internal coolant leak....again!

well...............I swore I'd never buy another Buick with the 3800 engine. I guess i should learn to "never say never." With MUCH hesitation, I bought another Park Avenue, ONLY to have the same [elnum-internal leak-problem. The dealer has had the car back 4 times now 0- same thing - "low coolant" light comes on and I'm down cooolant. They have replace the upper plenum, lower intake, both heads, thermostat and elbow. EVERYTHING that everyone talks about having to be replaced on these has been replaced. They have die tested it and still have the light coming on. the temp has remained at 195, so it has never even gotten hot. The weird thing is, even after two hours of driving, the top of the radiator is stone cold. Here is my question...............Could there still be an air pocket in the system? If you look at the overflow tank, the coolant is orange, however, the color of the coolant in the radiator is still bright green from the dye. This leads me to think that the hose leading to the overflow may be plugged and thus wouldn't allow the system to "burp" the air. HELP from anyone. I bought this car a month ago and it has only be in my possession for about a week. It has been at the dealer for the rest of the time. Getting very frustrated and negative towards this so called "wonderful" 3800 engine!

take the radiator cap off, and start the car, this will eliminate any air pockets if any exist. The hose leading from the overflow tank to the radiator may be clogged as well.

Sounds like the coolant is not circulating. Maybe the water pump? Shame on the dealer for not checking it before they gave you the car back. Thats why I quit working for the dealers.
They forgot this rule:YOU HAVE TO WANT TO FIX THE CAR. :banghead:

If this is an Ultra Parka Ave. with the supercharger, then thre is a coolant passage in this near the throttlebody. Because the supercharger and intake maifold can be removed as one unit, the "O" rings in the supercharger may have been overlooked. As your motor heats up pressure would cause coolant to seep pass a bad "O" ring and into the intake. When the motor cools off the reservoir would supply cooent back untill it sucks air. (air in the radiator and low coolent level in the reservor). Because these "O" rings are a pain to get at, a simple way to check MIGHT be to take a long cotton swab, (you did say you had dye in the coolant), going through the throttlebody, swab the roof of the intake near the supercharger coolant passage. If the swab comes back green, then you have found it.

Sounds like the coolant is not circulating. Maybe the water pump? Shame on the dealer for not checking it before they gave you the car back. Thats why I quit working for the dealers.
They forgot this rule:YOU HAVE TO WANT TO FIX THE CAR. :banghead:


hehehe you got that right!!!! I THINK that they have the problem solved. Two weeks of driving and no "low coolant" light, and radiator level is taying constant. However.............I DID come out of work the other night and found coolant (about 3-4 cups) on the ground, after the car had set for an hour. I found the leak to be the plastic elbow (right behind the alternator) checked levels - everything ok, so drove it home and checked again. No leak. drove it all weekend until I could take it back to the dealer, no leak. The dealer thought I was crazy and seeing "dye residue" on the block. I told them "dye residue doesnt run out of the engine and across a parking lot!!!" their comment.................keep an eye on it!!! BUT..................at least it isn't freaking leaking internally!!!!!! LOL Think I will buy foreign next time - less headaches and better reliability!!!!!

But portholes look lousy on a Bimmer.

Think I will buy foreign next time - less headaches and better reliability!!!!!


These days, all cars are very close to equal, it's only because the owner(s) before you mistreated the car, does it have problems. People tend to neglect maintenance on a domestic, but have a rigorous schedule for their foriegn. And then they think domestics suck because they neglected it! It's all in how the cars treated.