94 Grand Am Coolant loss,no overheating, no therm. in car, cracked block/head??

[theland10]

A few months ago I started having lots of overheating problems with my 94 grand am. I bought a new thermostat, new radiator cap and it still overheated. Starting off cold I could drive 10-15 min and it would be fine then the temp gauge would go way up in the red for a min and drop back down to normal temp. One morning I couldnt go a block or two without the temp guage shooting up and I had to stop and shut off the car. Could hear the water boiling, could see it boiling out from under the cap. I would wait for it to cool enough then add water (had jugs in the car with me) and go a little further. After repeating that process about 3-4 times it finally stays cool and I drive a good 15min (like before) before it goes red again and does the bounce back down to normal temp thing. Could never figure out what the problem was so we took out the thermostat and have been running with straight water flow since then.

Fast forward to now. I have a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator so I can get the engine warm enough to have some heat. The other night my heater would alternate blowing warm air and cool air. So I asked my dad about it and he said to just check the water and run it. Added water. Drove to my friends to pick him up for work the next night (22ish miles), enginge temp gets up nex to the red as I'm arriving at my friends. Water isn't boiling, radiater is cold, put my hand on the engine and its warm but not hot. I check the water and add a full antifreeze jug worth, start the engine to let it flow and add another half jug worth. Temp stays down like normal going to work and home, check it again before going to work the next day, same drill add a jug, start it so water flows, add some more. Going home day after that temp goes up next to the red like before but water isnt boiling and engine isnt hot just like when I stopped at my friends before. Make sure the waters full, check my oil, the oil looks nasty, greenish/brown, but not milky like its watered down (ie cracked head) so I change my oil and make sure I'm full on water again and go to town for my final day of class at the college. After that one trip I check my water again today and same drill as before, add a jug, start it so water can flow, add some more. My temp guage is staying down where I would expect it to be running straight water, I'm maintaining pressure (everytime I've added water theres been pressure released when I take off the cap), my low coolant light is not coming on but I have no idea where its going. Also since this has started it kinda sputters and doesnt want to go when taking off from a stop like a red light and theres a lot of smoke coming from the tail pipe when I take off or am sitting still idling in drive but none after I get going. At first I thought that was just from the exhaust hitting the cold weather air but today its been warmer and it was still happening.

Whatever the problem is I'm pretty sure its something serious and I'm going to be looking for a new car but ANY ideas as to what the heck is going on would be appreciated. I'm just baffled at how I'm losing so much water and not seriously overheating.

[doctorhrdware]

Have you checked your oil, was there any antifreeze, the oil will be milky colored. Also what engine do you have and how many miles does the car have. Sounds like you have a lim or uim gasket that is bad. Is there and pooling of antifreeze on the engine. You could also have a water pump that is leaking. On my GP mine was leaking but I never saw any antifreeze in the engine compartment. The only reason that I found the water pump being bad, it started making a grinding noise.

[theland10]

I mentioned checking and changing my oil in my first main post. My engine is the Quad 4. The oil didn't look milky, just really nasty. The worst oil I've ever seen actually an ugly Greenish-brown. I'm thinking a have a bad head gasket because when I start the car to let the water flow through the engine and add more you can see air bubbling up but I don't know if thats just air pockets escaping through the flow because its low on water or if its air pockets coming from a possible bad head.

If the water pump was bad then how would it be staying cool when I'm running with no thermostat in place? I have heat when there is water in the system, but I can tell when its real low already again because it starts doing the warm-cool-warm thing.

[3100]

with all this overheating and cooling down and overheating again it is possible that your head is warped and head gasket is not serving any purpose now, is your exhaust steamy?

[doctorhrdware]

Sorry about the oil I see now that you did check it.

[theland10]

"with all this overheating and cooling down and overheating again it is possible that your head is warped and head gasket is not serving any purpose now, is your exhaust steamy?"

re-read my first post - in its entirety, please. It was doing the overheating thing before, after I took out the thermostat I didn't have any problems for about two months. Now I'm losing water constantly and yes the exhaust is steamy when I'm idling in drive.

[3100]

I understand your pain, If you see constant bubbles in your coolant reservoir when you rave the engine that is bad sign, also if you see steamy exhaust all the time even when engine is warmed up that is a bad sign. Remove your spark plugs see if they are wet, disable your ignition system so that you are not getting any spark on your wires and while you have plugs removed put clean white napkins over spark plug holes hold them there while somebody cranks your engine several turns and see what you have on your napkin if it is collor of your coolant you have internal coolant leak and that is why your exhauset is steamy.

[xeroinfinity]

Welcome to AF theland10 !!

Sounds like you have a bad gasket(s). If the oil was greenish, that was probly coolant.

With the no heat, could be air trapped in the heater core , though most likly the core is clogged, another typical problem with this model GA which will cause you to over heat.
And if you are just running straight water thru it its going to boil regardless.

Might do a compression check that should show some sign of a blown gasket.

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