boyfriend played with my car

[tracey8855]

well i walked out front and he is under the bonnet i have a 2002 vx lumina, he has removed the thermostat and put water in it and said thank me later it will run better .he didnt replace the gasket water leaking every where so he used gasket gue instead of replacing gasket .....yes i have left him......but now its leaking water and the engine is over heating to the point the oil is burning ,before bhe touched it the temperature sat on 1/4 now its sits just over 1/2 i really want to know is the motor fryed its still starts but the oil is burnt

[somefool]

start at the basics, does it blow smoke out of the exhaust? thats a bad sign.

If not then change oil and flush the coolant .. get a new thermostat and use a gasket. Hopefully itll be alright
Wheres the water leaking from?

[tracey8855]

no smoke coming from exhurst ,,,not quite sure where leak coming from them bottom some where

[Spudz]

wtf did he touch it for if the temp was sitting on 1/4 lol???

[tracey8855]

he said the water was brown

[Killr6]

he sounds like some backyard mechanic who has no idea what he doing.

your best bet is to get the car towed to someone who knows what they are doing, the water could have been brown for alot of numerous reasons. but by the sounds of your current temp before he touched it, it was fine.

now the with the car overheating and leaking coolant everywhere could have broken other things, due to pressure build up.

tell ya ex boyfriend or current boyfriend he is an idiot, and slap him with the bill.

anyone who messes with cars should at least know about gaskets lol...

[azkwazere]

hang on... you left the kitchen and went outside?

aZk.

[pjdm1980]

He touched your..... Oh your car! Damn

[shadetreemechanic]

Gday..

As people said don't drive it anymore till it's fixed!!
Its obviously stuffed up somehow no idea what you mean burning oil but it might be wise to get it checked out by a pro...things to replace could be radiator, coolant, maybe engine oil and filter besides fixing any other leaks with the thermostat gasket
They're hardy motors and take a fair bit of abuse you're lucky it ain't a some other car would've been toasted ages ago

[GTS69]

Half temp isnt that high your not going to kill it driving it like that ive driven many a car with the thermostate removed and while its not the best thing or some times a bandaid fix to a bigger problem burnt oil is a odd one there is only a few ways oil will burn 1 when its getting into the combustion chamber and been burnt with the fuel or if its over heating to the point it would need to be at the top or past the top of the temp gauge you may just notice a oil smell a little more due to it running hotter if your water was brown sounds to me it needs a coolant flush you can go about this in 2 ways one the DIY take thermostate housing off put your house in there and run it on full through the system in the reverse way it would normaly run do this for a while till its running clear then scrap off the old gasket parts and install a new one with a new thermostate you could take the chance her to install a slightly lower temp thermostate re install it all and use a small amount of casket goo either side of the gasket to make sure no leaks then do a oil change to make sure oil is nice and fresh or take it to a radiator place get them to flush the system and reinstall thermostate wouldnt hurt to add some coolant as well

But however dont keep driving the car every where if its leaking water you run the risk of running it to low and cooking the engine if there isnt enough water to get to the the temp sensor it could also seem that its not that hot check radiator levels when cars cold before every drive dont bother topping up the over flow hoping it will suck it in as because you have a leak there is no pressure/vacum in the system to pull the water in loosing water is never good.

If you can do it your self or if you have a trusted friend that can it should only cost you around $10-$15 for a thermostate and $3-$4 for a gasket good luck with it and never let any one you dont trust touch it again

[umair]

Thats what happened to me. I went to a unknown mechanic to change my driveshaft, got it repaired. Drove back home about 200km to find out he unplugged my fans! Luckily the radiator cracked(pain in the butt). I shut it off before the temperature went above half. Keep strangers away from your car. Whenever I let my friend borrow a car he gave it back with a dent, and one time totalled. Other people do not give a crap about you stuff.

[m1lky]

Gasket goo is fine provided it seals. It sounds like your low on coolant and that's why it's heating up.

Perhaps is smells a bit because you also have an oil leak and now the oil on the outside of the motor is much hotter.

Personally I'd replace the thermostat and use a gasket, but temporarily you could just re-gasket goo it so it seals, refill the radiator and get rid of the air.

[DAKSTER]

well i walked out front and he is under the bonnet i have a 2002 vx lumina, he has removed the thermostat and put water in it and said thank me later it will run better .he didnt replace the gasket water leaking every where so he used gasket gue instead of replacing gasket .....yes i have left him......but now its leaking water and the engine is over heating to the point the oil is burning ,before bhe touched it the temperature sat on 1/4 now its sits just over 1/2 i really want to know is the motor fryed its still starts but the oil is burnt

The temp went up to half because he removed the (necessary!!) restriction provided by the thermostat. Even when fully open, the body of the thermostat acts as a restrictor, slowing the water flow. Removing that restriction allows the water to flow too fast, which means it doesnt get as long to cool in the radiator. Cure - buy and install a new thermostat. Clean the gasket surfaces well first and gasket goo is more than sufficient for the job, with or without gaskets. That should at least return it to what it was.

If the water is brown then it shouldnt be, it should be green coolant. You'll need to run some cooling system flush through it, then replace with coolant. Be aware though that this can easily block a radiator that is otherwise not blocked, by moving all the crap into the radiator. Then a small job becomes much more expensive.

If the car has been cooling well until now, then its probably best to just disconnect the top and bottom radiator hoses, and using only a garden hose, flush the engine and radiator separately. This should at least get the worst of the crap out without risking blocking the radiator.

Then reassemble it all, with a new thermostat, and fill with radiator coolant.

I doubt you've burnt the oil or done any engine damage. The car running a bit hotter will magnify oil smells, but it wasnt running so hot that it would have hurt anything. If the temp is only at half, its probably safe to drive it until you can get it fixed.

[VT-565]

I didn't realise you were going out with Homer Simpson

Did he put holes in the bonnet too?

[accentstencil]

You have already been gives some good advice in some of these posts but I would like to stress that you need to fill it with good coolant, not cheap stuff. Look for something that meets Holden's specifications for the V6 engine. It will cost around $30 but it will protect the engine from corrosion. Never use just water.

[ucwepn]

If the water is coffee coloured its likely a blown/leaking intake manifold gasket. Hide the keys in the future

[JMP]

I didn't realise you were going out with Homer Simpson

Did he put holes in the bonnet too?

You mean "Speed Holes"

[juice1929]

hmmm.........

[DAKSTER]

If the water is coffee coloured its likely a blown/leaking intake manifold gasket. Hide the keys in the future

The water will be coffee coloured because the engine has been using water instead of coolant. The colour is rust. If theres a problem with gaskets you will see signs of contaminants.. an oil slick or even some white gunk. If you stick some in a glass of water, let it settle for a couple hours, then slowly tip it out, you will be able to examine the residue. If it looks and feels like mud, its just rusty mud. You'll be able to tell if it has any fuel or oil residues in it.

ALWAYS use coolant in your engine. Your radiator should always have pretty green stuff flowing through it. Coolant doesnt rust the internals of your engine, water does.

[Kernal]

Ahhh a classic case of 'boyfriend ####ed up my car'. Ive seen it before. A girls attempt to blame stuff on their bf for something they broke to try and hide the fact that they ####ed up something severe.

[machone]

lmao.....Tracey best bet look for a radiator guy close to you....turn your heater on and fan fill up the radiator and reserve bottle with as much water as possible....drive to the radiator place watch your radiator doesnt overheat (carry some spare water in case) get the guys to put back the thermo and hopefully all should be good more than likely they will power flush the system it shouldnt cost that much to do....i think the reason your burning oil is your engine is getting way to hot...the thermo on your car especially new cars is there for a reason tell your ex that then send him the bill for repairs.

[nash88]

Hey there, couple of issues, crap move on his behalf doing something he didn't know how to do properly.

"Gasket goo" is fine providing you've used the right stuff, paper gaskets supplied with thermostats rarely work when someone has carelessly prepared the sealing area. The area needs to be clean and dry for the paper gasket to work properly, aswell as when using gasket goo.

Now once the area is properly sealed, go buy yourself a gatorade, drink it or tip it out, with the lid still on the bottle cut or drill a hole in the lid the size of the mouth piece, then cut the bottom of the bottle off about 20mm up from the base of the bottle, test fit the lid in the spout of the radiator for a firm fit, if not quite firm use some electrical tape or something similar just to create a nice water tight fit.

Fill water through the bottle into the spout of the radiator, by using the bottle your lifting the highest point of water flow to prevent air locks in the cooling system. Please note: whenever doing anything with your cooling system and re-bleeding the system you must have your heater on with the fan on to ensure water is circulating through the whole system.

With the water filled up crack the screw ontop of the thermostat housing, about 2 turns, watch to see if the water level drops, if it drops top back up until a stream is seen coming past the thread on the screw.
Now start the engine and run watching the water level at all times, topping up when necassary. If an air lock is present it is not uncommon for water to spew out everywhere, once the top and bottom hose are the same temperature this confirms the thermostat is open. Crack the bleed screw again making sure the bottle is still topped up watch for a continuous stream past the thread on the bleed screw.

Once this process is complete, place radiator cap on and wait until the fans cut in, watching the temperature gauge doesnt rise past half, fans will normally cut in at their low speed once half temp is reached. This completes the bleeding process.

Providing the thermostat is the only thing he has touched this should fix your issue. But if he has touched other things who knows what has happened.

As previously mentioned in the thread there are alot of common places for the cooling system to fail, heater taps crack due to being plastic by design and over time with several warm up and cool downs the plastic gets brittal and cracks with age.

Ensure all hoses are good, give them a squeeze make sure they aren't crunchy or too soft in spots. The valley cover gaskets are prone to failing, and causes the oil and water to mix, the first sign of this happening can be found by removing the radiator cap, on the bottom rubber o-ring of the cap you will find a slight film of milky coloured sludge/foam.

Remember though all work should be done by someone who knows what they are doing e.g. a mechanic.

Im sure this information can be found in the forums elsewhere but is nice to re-itterate sometimes.

Dave.

[DonNZ]

Gidday Tracey

I've seen yellow/ brown anti freeze, not to be confused with a rusty colour.
Be carefull using the hose to flush as if not carefull you'll blow or split the heater or radiator core. So ensure it's not a tight fit and take it easy so pressure doesn't build up.
Use caution when using sealant as too much can mean the excess on the inside may move and block up a small hole in the cooling system. Less is best.
Also ensure it's neutral cure and sensor safe sealant as otherwise you may be buying a new o2 sensor soon. I use permatex blue for thermostat services.

Regards Don