come out somewhere but I would've assumed it would come out of the reservoir.


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

*Oy Vey!!!!!!*

Again!!!! Look at this sucker now:









I don't know what this hose is but it goes from the firewall to the, hell I couldn't tell exactly where it went to. Somewhere around the thermo housing. It's the second hose down from the top on the firewall. What made this so damn frustrating and I'm hoping this is the last of them, is that this one appeared to take forever to FINALLY pop because it has a type of heat shield over the middle of it.

I replaced it and now it's wait and see again.


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

Okay! I replaced this damn hose and the car is still getting hot.

I checked my oil but it's really hard to tell if there is something wrong with it because it's synthetic and it's only a few hundred miles old tops but it doesn't look watery. I'm thinking the thermo is the guilty culprit on this one. Even though the car gets hot, it didn't overheat.

With all the hoses but one being new, the coolant was finally boiling out of the reservoir. I'm gonna change that sucker out tomorrow and keep my fingers crossed.


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

Advice anyone?


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## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

Well if its finally not leaking, 
Check its getting up to pressure, feel the hose to make sure its very firm when hot.
If this is Ok ( pressure cap) then next thing is to check if exhaust gas is getting into the coolant.
You can get the coolant checked for this. ( Acidic) 
If it is, then head gasket is most likely damaged for the overheating.


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

Where do I get the coolant checked for exhaust gases?


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## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

I dont know where, ask your local auto parts store, maybe they have a test kit, if not i am sure somelike blackstone labs can do it.

Have you really found all the old coolant hose, this whole thing made me nervous and i checked my SE-R, it only has about 6 hoses 
the GA has more, I count 8 + 2 main ones.... 
Check the courtesyparts.com web site.
211 Water Hose & Piping :: Exhaust & Cooling :: Genuine Nissan Parts :: Sentra / 200SX Parts (B14U) 1995-1999 :: CourtesyParts.com


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## Shane Ruthnum (Jul 31, 2007)

Hi All!
I wont say Im a pro at overheating, but I have had my fair share of the problem and its after effects.

Just to explain what Ive learned, pressure in the radiator is directly proportional to the temperature...
The hotter it gets, the higher the pressure.
If you get too hot, the pressure will rise above the limits of the pipe and they will rupture.
The radiator cap is designed to prevent this by opening the relief valve when pressure exceeds about 1 bar.

Are your sure the cap is working correctly?
Ive had brand new origional caps fail many times.

Also, many thermostats fail to open properly once they are subjected to overheating, so take the thermostat out and test. Even without it it should operate ok.

Make sure pipes are good

Next, I would get the system pressure tested again to ensure there are no leaks. Just make sure they test correctly as a rushed test wont reflect true status where small leaks are concerned.

Also, looking at how a radiator flows with the cap off is no sure sign of how it operates under pressure.
Under pressure, theres heat, heat could narrow partially blocked cores, blocking them.
Also, at idle, flow rate is slow.
Under driving conditions they are much higher, this is where blockages start to take efect, under higher flow rates where more room is required to flow the coolant.

Another thing is when you bleed the system, make sure the heater setting inside the car is in the "hot" position.
Unless this valve is open, no amount of bleeding will fill those pipes.

Also checked that the cooling fans turns on and off at least 3 times before driving.

I hope this helps


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## Shane Ruthnum (Jul 31, 2007)

Oh one more test.

While checking to see if the fan turns on and off. check to see if theres a lot of bubbling in the resevoir.


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

*Ok, I need a second pair (and/or third) pair of eyes.*

Ok, did away with the bad or at least old, thermo. Sealed up the housing real nice and let it dry overnight.

Put coolant in this morning and let it run to check for visible leaks. Didn't see or hear anything. Went out for a drive. Didn't feel anything unusual, didn't see any white smoke, car was running cool. I didn't get to drive it much but still drove it for ten miles from Wally World back home. Decided to take a look at everything under the hood again.

Checked the coolant in the reservoir and it was about half the level of it this morning when I filled it. I checked the coolant in the radiator and it wasn't empty but not topped off. I took a look at the oil and I saw this:









I put it up to the battery since it was black and hopefully you can see it better. If the pix is too fuzzy I will take one with my 8MP camera instead of this one. Is this the end?! The motor oil is synthetic Mobil 1 10w30 and has about 4-500 miles tops. I was gonna let the car cool down and check it again but do you guys think that it's the H/G finally going going gone?


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## PTXer (Aug 31, 2006)

Kind of hard to see from your picture. Its really fuzzy. The camera isn't focusing on the dipstick. If that oil is milky then you definately have coolant going into your oil. Usually a head gasket. Have you done a compression check on the cylinders (sorry i didn't look through the entire 4 pages of posts to see if you said you have or not)?


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

No I haven't done a compression test. That was gonna be the next step.

I will take another pix tomorrow with a better camera. I can't really tell if it's milky since the oil is so damn new. Honestly it doesn't look too different then the oil in my Trans Am which was changed around the same time as well but when something this frustrating comes along and you have no one to really help you, it's always nice to have a separate pair of eyes.


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## Shane Ruthnum (Jul 31, 2007)

Ive experiened this on 6 engines already, very common.

With the continuous expansion and contraction of overheating the head gaskets lose their sealing properties and this is what you end up with.

Or worse... ther cylinder heads crack very easily on these cars, mainly across the middle, under the cams.

The compression test may be missleading if theres liquid in the cylinders, best to check for vapours in the cooling systems.
Quick n easy.

keep us posted.
Good luck!


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## payk (May 5, 2004)

when did you change your radiator
even if it flows good ..it doesnt do a good job of cooling if its old. i had an aftermarket one put in then 2 years later it started to overheat. i cahgned everything but the radiator thinking it was still good.. finally i decided to change it (from autozone $120) i thought i ll try a koyo but it was too expensive ...anyways swpped it out and i works great.. last summer id idle it for 30 mins ( nap time druing lunch break) in 100+ degree temp and no problems ..gauge did not even move..


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

The radiator is the only thing left to change out. I changed it out a few years ago already so, who knows.

No one has yet to tell me where I can go to check for the emission gases in the coolant cause this sounds to me like the easiest next step.


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

*Doesn't look good now in the daylight.*

Here is two pix with the 8Meg camera. I'm afraid it's the inevitable.
Pix one:









Pix two:









Comments........


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## PTXer (Aug 31, 2006)

I've never used synthetic (don't know what it looks like) but that sure looks milky to me. You should probably do the compression test or antifreeze test just to be sure. You gonna try this (replace H/G) yourself? I did my Mazda a number of years back. It wasn't that bad (just took a lot of time).


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

PTXer said:


> I've never used synthetic (don't know what it looks like) but that sure looks milky to me. You should probably do the compression test or antifreeze test just to be sure. You gonna try this (replace H/G) yourself? I did my Mazda a number of years back. It wasn't that bad (just took a lot of time).


Not sure if I'm gonna do it myself yet. It's a royal P.I.T.A. No one still hasn't told me where to get the antifreeze test yet.


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## Shane Ruthnum (Jul 31, 2007)

Im pretty sure it is a blown h/g or crack.
even synthetic doesnt look like that under normal use.

A head gasket job is not that difficult, dont stress!


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

Shane Ruthnum said:


> Im pretty sure it is a blown h/g or crack.
> even synthetic doesnt look like that under normal use.
> 
> A head gasket job is not that difficult, dont stress!


Damn Haynes Manual doesn't tell you how to change it though. Anyone have a .pdf file on it?


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## Shane Ruthnum (Jul 31, 2007)

Damn I dont have anything on pc for this.
Im pretty sure theres some book on it where you live?


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## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

Please describe the look of the Oil on the dip stick.
Just brown, like syrup ?
Any water bubbles or drops ?
Any white Foam ?


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

IanH said:


> Please describe the look of the Oil on the dip stick.
> Just brown, like syrup ?
> Any water bubbles or drops ?
> Any white Foam ?


No white foam, no bubbles or droops. I would say it's brown like coffee with cream. I can take a pix of my Trans Am's oil which was changed at the sametime to compare them if you'd like?


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## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

Well it can be colored but not milky, and transparent, not cloudy


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## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

The picture I displayed shows it after it's second dip. Using your words I would say it's not transparent.


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