intrigue overheating!

[LittleHoov]

I agree that your fix isnt a very good one.

I had a problem with my car overheating when it was below freezing, which there is a TSB out about such an issue.

I replaced the thermostat and housing as per the TSB, and for good measure drilled not one but two holes in the thermostat, similar to what youre saying.

Does my car overheat? No. Does it now take considerably longer to get to operating temperature? Why yes, yes it does.

A drilled thermostat is usually never the answer to any sort of problem, I just didnt want to risk having the same issue again, and I paid for it in another area.

Air in the cooling system is probably the biggest cause of cooling issues, especially after replacing a defective coolant part...a lot of people, mechanics included simply dont understand that a closed system like the one on the 3.5 Intrigue WILL NOT bleed itself, you have to bleed it, manually, often several times....sounds to me like you finally just managed to bleed it right, and just so happened to drill up the thermostat at the same time.

[krivasauto]

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[pfofit]

Originally Posted by LittleHoov

....sounds to me like you finally just managed to bleed it right, and just so happened to drill up the thermostat at the same time.

Agreed. Coincidence.

Quick question!...What's the difference between a thermostat that is not closing properly and one with holes drilled in it where none should be?
Answer.... No difference, you get a car that doesn't quite produce the heat it should.

I too have not had any problems bleeding out an intrigue. In fact it was a lot easier than an old 3100 on a corsica I use to deal with and many other GM's..

[wrenchturner255]

Odd that you guys would fire this post back up. I've been ready the many old posts on various sites about intrigue overheating. My daughters 2002 overheated and the heat stopped working. I replaced the thermostat with an OEM part and followed the service manual procedure for bleeding; still overheated; went through the bleed procedure of adding a flushing T and pulling the top radiator hose twice. Now the car maintains temp below half; but the heat stops working after a while. On the highway it takes roughly 3 miles. Get the RPM's over 2000 and the heat will come back. I'm leaning toward a restriction in the heater core that once it gets hot, plugs it from expansion and eventually with the high RPM's enough water flow eventually moves it. Sooner or latter it comes back, but I"m grapsing at straws. The water pump appears to be working by observing the flow in the tank.

ANY ideas or input are appreciated as this is driving me nuts.

[LittleHoov]

You could try flushing the heater core out...back-flushing I believe they call it. Ive seen several videos on the internet where people use compressed air to remove gunk out of the heater core...basically they take a mixture of water and compressed air and push it through the heater core in the opposite direction it would normally run...but I can honestly say ive never tried it, never had the need to.

On most cars you can bypass the heater core by running your own hoses...but for you that would be more of a diagnostic step than a fix....unless your daughter just enjoys having no heat in her car

[Jimmy Olsen]

The best thing for anybody to do to maintain the cooling system is to take the car into the dealer every 5 or 6 years and having a cooling system flush done. Over time the cooling cavity inside the block develops aluminum scale which can cause the engine to over heat and chemicals they used during the flushing procedure gets rid of them. I just had mine done for the second time in 11 years. Also, replace (or test) the pressure cap on the reservoir every few years or whenever you have a cooling problem.

[Jimmy Olsen]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Olsen

The best thing for anybody to do to maintain the cooling system is to take the car into the dealer every 5 or 6 years and having a cooling system flush done. Over time the cooling cavity inside the block develops aluminum scale which can cause the engine to over heat and chemicals they used during the flushing procedure gets rid of them. I just had mine done for the second time in 11 years. Also, replace (or test) the pressure cap on the reservoir every few years or whenever you have a cooling problem.

As for the thermostat going bad, my experience has been that when it goes bad it will not open so there is no way you can drive the car more than a few miles.

[daveyboyz]

You may just well have a head gasket problem. Just because its not in your oil. You may be burning it. Did you pressure check the cooling system? Change the thermostat? Do the easy things first. Have you monitored if your having to top up your coolant? Coooling system is straight forward. If your rad hose never gets soft or spungy when the thermostat opens....you have head gasket problems, and your friend is right....which explains the puff of white smoke when you first start your car. Spend $50.00 to have it checked if your not sure. I believe whats happening is your engine is forcing air into your cooling system through a blown head gasket. I have seen this before....and what your describing is either an air lock in the system or blown head gasket.

[padrouin]

By an old goodwrench engine technician: it's probably not a head gasket problem. As his experience, he never ever need to change head gasket on 3.5l olds engine. 3 possibles causes

1: hose leaking (in particular top hose of the heater circuit)

2: Throtle body coolant chambers gasket leak

3: The most common and hard to find: Cross over body gasket leakage
This part is locate at the left side in between the two heads just over the cross over exhaust pipe. The heat of the exhaust quickly dry the leak and you just smell coolant without see anything.

cost and time of repair: aprox 55$ for gaskets and 4 hours for skilled mecanician. (need to cut bolt of the coolant cross over body to avoid exhaust cross over conduct removing)

[padrouin]

Symptoms on my Intrigue 2000 before repair:

- Bubbling sound in the heater at cold few months before

- Coolant consumption... more and more

- Finally, a lot of air at radiator purge, coolant pump discharge and overheating.


I try many things before... including the "miraculous" 5/32 hole in the inner parts of the thermostat without succes.

Finally we change cross over body gaskets and throtle body gasket.

My olds run now like a new one.

[intriguehatesme]

I wish someone would have told me this a few years ago, I got rid of the pos.

What the guy posted above me was the issues I had. System was full with air and would dump coolant from the bottle, the last straw for me was when it blew coolant all over my arm from my wrist to my elbow and gave me 2nd and 3rd degree burns.