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1 How do you know it is not running hot? Engines run normally at close to 90 deg. C, that is, close to the boiling point of water. The pressure cap on the radiator ensures that the water does not steam off at this temperature.
2 If the engine is not running hot and the gauge shows that it does, the gauge is faulty, probably the sender unit. I am not sure of the Buick, but some cars have two senders, one for the gauge on the dash and the other for the radiator fan. If your car has only one, the information from the sender is probably used by the ecu to switch on the fan, so if the sender is faulty you will get the symptoms you describe.
well the tank must never be full, when engine is cold was it? (read operators guide to see methods)
water expands hot, and the tank captures this expansion
that is normal.
what does "until its all gone", mean, what is IT?
there are lots of tests.
the first one, is,
IS the engine overheating,?
try a new rad cap, they are dirt cheap.
and, is the oil or carbon in the RAD neck, cap off , cold engine>?
is there water in the engine oil, milky dip stick end?
same with A/T trans? milk, or pink/red ATF.
is there steam going out the tip of the exhaust pipe on a fully hot engine>? yes/no?
is air and water exploding in to the side expansion tank.?
cold engine
remove rad cap'
fill rad with 50% AF.
new cap back on.
put 50% AF 1/2 way up in to expansion tank(its marked clearly)
start engine , does it overflow now>?
run the vehicle until the engine temp guage is in the yellow . with the engine running, open the hood and pull the transmission dip stick. read the stick and replace fluid that has been lost , or whatever...So long as the engine is warm (hot) the reading should be accurate on the dipstick.
Open radiator cap and slowly put coolant in top(with car off and cold), fill till the fluid comes to top and let set for a minuite and continue to to fill till full, then start car with cap off and run till guage comes up half way and then guage will come down quarter way and have hot air running on high and feel the temp of air till its hot and then check level in radiator , then put cap back on and fill the resivore to the line it shows.if it was real low then you have a leak somewhere or internal leaks , whitch needs further diagnosis.
they could be seperate problems. the fuel level sender in the tank may be bad. the 2 wire coolant temp sensor may be faulty. there may be a bad ground some where or a bad connection in the harness. although it is common for the circuit boards in the cluster to go bad and you get funny readings on one half or the other. i would start diagnosing the cooling problem first. those engines have an air bleed valve above the t-stat. make sure there isnt a pocket of super heatad steam in the system (first indication of a small leak). the cts also controls the fan relays through the pcm. are the fans comming on as the temp guage passes half way? what does the guage do when the key is on, engine off, cts unpluged, and the connector jumpered or grounded? the guage should have a full sweep if it doesnt sweep the cluster or harness are suspect
some of the factory gauges aren't very accurate if the fluid level is good and you get good heat inside I wouldn't worry about it, but I would keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't over heat. If your still worried I would go to an auto parts store and pick up a temp. gauge there perty easy to install
change the themostat when you remove the old themostat you should see it stuck in the open postion . before i install the new one i fill the the block with coolant install the new stat run the mtr and heater core until hot iwould also replace the cap
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