HELP!! 94 LeBaron Convertible is overheating BAD!

The other day I went to get a new battery for my car, and on the way it
overheated.

I pulled the 195deg thermostat out and replaced it with a 192deg, but it's
still overheating.
When I parked it, I heard a sort-of "gurgling" sound coming from where the
thermostat is, and the upper hose is easy to squeeze.
It also smoked for a little bit after parking, and the coolant smell was
overwhelming.

I had the radiator flushed and refilled, and that hasn't helped.

I barely got my car home before it got too hot to drive today, but I *NEED*
this car for work, and my wife is getting a little pissed about me taking
her car more than a couple times.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks
Steve

 

is the cooling fan coming on???????

 

Well the bad news is that after overheating it like this a few times
you probably have bigger problems than the original cooling problem.
Modern engines can not tolerate being overheated like the old 60's
iron could.

The problem could be many things:
Fan(s) not working properly
Clogged radiator (unlikely in a sudden onset case like this)
Collapsing hoses
Failed water pump
blown head gasket


When the light comes on or the gauge goes to H pull over, turn the
heat on high and rev the engine a little bit. If the temp doesn't
start coming right down shut the engine off and have it towed to a
place where it can be repaired or you can repair it. Severely
overheating an engine will warp the head, cause the head gasket to
blow, play hell on the bearings and cause the pistons to scuff the
heck out of the bores.


Steve B.

 

Is coolant level in the radiator dropping? If it isn't, then you don't have
a leak, and it's
probably the cooling fan like has been posted.

If it is dropping (and it probably is if you can smell coolant) then check
the end of
the air conditioning condensate drain on the underside of the car - if you
see coolant
coming out of there or smell it there, then you have a leaking heater core.

If you have coolant smell coming out of the tailpipe then the head gasket is
leaking.

Check for leaks elsewhere.

Ted

 

Yes, the fan comes on, but when it gets to about 3/4 of the temp gauge, it
stays on all the time.

 

I just ran outside and looked, and the radiator is half empty now!

I can't tell if there's coolant dripping anywhere, as we have a gravel
driveway...

I'll start the car in a while and see if there's a coolant smell from the
tailpipe (The one tailpipe that isn't fake on this car)

 

It's hard even with a concrete driveway to see coolant leaks. What
happens is you get a small hole, when the cooling system isn't running
the coolant just drips out a drop an hour or so, then when it gets hot
the pressure in the system opens the hole up and the coolant squirts
out at far higher volume.

Did you put a new rad cap on it?

Fill it with coolant, and if you have jackstands (nice big fat ones)
jack the front of the car up, start it and run until it's nice and hot,
then turn on the heater full blast in the car and sniff for coolant smell,
if you smell it coming out of the air vents in the car, the heater core
is leaking.

Then, shut down and immediately get under the car and listen for
hissing, and coolant dripping. Coolant can run quite a ways down
and if the leak is in some inconvenient place (like the underside of the
heater bypass hose that is invisible from the top and the bottom
of the engine) you may have a devil of a time figuring out exactly
where the coolant is coming out from.

Quite often water pump bleed holes are obscured when the pump
is on the vehicle, so don't rule out the water pump if you see coolant
coming out near it.

If you can't find it in the engine compartment or passenger compartment then
a head gasket leak is the only other possibility. But I would bet it's
not that, since you already posted that you got a strong coolant smell.

Needless to say, running an engine for a long period of time with that
much coolant missing is going to destroy it.

Ted

 

I just got back from the car...

I popped off the radiator cap, and got the car running nice and warm...

When I did, coolant started pouring out from somewhere I can't see. From the
bottom of the car, it looks to be from between the fender and the oil pan...

Could this be the heater core?

Is it safe to bypass it? We're not going to have much need for a heater
during July in Texas...

 

Be careful doing that - hot coolant expands and if there's no large leaks
it will come spewing out the radiator. You should never run it without
a rad cap.

Does it stink like coolant inside the passenger compartment?

Usually bad heater cores will pee all over the inside of the car, leaving
you with a carpet full of stinking coolant that you have to shampoo out
of there. You can choose to do this before you replace the heater
core, in which case when you pull the core out more residual coolant will
come pouring out onto the carpet, and you have to shampoo it again -
or you can do it after you replace the core in which case your going to
be lying in the coolant while you undo the dash to get the core out.

It's one of my most fun jobs to do! ;-)

You really need to get it on jackstands.

Yes, if that is the problem.

Ted

 

I don't think there is coolant inside the vehicle...

I've been told that this car has the core completely outside of the cabin...

 

That may be so, but if the core is bad you most definitely are going to
smell
coolant with the heater or defroster on, since it's blowing air over the bad
core then into the passenger compartment. If you don't smell it then your
probably fine with the heater. You could have a crack in a hose going to
the heater. Hoses often crack first at stress points, such as where the
hose is clamped to a tube.

Another kind of rule of thumb is that if you have coolant just hissing or
dripping out, it's probably a hole or crack in some metal coolant line. If
you have coolant gushing out it's probably a crack in a flexible line like
a hose. When hoses crack the crack bursts open like a balloon popping
and usually gets a lot larger, a lot quicker. There are exceptions of
course
to this.

Ted

 

Just an update...

The water pump was, in fact, bad. I had it replaced and all is well!

I had them replace the timing chain as well. Since I only have around
130,000 miles, it wasn't QUITE time to do it. But, better to do it while
it's all apart, instead of paying for double the work.

They said that the water pipe coming from the block looks better than most
of the cars that come through. Could that be because I use distilled water
in my coolant?

 

if you live in an area that has excessively hard water then yes,
using distilled water is a good idea. Also, if you have a
water softener you definitely want to do this since water softners
work by replacing the minerals with sodium (that is why you have to
keep dumping rock salt into them) which is not something that you
want to put into your coolant.

Also, coolant has anti-rust additives, and if you don't change it
every couple of years, those additives get used up. The coolant may
look OK and still test out good with a hydrometer, but not have
any rust-preventatives left in it.

Ted

 

Could be as distilled water is what you are supposed to mix with the
coolant. Have you changed your coolant and flushed the cooling system
per the maintenance schedule in your OM?


Matt

 

Yes, I've done it twice now.

Each refill I've used distilled water...

 

Then I'm not surprised at all that the coolant passages are pretty
clean. I maintain my 1996 GV much the same and its still on its
original radiator, heater core, etc. with 169,000 miles on it and when
ever I change the hoses the internals still look pretty good.


Matt