|
'09 overheating
Any current mechanics out there???
So, the daughter drops off her ’09 Pontiac Torrent with the 3.4L V6 complaining of it overheating while waiting in the drive thru. I figure the age and mileage warrants a new radiator, thermostat and water pump with belt and pulleys. Now it’s throwing coolant into the reservoir and overflowing after a few miles of driving. Did the whole air bleed screw thing after the change outs. Is there still an air pocket or is something else going on? |
try putting front of "car" up on ramps. then bleed the air. that has fixed a friends that was doing that
|
Head gasket? How many miles does it have on it?
|
Throwing coolant sounds like a head gasket...
I just worked on a 02 Pontiac (same brand, AND engine...LOL...big whoop) Montana mini van. Had been over heating, when not going down road... Googled all I could. I removed the fuses and relays pertaining to cooling. Polished the terminals of them all. Put some di-electric grease on all the terminals. Found the temp sensor (on driver side of engine, easy to get to). Unplugged the temp sensor with key on, the temp gauge went to zero (must mean sensor works?). Plugged everything back together, no more overheating...I pray a lot when I work on stuff... Her temp gauge has a very wide sweep needle, with one large mark in the middle. No numbers. Overheating is at extreme end. When driving the needle will eventually get to the middle mark, and after a bit more driving, needle gets to 2 small marks above the middle. The needle doesn't move gradually, it makes these little short jumps. When the needle gets to the 2nd needle above the middle, it makes a little jump and then the driver side cooling fan kicks on.... I am supposed to work on it again soon. The AC is kaput, and it has actuator issues. Hoping to get sold air out of some vent inside. THe cooling problem is the condenser, that someone replaced before they purchased the vehicle. THe condenser has a gusher sized leak in it.. |
Sounds like head gaskets to me. Fairly common on GM 60-degree V6 engines of that era.
|
So this is a new problem that started after parts were swapped?
Did the new thermostat get tested before install? Before work was done... Were the cooling fans coming on? Clay |
X2 on coolant fans working?
|
Worth Repeating
Quote:
Clay |
She complained to me a couple times on the getting hot while idling in drive thru or stopped at a light (needle would climb, but not overheat). Fans working. Changed out radiator, thermostat, water pump and belt w/pulleys. Now it will throw coolant into the reservoir after driving for 15 mins. and light up the dash like a Christmas tree. Bleeding always gave air bubbles. Fans still working.
|
Air bubbles in the coolant is the key, you most likely have head gaskets starting to leak compression gases into the coolant system.
As has been already mentioned the head gaskets as well as the intake gaskets on the 3.4 GM V6s are problematic. Anytime you run an engine and you can see bubbling in the coolant reservoir, or if you remove the overflow hose in submerge it in a cup of water and see constant bubbling you can be pretty confident that you have a sealing problem in the combustion chamber. Since gases rise to the top of the cooling system (the hottest portion of the system) the heat isn't efficiently carried away to the radiator, causing the temps to rise slowly until you're in the overheating mode. If you diagnose that there is in fact gases getting into the coolant, you've found your problem. |
Lower Intake Manifold gaskets are known weaknesses on the 3.4 and 3.1 and they will cause the car to overheat, get coolant into the oil, the usual bad stuff. My impression from most folks is that you might say that unlike head gaskets, with the LIM gasket it's not a question of if it will fail, just when.
|
Thought GM redesigned the 3.4L intake manifold gasket, upper and lower, long before '09. I think that fixed that weakness for the most part.
Was she using coolant without an external leak? If not, don't think it can be an intake manifold gasket. After doing the work, did you check for thermostat opening by running the engine for 15-20 minutes to heat things up while watching for flow to start thru the radiator? That should tell you that the T-stat is opening as it should. Should also confirm that the water pump is pumping, right? I had a freak incident with a Sunfire 2.4L Twin Cam years ago. Never had a cooling or coolant issue. One night my son was driving it home. Had driven about 45 minutes of a 75 minute trip. He told me he had noticed some water mist on the windshield, didn't realize immediately that it musta been coolant. Shortly after he saw the temp gauge rising, got the dash light indicator too that it was overheating. He stopped and called me. I went out with coolant. Refilled about a half gallon as I recall it (years ago so not real sure on amount needed). Started it up, he drove mine, I drove the Sunfire. No issue going home. Kept the car a few more years and never happened again. I could only guess that the T-stat had stuck closed for some freak reason. I never replaced it, didn't even change coolant after that. Didn't replace the cap. Never used coolant, so remained a mystery til I sold it. And even now, I think about that episode and wonder what could have caused it. Point is, make sure the T-Stat opens. After that, I'm with Brad. You can get it tested by an exhaust gas analyzer. But generally, if the head gasket is bad enough to be contaminating the coolant and bubbling gas thru it, you might also be using coolant. So you need to know if she was adding coolant on a regular basis. I know you said you did the air bleed. Found this YouTube video which I thought showed the burping process pretty thoroughly using a pretty cool Lisle funnel system. He mentions that if you are seeing bubbles in the funnel AFTER the T-Stat opens while burping it, sign of failed head gasket. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvCYnqk4uMw I guess it is possible that it overheated worse than she realized or is admitting to, and caused more major damage. But if she drove it to you and wasn't dramatically overheating and it is now worse than it had been, maybe something simple. Did you install a new pressure cap? Also, read this all the way. Seems like this guy had a clogged expansion tank. Not familar with your expansion tank but thought it was worth passing along. Maybe not your issue but was interesting to me nonetheless. https://www.2carpros.com/questions/overheat-at-idle |
| All times are GMT -4. The time now is 02:50 PM. |