Coolant?

[scotty]

Recently my VS has developed a bit of a problem,
When i am stopped for a small period of time say - at a set of traffice lights for a few minutes or say in a maccas drive thru, lol. My VS Temp gauge goes up to about 3 quarters but once i move off the gauge drops. I have had all hoses replaced, thermostat replaced, coolant flushed out thermostat gasket replaced. When this problem occurs i notice that there is some coolant around the thermostat area, and that there is a small amout of coolant around the top of the motor. - There are six small bolts that go down into the top of the motor and this is where i notice a small amount of coolant.
( this is the ecotec motor )

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
Its only done 85,000 k's so i hope its nothing major!

Thanks,

Scott

 

[MaNiac_VP]

YOu mean there's a bit of coolant around your INTLET manifold?
Sorry mate, you'll have to describe where the leak is a bit better.
Does it keep rising above 3/4?

Does the car idle/run alright?

 

[ChRiDDa]

Hey Matey
My 97 VS does it too! Especially in hot weather! I find that even driving around a carpark, looking for a park sometimes sends it skyward... i think its something to do that there is no air passing through the engine, hence its not getting cooled...
you also have to remember that the ecotec doesnt have a clutch fan, its only got a thermo fan so its got nothing to stop it from heating up when your cruising at low speed, thats why the air passing through it is needed
what a mate of mine did with his VN V6, was he used the air ducts down on the front bumper and ran plastic piping up from those ducts and pointed them at the rocker cover.. not something id do, but he said it still worked
other than that, as far as i know, its perfectly normal!

 

[markovr]

Does the thermo fan work?
My non eco tec v6 runs at 1/4 on the gauge at speed and when idling creeps up to 1/2 before the fan cuts in and the needle drops back to 1/4 and if you leave it idling it will go through the cycle for as long as the engine is running at idle.
I have replaced the manifold gaskets that are between the manifold and head and there is a water passage at each end that in time leaks when the neoprene stuff in the gasket decays or shrinks and the seal is no good but it would have to be a good one to cause it to overheat at idle the thermostat housing gasket has leaked on me too before.
There is a 2 terminal connector on the right side of the radiator that people sometimes forget to reconnect that goes to the fan motor ....if this is not connected the fan won't work.

 

[scotty]

Thanks for all the replies guys!

In answer to some of the questions,

Yeah it does idle a little rough, and after being serviced - new leads, plugs etc it still does it.

I have heard before that the VS's do run pretty warm when idling,
I was just hoping that there was nothing to seriously wrong

Once again thanks for all the advice,

Scott

 

[MaNiac_VP]

What Markovr said is correct. the thermo will kick on at 1/2 way (114degrees i think) and then it will drop, even if its idling in hot weather.

You haven't cleared one thing up.
A VS shouldn't go over 1/2 way even in hot weather, looking for a park.

IF you have coolant around your inlet manifold then you may have a warped/cracked inlet manifold gasket, whjich would mean your car wouldn't be idling smoothly all the time.

A VS should always idle very smoothly, especially after a service.

 

[scotty]

The other night when i was stopped for about say a maximum of 5 minutes the car went up to 3 quarters, when i moved off it returned to around the normal level.

I dont know too much about cars, so its a little hard to explain where the coolant is.
All i know is under the Ecotec Cover and under all that inlet stuff there is ( i think ) about 6 small bolts that go down into the top of the engine, after driving the car i can see a small amount of coolant seeping from around these bolts.

The cooling system has been Pressure Tested, but if there is a cracked / warped inlet manifold gasket would this show up?

The miss occurs while idling, never while driving.
I have had the throttle body cleaned too,

Since someone mentioned about the inlet manifold gasket being warped it brings another thought to mind, While accelerating there is a weird noise? like a whirrrring, or airish sort of noise. Someone told me that something may be loose under the car, but i dont think this is true.

If the inlet manifold gasket was warped or cracked could there be a noise like this?


As i said earlier, i dont know too much about the mechanics of cars

Thanks,

Scott

 

[scotty]

Just a quick question...

Does anyone know how much it would cost to have a Head Gasket replaced?
and also how much to have the inlet manifold gasket replaced?

Thanks,

Scott

 

[boss]

How much coolant do you use on an average trip? your car should'nt do much above half way. Can you hear the thermo fan kick in?

 

[MaNiac_VP]

Okay, from what your explaining it defintaely sounds like you have a leak in the intel manifold gasket.

I did this swap myself on a VN and it was a much longer job than i anticipated. a lot of accessories have to come off.
If your not very mechanically minded, then I'd say keep driving it until it doesn't run then get it done. it will probably last a long time.

For the time being, you may want to put a little bit of gasket sealer into your radiator, and don't worry, your radiator is cross flowed so a little bit won't clog it.

Also, the headgasket is an even bigger job, but from your description, i don't think its that.

If you can, post a digi-cam shot of where the leak is and we'll see if we can diagnose it better for ya.