Cooling Issues

[eric99gt]

Alright two things here. A bit back a hose blew off my thermostat housing . It's a pita to get to but I finally did and put it back on. Well ever since then I still keep on smelling coolant. I've looked for leaks everywhere to no avail. I keep on checking the coolant and all looks fine on the level. What's up here. Also too note ever since then it seems to get hotter than it used to. Not much hotter just about 10 degrees. Any insight?

[bszopi]

RE: Cooling Issues

The hose you are referring to goes to the heater core. The heater core is behind your dash. If something got clogged or something inside the heater core, it could have caused the hose to blow off. Needless to say, you might have a problem with the heater core. That is really the only way you will get a coolant smell inside the vehicle. I know from experience, considering I just had the core replaced in my Blazer a few months ago. Check the carpet under the dash for dampness as a start.

[Azrael]

The smell of coolant seems to take a long time to get rid of. After a LIM gasket fix I had the smell of coolant inside the car for a month or two with no leaks that I could see. I figure the mech. just had a little on him when he took it for a test drive afterwards.

[eric99gt]

I don't smell it inside the vehicle. It's more of an under the hood smell. The reason it blew off is because of faulty install. The person never put the bolt back in the line to hold it in place. It's just odd. I keep thinking the line isn't sealing up right but I watch for a leak and see nothing. Hopefully it's just a left over smell.

[eric99gt]

any other ideas?

[eliteweapons]

It might just be sitting in the engine compartment. There are tons of places for it to just lay, and coolant takes forever to dissipate because its usually 40 % glycol if the mixture is right. When it heats up is when you will smell it. I had a similar problem with my 88 beretta.

[RednBlack]

Find an air hose and blow air into any lttle crevice you can find. The exhaust shields are a likely place, and under the plenum, or anywhere under the hose that you fixed. This is common when changing the plenum on an LQ1.

And I know that isn't what happened on your car, but for future reference, when pulling the plenum, jack up the passeger side when you pull it free from the TB coolant hose, allows all the liquid to go outside of the LIM.

[eric99gt]

Ahhh...I'm going freakin nuts here. So dumb me trying to fix the little 10 degree hotter than it used to be temps, now has more problems. I decide to change my coolant. So I drain it. put the drain plug back in. Refill it with water. Start it. Now it just overheats significantly. What did I do here? All I did was drain the radiator from the bottom and now it overheats to the point of it being bad. Also to note after I filled the reservoir with water and ran it until it got hot. It never went down in the reservoir. Stayed at the same level.

[eliteweapons]

Sound like air trapped in the system to me.

[bszopi]

Yeah, you definately need to bleed the system.

[eric99gt]

i'll give that a shot. also I had the heat on as advised by the directions on the cleaner I put through the system. All that was blowing out was cool air.

[eliteweapons]

one trick I found helps sometimes is leaving the car on jack stands or ramps when you fill the system then starting it up. it helps to move the air up to the radiator.

[eric99gt]

ahh yes....way to much air in the system. I took like 3 minutes for the thing to actually just keep putting out coolant through the bleeder. I'm guessing this is the reason it was running a bit hot before as well since it now stays at a nice 180.

[torq455]

i have the same prob every time i drain the rad. it just a matter of getting the air out. i had mine on stands when i added coolant and that didn't help, then i lowered it down and the overflow emptied right away, and i got heat. just to be sure not to let it run long in the condition you described. there is air and that makes for hot spots and may crack the heads.

[torq455]

forgot to mention...on the 3100 i acctually pull the little hose by the upper intake where one of the bleeders is and use a funnel to fill that pipe up until it flows out. messy but helpful.