blown gasket??

[Crazygirl]

I have a 91 Cutlass Ciera, 3.3 engine. Air conditioning never blew cold air, and heater air never got hot. When I would try to run either, even on high fan, only a small amount of air came out, so I would set it to vent with the heat setting if I needed a little bit of warm air. Just figured I'd have to get used to no heat and a/c.
Yesterday, my hubby and I noticed, for the first time, that we smelled anti-freeze in the car. I dismissed it, thinking the smell was coming from another vehicle. I drove the car this morning, and the antifreeze smell was stronger, and the temp got up to almost 220 on the guage. This afternoon, when I started the car, I heard a loud knocking sound, and popped the hood right away thinking it was either VERY low on oil, or was throwing a rod. However, my serpentine belt was shredding along the side that is up against the alternator and that assembly area. I turned the engine off immediately, and suddenly antifreeze started pouring out of the engine. I didn't have time to take a good look at it then, but just now looked at it.
I took the radiator cap off (fluid level looked to be about half-nothing in the reservoir), and as soon as I did, antifreeze started leaking out again, but not from the radiator. It seemed to be coming from whatever on the engine is below the alternator. Power steering pump or a/c pump? There is about 3/4 fluid in the power steering fluid reservoir, and the guy I bought the car from said sometimes I would need to add fluid. Since the antifreeze is coming from there, could I have a blown head gasket or manifold gasket? I'd hate to think I have to replace the entire engine. Thanks in advance!

[xeroinfinity]

its hard to tell from what you said, though if the belt was off for a long time, then the water pump didnt pump, keeping things cool, so thing probly got hott.

So yes you could have a blown gasket , might also be that a hose burst.
Gonna have to look it over or have some one look at it.
Cant drive very far is the coolants all leaking out.

[caddyman379]

How many miles

The little air coming out of the vents is probably an actuator issue, behind the glovebox, or a vacuum line that runs to it.

The water pump is underneath the alt, so you may have blown it's gasket if it got really hot, but these car's will surprise you when it comes to how much it can take and still run well. The only thing it would leak from around there is a waterpump or hose.

Drain antifreeze, refill, and bleed air out once you've determined the leak. Hint- Small pockets of air that stay inside the engine can cause hot spots, and may get trapped in the heater core giving you luke-warm air. Overheating is also possible with trapped air.

How'd you work out with the power windows?

[Crazygirl]

Well, for the windows, my hubby got the driver's front window, and passenger back window, to go up and down, so at least I can get some airflow in there, lol! He's going to get some extra long wiring and hook a ground up to run to the other two windows to get them to work. At least, that's the plan.

For the leak, I took another look at it, and it does appear to be the waterpump. Everything else looks okay, and the belt looks like it shredded because the pump blew so bad, it seems a little loose, and with the belt turning, it makes the water pump physically move slightly, making the belt hit against that whole assembly. I'm going to replace the belt and pump this weekend, and hope that works.

Thanks for the info on the heat-a/c. We'll see if we can track that puppy down and fix it. Ta for now!