gen 3 overheating???? help!!!!

[Xfordman]

hey ppl i got a gen 3 SS and well i just got my o2 sensors changed and also my fuel pressure switch changed, b4 i got them changed the car started to overheat.

it gets up to about 3 quarters and no warning light has gone off just yet, but im hoping its nothing to big... i asked a mate from holden what it might be he said thermostat or the radiator might be blocked. im getting the termo changed and flushing the radiator myself.... does anyone think it might be anyhting else.... and any suggestions on flushing radiator myself.... i no a little about cars but prob not as much as most ppl on this site so any help would be apprciated....

also does the VT gen 3 SS Series 2 have a warning light for the overheating or did that come out in the Vx series...


kage.....

any help would be greatly appreciated......

[EXCESSV]

mate take it to a radiator joint.

got mine fully flushed (engine, heater core and radiator) with new gaskets and a thermostat for $150..... they also pressure test so if there are issues with the system they will know

GenIII are recommended to be flushed every 5 years so do it now properly with the proper holden long life V8 coolant and you wont have to worry about it for 5 years

[VZLAD]

Check the thermo fans

[minux]

Yeh, thermo relay could have crapped it self, happens quite often, so thermo wont kick in. Does it only heat up in city style driving??

Best you take it to a respected radiator place and have your system pressure tested etc.

[bails]

VT SS do have warning light as i found out when my pulley came off stopping the cooling system, should come up "HOT" on the dash screen and start beeping, luckily i was able to pull over otherwise it could of been nasty.

[Xfordman]

thanks guys ..... yeah my mate that works at holden said they send them away to get flushed as they dont do em themselves... so he going to undo it and send it off...

i dont no aout city style driving ause its wierd... cuase when i go up hill or speed up to 80 or above is when it gets hot.... and when i stop at red lights or the car is just idoling it goes back down to just above half way....


..... im confused lads.... is this going to cost me a fortune.... casue the termo cost me 70.... and they said another 140 to get it flushed.... im going with the termo at the moment if it stil happens ill be going toraditor place....

[abambrook]

"thanks guys ..... yeah my mate that works at holden said they send them away to get flushed as they dont do em themselves... so he going to undo it and send it off...

i dont no aout city style driving ause its wierd... cuase when i go up hill or speed up to 80 or above is when it gets hot.... and when i stop at red lights or the car is just idoling it goes back down to just above half way....


..... im confused lads.... is this going to cost me a fortune.... casue the termo cost me 70.... and they said another 140 to get it flushed.... im going with the termo at the moment if it stil happens ill be going toraditor place...."

Hey xfordman. What did you find to be the root cause of your overheating issues? I just a Gen 3 and its doing the same thing as what yours was doing.

Cheers

[m1lky]

Check if your loosing coolant or not. Although if it only gets to 3/4 chances are your not.

If you are, radiator pipes, water pump, cracked radiator etc

If your not, fans, thermostat, blocked radiator etc
So after a drive, park up and let it idle. Do the fans kick in as it goes past half?
Take the thermostat out and put it in some boiling water, does it open?
If the above are ok, get it pressure tested (I'd suspect a blocked radiator in this case, but other parts could be blocked too)

The temp on my vy ss doesn't move at all, traffic or open road. Always sits at 1/3

[abambrook]

Nah it's not loosing any coolant at all. OK cheers thanks for that ill have a look into it. Yea i never use to have an issue always use to sit where yours does cruising on the hwy or in traffic. Only started playing up on the weekend. Cheers for the advice ill look into it

[m1lky]

Good luck. Overheating can be a mission.

Running the heater on full bore does help. My vs used to go up to half in traffic then fan would kick in and go back to 1/4. Heater would hold it at 1/4 while idling.

3/4 shouldn't damage the engine but worth fixing.

[MrSirWantalot]

Something else to consider!.....I had the same prob with mine...was starting to run hot whilst on the highway. Always ran at 91 always.....but started to get up to 98 on the highway & the only reason I knew is I heard the thermo fans come on low speed, anyway turns out I had a crack in the hot side header tank....So in my wisdom I thought bugger it I'll buy a new radiator that way I wont need to have the old radiator dismantled , cleaned out & will have new header tanks ofcourse.....Well thats when the shit really hit the fan, put new radiator in & took it for a drive & for some reason it ran hotter than before....I mean like 115!. Took it to natrad in toowoomba, they could'nt find what was wrong.....anyways to cut a reallly long & painful story short....It was my water pump! It gave no indacation of failing, no water leak & no fins left on it!!! completely worn out.....SO if it turns out that its not the obvious things......do urself a favor & have water pump pulled off & checked....once you pull it off there is a plate behind you can take off & check the impeller.....Sorry for the long story!....Good Luck!

[m1lky]

If you put it into engineering mode, you get a digital temp. I tried this morning.

In traffic (crawling) mine varies between 94 and 100deg. You can hear the fans kick in at 100. Not 100% sure if there's a low speed fan before that.

At 100k temp sits at 88deg and stays there.

[MrSirWantalot]

Yea mines a 91 degree thermostat. Low speed fans cut in at 98 & high speed at 104

[DLFHUB666]

Possible faulty Radiator cap.