Temp Levels??

[despo]

I have noticed when i drive my vs doesnt seem the temp levels hardly move around and the most it will raise is 2-3 lines ( below 1/4) is this normal as a mate told me most cars temp ratings should get to around half way

[WogBoyz]

my vs ute usually sits at 1 quater, when sitting in traffic goes up to the knotch before half then drops back down to 1 quater again, so seems normal to me mate

[cander24]

VS V6 had a 91* thermostat fitted standard. Assuming this has not been replaced for a cooler one at some stage then you can expect temp characteristics similar to above. General cruising around 1/4 and upto around 1/2 in heavy traffic round town.

[despo]

ok thanks guys but my hardly moves around at all.. do the sensors eventually need to be replaced or something??
the only time it seems to rise it when ive run out of coolant which is good otherwise id forget to check it

[cander24]

Hmm, not a good sign that you're "running out of coolant"... The temp gauge in the cluster is operated by the small brass coolant temp sensor which screws into the inlet manifold, located just under the thermostat housing/top radiator hose. These do eventually need replacing. It has a 10mm hex and will have one single green wire with a black clip connected to it. From memory about $12 from Holden.

[despo]

yer im just about replacing the coolant nearly every 7-8 weeks gets really annoying and im sure it couldnt be doing the motor any good with nothing running threw it.. okk tats not to bad might get the mechanic to take a look next time im in

[VR_Acclaim]

78 weeks amte you got a problem thats not right maybe a to up how much are you replacing at a time

[despo]

its complete running out and when my temp level decided to move is when i realise it has run out and as its been so cold the last month i kinda forgot bout it and reckon i was running with nothing in it for at least 2 weeks. is their an issue with there been nothing tho? also im not over filling it or anything

[wortus]

when your refillin gthe coolant are you bleeding the air out of the system? Do you know where the coolant is leaking from?
I'd be checking the temp gauge by finding out the resistance values for cold, hot andf half way and checking it was accurate, if it is then you could try to change the sensor.

[despo]

aha na how do u bleed out the air..all i doing it half coolant and under half of water ( think tats wat ur ment to do) theres no leak unless its leaking when im driving but doubt tat... yer well it goes in for a service in the next couple of months so ill just put up with it till then but yer thought it was unusual

[VR_Acclaim]

u cqan take off the radiator cap and start the car and keep topping it up till the bubbles go away or crack the bleeder on the thermostat housing and yeah nothign is really bad you need to check your oil filler and if it milky you got rooted head gasket you shouldnt be using that much wat...they hold 15ls

[despo]

mmm might have a look at those things tomoz morning now u got me worried as the cars been fairly good to me so far..will let u know if an issues pop up... 15L of coolant?? if tats wat u mean doubt it maybe 2/3 L or something

[hako]

I'd be looking more at finding where the coolant is leaking rather than bleeding the air out. Every time it runs low you are causing more damage to your engine. As an interim fix, put some stop-leak in the system. A cooling system in good order will lose no coolant between services.

[despo]

but if it is leaking i should notice it and every time i parked a puddle would be left ?

[hako]

but if it is leaking i should notice it and every time i parked a puddle would be left ?

You won't always see a puddle - generally the coolant is very hot and evaporates straight away plus it is squirted out at high pressure as the radiator is pressurised to 1.35Kpa or 20 psi which is almost the same pressure your tyres hold. Also if the leak is in the inlet manifold or head gasket, coolant will be getting sucked into the combustion chambers and going out the exhaust pipe. On a V6 the waterpumps fail, radiator side tanks split, heaters leak, heater tap leaks and inlet manifold leaks. In all of the cases, the coolant leaking will be difficult to see.

[wortus]

You won't always see a puddle - generally the coolant is very hot and evaporates straight away plus it is squirted out at high pressure as the radiator is pressurised to 1.35Kpa or 20 psi which is almost the same pressure your tyres hold. Also if the leak is in the inlet manifold or head gasket, coolant will be getting sucked into the combustion chambers and going out the exhaust pipe. On a V6 the waterpumps fail, radiator side tanks split, heaters leak, heater tap leaks and inlet manifold leaks. In all of the cases, the coolant leaking will be difficult to see.

Coolant that has leaked out of th eengine sometimes leaves a white residue after it has evaporated so if you have any white powdery residue on your egine, transmission etc the leak could be in those spots. My VN had a leaking inlet manifold to cylinder head gasket. Coolant and oil could sometimes been seen weeping out. It would go through stages where it would use colant and then it would stop. There was sometimes a white residue on the bell housing which is how I found it. It didn't run out of coolant and th eleak was pretty slow so I never bothered to fix it.
Coolant shoudl be maintained at around 50/50, and from emmory not more than 60/40 coolant to water.

[despo]

had a look today when i got bac from work didnt look to far into it but found no white residue in the engine bay. if one of my head gasket is playing up wat signs would appear??

[hako]

If you have a head gasket leaking coolant into the combustion chambers you may get an engine miss or steam coming from the exhaust or water from the exhaust. You can check by removing the radiator cap (engine cold) then start the engine and see if any bubbles start appearing - if they do it will indicate a gasket gone and combustion gases are entering the cooling system. It's also common for the inlet manifold to leak with similar consequences. When a waterpump leaks it will be difficult to detect sometimes as it can leak from under the pump shaft which is not visible from above. A good way to track down difficult leaks is to do it at night using a torch - the concentrated beam will reflect/deflect light from wet surfaces making them easier to spot. This operation may take some time to do properly and I'd do it with the engine hot and the cooling system under pressure (engine stopped). Carefully check each radiator tank....look for powdery deposits. It only takes a year or so running without the proper coolant to corrode the block/heads and heater so it really pays to keep the coolant up to scratch.
Also it may pay to replace the radiator pressure cap - if the cap is not sealing properly and not keeping pressure, the coolant will boil and then be ejected thru the overflow tank (the coolant then get dumped from the overflow tank via the overflow tube and the coolant ends up in the drivers wheel-well)

[despo]

If you have a head gasket leaking coolant into the combustion chambers you may get an engine miss or steam coming from the exhaust or water from the exhaust. You can check by removing the radiator cap (engine cold) then start the engine and see if any bubbles start appearing - if they do it will indicate a gasket gone and combustion gases are entering the cooling system. It's also common for the inlet manifold to leak with similar consequences. When a waterpump leaks it will be difficult to detect sometimes as it can leak from under the pump shaft which is not visible from above. A good way to track down difficult leaks is to do it at night using a torch - the concentrated beam will reflect/deflect light from wet surfaces making them easier to spot. This operation may take some time to do properly and I'd do it with the engine hot and the cooling system under pressure (engine stopped). Carefully check each radiator tank....look for powdery deposits. It only takes a year or so running without the proper coolant to corrode the block/heads and heater so it really pays to keep the coolant up to scratch.
Also it may pay to replace the radiator pressure cap - if the cap is not sealing properly and not keeping pressure, the coolant will boil and then be ejected thru the overflow tank (the coolant then get dumped from the overflow tank via the overflow tube and the coolant ends up in the drivers wheel-well)

thanks for the help mate.. will check this out tomoz

[despo]

UPDATE:
ok so opening an old post bac up.. so had the car serviced 3000kms ago and they replaced a few pipes topped up the levels ect and checked the coolant levels today and noticed it was empty so they didnt fix anything... also picked up on the white powder on the hoses mainly on the drivers side... any ideas guys

[Brett_jjj]

Go and get the cooling system pressure tested to see where the leak is happening.It probably the inlet manifold gaskets leaking.A very common problem and you wont usually find any coolant leaks anywhere either when these leak..It leaks internally.

[despo]

Ok they did a pressure test and reckon they couldn't find anything

[Brett_jjj]

Well,at least you can rule out a leaking head gasket,or a leaking inlet manifold gasket or leaking heater core etc,which is excellent..The problem has to lie elsewhere, Id try another radiator cap.Ive read that some Trident brand radiator caps can leak and not seal properly on some commodore radiators.Theres another brand,CPC I think they are called,and these are the same as the original genuine radiator caps apparently, and seal up better than the trident ones,so that might be worth a try.

[despo]

okk cheers for the help mate will check them out

[The1]

in relation to your temp guage the vs guages arn't accurate at all and vary greatly sometimes between vehicles, the only way to really know you ETC sensor is working properly is check with a scan tool.