Overheating

The same 02 Firebird 3.8L that had the oil problem is now overheating. I have flushed the motor, had the radiator rodded out, new water pump, thermostat, cap and cleaned the hoses and new coolant. Everything had a reddish sticky film on it. I assumed this was due to the coolent not ever being changed. We have had the car for about 7 months. I changed all this yesterday. Drove the car around the block a few times, had no problem. My daughter drove the car last night and it overheated. They had to add water. I checked it and also added water. When I bled the air out of the system, nothing but steam came out for about 5 min. Then added more water, then more steam. Its like the water is turning to steam in the block before it has a chance to circulate. I cant figure it out. Was thinking water ports clogged or maybe blown head gasket? There is no water in the oil.

By water, I hope you mean a 50/50 coolant mixture......

If you keep adding and and there is no external leak, and there is no white smoke out of the exhaust, you may not have burped all the air out of the system on your initial refill......

There is a great little device out there by Lisle Tools......it's a large yellow funnel, that has attachments for you to attach the funnel to the top of the radiator, in place of the cap......what this does is, you maintain coolant just above the bottom of the funnel.......run the vehicle.....then when the car get's up to temp to open the thermostat, the water pump sucks the coolant out of the funnel, allows air in the sytem to vent out, and the level drops.....you then add coolant just enough to cover the bottom of the funnel.....this gets rid of any air pockets in the engine......

I was able to secure a funnel about 3 inches above the radiator cap, but the coolant still shot out of that and steam still came out of the bleeder valve. I then added over a gallon of water again and again. I use to have a Gran Prix with about the same setup, never had this kind of problem. I check the compression cylinder 1-150psi, 3-150psi, 5-150psi, 2-150psi, 4-122psi, 6-100psi. Could the head gasket be leaking causing the coolant to leak into the cylinder causing it to overheat? Or could some of the water jackets be plugged?

I was able to secure a funnel about 3 inches above the radiator cap, but the coolant still shot out of that and steam still came out of the bleeder valve. I then added over a gallon of water again and again. I use to have a Gran Prix with about the same setup, never had this kind of problem. I check the compression cylinder 1-150psi, 3-150psi, 5-150psi, 2-150psi, 4-122psi, 6-100psi. Could the head gasket be leaking causing the coolant to leak into the cylinder causing it to overheat? Or could some of the water jackets be plugged?


I'd say you found it, there is for sure a problem between 4&6...

For sure. Not looking forward to this. Thanks for the help.

The same 02 Firebird 3.8L that had the oil problem is now overheating. I have flushed the motor, had the radiator rodded out, new water pump, thermostat, cap and cleaned the hoses and new coolant. Everything had a reddish sticky film on it. I assumed this was due to the coolent not ever being changed. We have had the car for about 7 months. I changed all this yesterday. Drove the car around the block a few times, had no problem. My daughter drove the car last night and it overheated. They had to add water. I checked it and also added water. When I bled the air out of the system, nothing but steam came out for about 5 min. Then added more water, then more steam. Its like the water is turning to steam in the block before it has a chance to circulate. I cant figure it out. Was thinking water ports clogged or maybe blown head gasket? There is no water in the oil.

when the engine is cold fill the coolant system . the with coolant cap off run the engine. if you have pressure pulsations at the coolant fill opening then you have a bad head gasket. the coolant should flow steady . with air in the system the coolant will gradually get hotter and this can be felt by the heater hoses not being hot as the water pump is air bound , even though the temp gauge may be maxing out.

the sticky film may be the oil burning exhaust getting into the coolant.

in the end, pulled the heads off and they are cracked. I got new heads and installed them. Car is running great.

in the end, pulled the heads off and they are cracked. I got new heads and installed them. Car is running great.

so you bought a vehicle with cracked heads . with what your issues were that is what I thought you had with the film in the coolant. surprised that the person / mechanic that did all that coolant work was inept at figuring out that your problem was the heads not all the work/cost he screwed you out of .

in the end, pulled the heads off and they are cracked. I got new heads and installed them. Car is running great.

Wait, the heads themselves were cracked? I really hope you just meant the gasket...