miss/she

Ok So I Have A 97 Chevy Malibu, Its Got Some Miles On It, But Last Summer My Ac Worked, And Now It Doesnt. This Past Winter But Heater Wasnt Working, I Read In Another Forum That Maybe The Dex Cool Collant That Is "needed" For My Car Gummed Up And That My Heater Core Neeed To Be Flushed, So That Solved The Problem. A Few Months Back I Was Driving Up Really Steep Hilly Highway And Out Of No Where My Car Starting Over Heating, Til The Light Came On And I Pulled Over, Let It Sit For A Few Hours And Added Water To It To Get It To A Mechanic, He Changed The Thermostat, Flushed Out My Collant(again) And Changed The Collant Reserve Cap(charged Me 15$ For That Damn Thing) And It Still Is Over Heating, I Know Its Warm Out But I Am Not Using The Ac Because It Doesnt Work And I Need To When I Have My Kids In The Car, It Too Darm Hot To Not Use It. I Dont Why Its Still Overheating, Should I Have The Heater Core, Or Raditor Flushed?? Should I Have The Ac Re-charged?? This Car Has Givien Me Nothing But Problem, Not Mention I've Changed My Water Pump Twice, My Tensioner Pulley And The Whole Mount And Bracket For The Pulley's 3 Times Already, Then Just Break, And I Do Quite A Bit Of Driving For Work But Nothing Hard,not Sure Why My Car "hates" Me. Does Anyone Have Any Suggestions On What I Should Do, And Can I Do Any At Home, Before Taking It To Another Mechanic And Getting Ripped Off, Cause I Am A Chick And They Think They Can Talk U Into Anything.

Thanks So Much For Readin All My Bable

Ed_Strong

Check the output power to the radiator fan, my old 91 chevy corsica at 163K miles started overheating and I saw the the fan was not spinning fast enough to keep the radiator cooling the coolant. After I replaced the fan motor ($22new) everything worked fine and no more overheating.

Just turn on your engine and let it come up to temperature and see if the radiator fan turns on and if it's spinning fast enough to circulate the hot air around. On my car I could feel the hot air coming from under the engine by the driver window and when the fan wasn't spinning fast enough I could barely feel it with the hood open and my hand behind the fan.
Hope it helps.

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Current Rides:
2005 Chevrolet Malibu LS - 3.5L V6 SFI -{|}- 2000 Ford Windstar LX - 3.8L V6 SFI
________________________________________

Past Rides:
1991 Chevrolet Corsica LT - 3.1L V6 MFI -{|}- 1995 Dodge Grand Caravan SE - 3.3L V6 MFI
1980 Ford Mustang - 3.3L L6 1BBL
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rhandwor

You should have two fans one controls operating temperature the other one comes on when the air conditioning system is on. If either fan doesn't work try swapping relays as one of these maybe bad. If it then works buy a new relay.
I have tapped a fan motor with a hammer and if it then starts buy a new fan motor.
You can also use a DVOM to check for power. Use a test light when you which side has voltage hook it to the positive terminal it should light when touching the ground. If no ground get a good wiring diagram it maybe the computer.

Scrapper

if fans are working then i;d say headgasget..that is if no leaks,is it useing anti freeze i'm sure it does since overheating but i'd do compresion check first..

Ed_Strong

Also could be that the thermostat was installed backwards... I know it's a long shot, but it could happen!

__________________
----------------------------------------------

Current Rides:
2005 Chevrolet Malibu LS - 3.5L V6 SFI -{|}- 2000 Ford Windstar LX - 3.8L V6 SFI
________________________________________

Past Rides:
1991 Chevrolet Corsica LT - 3.1L V6 MFI -{|}- 1995 Dodge Grand Caravan SE - 3.3L V6 MFI
1980 Ford Mustang - 3.3L L6 1BBL
----------------------------------------------

rhandwor

Look along the intake manifold as these have a habit of leaking. A radiator shop can do a gas analysis which will be a definate sign of a head gasket.

EZFrank

the coolant resevior bottle has a cap on it if the o ring is broke will make engine over heat i found this out after i had replaced the thermostat, temp sensor, gave the radiator a flush and changed the water pump and still kept over heating finally i tried the cap and it solved my problem. good luck

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neosho1333

mine maybe a long shot as well but when i had an 01 vw jetta i had the same issue but mine kept blowing lines about every week to every other week.. thats another post but when i had them change out my therm in side the coolent line asked them to give me my old one back... make a log story short they gave me bad one that didnt open. how you test one s you place it in boiling water and it should POP open. the one i removed fom my car after they "fixed" it and it didnt open at all. so you might ant o recheck that