Overheating problem...PLEASE help.

[amanas1]

I have a 1999 Grand AM and I have been having endless troubles with it for the last two months. In August, my car overheated for the first time, and the water pump was replaced. When I got a phone call to come pick the car up after the water pump repair, they also told me that the head gasket needed repair, as well. Fine. So after both these repairs, after having my car in the garage for a total of approximately ONE MONTH...two weeks later, my car is getting hot again, so I take it back and ask them to look at it. They keep my car for another two weeks, call me back, tell me the car is fine to drive. Since apparently the car is fine to drive, I had been driving it, but no more than about 15 miles a day. A couple days ago, my car AGAIN got very hot, so I pulled over and turned off the car. When I got out of the car, I saw that the engine was steaming and antifreeze was spewing out of my car. And for further clarification, when I say "spewing", I don't mean, a small trickle, leak, drip, anything of that nature. I mean, POURING out of my car. After being told my car is fine to drive, that it is NOT, in fact, getting hot, I am quite confused. For yet another time, my car gets taken back to the same shop (I want them to be held accountable for their repairs) and after a week of "working" on my car, they call me today to tell me: 1) MY CAR IS FINE, and to ask me, "ARE YOU SURE IT OVERHEATED?" Then they tell me the tow truck guy they sent "didn't see anything on the ground", and that they drove it everyday for the past week and it was fine for them, basically implying that the car did not overheat, and I made this whole thing up. I'm no mechanic, however, I'm thinking that my car shouldn't be steaming and spewing fluids every three weeks or so. Just a fairly uneducated guess there...

I am totally at a loss as to what I should do at this point...I do not really feel like my car is "fine", but I don't know what could be wrong. They told me they checked the water pump (again), the transmission (I don't know why exactly) and the head gasket repair, and they again are claiming that everything is fine. Basically, I have no idea where to go from here and I figured this would be worth a shot. I am wondering if anyone out there has had a similar problem, somehow, or can tell me what the best option from here is. I am reluctant to take it somewhere else at this point, simply because I have given this shop a great deal of money and in exchange for that great deal of money, I would like my repairs done properly. Plus, I don't want to take the car to someone else and have that second shop find something wrong, to only take my complaint back to the first shop to have them tell me the SECOND shop was the one to be held responsible, if that makes sense.

Bottom line, if you can help shed some light on what the hell is going on with my car, I would most appreciate it.

[GTP Dad]

Welcome to AF!!

There are several possibilities here. First, they did not get all of the air out of the system when they changed the water pump and that is causing the overheating issue. Second, the cooling fans are not coming on at the appropriate time and that is causing the issue. Finally, did they replace the thermostat on the car? This sounds like a sticking thermostat is causing all your problems, and yes, new ones can be bad!! I'd check my repair bill to see just what was done during the repairs.

I know you don't want to find another shop but I suggest that you find a new mechanic once this is resolved. Obviously these guys don't know what they are doing!