Was down at Terry's today going junkyardin'. I was supposed to leave from there and just take the interstate straight on up to NC. Was going around I-285 running 70-75 mph for a while. Started smelling antifreeze and noticed the floor and trans tunnel felt warm to the touch. Look down and my temp gauge says 245. Jumped over into the far right lane and slowed down to 65, decided at that point to just head home. The temp dropped to 225 and fluctuated between 225 and 235, called my dad and he said turn the heat on high and just go slow and take it easy the rest of the way home. Get home thinking it's just low on water or something, it was low but not real low. The coolant was foamed up some and kind of brownish colored? It has always stayed clear green before? My dad seems to think the thermostat needs to be replaced, what do you guys think? I have never replaced the thermostat in this engine, it is 15+ years old.
Replace the thermostat. It is a cheap, easy job. Get one of the newer ones that sticks open rather than sticks closed when it decides to get stuck.
I'll drain the coolant and put in a new thermostat. If it's the head gasket I'll cut my loses and drive it to NC overheating and put the engine out of your yellow car in it Dan.
Change the stat. A bad trans heat exchanger in the radiator can also cause a color change in the coolant
I too think it is an internal gasget problem......Have the engine BLOCK tested with that mysterious blue fluid.....It checks for exhaust gases in the coolant.
at 245 the coolant was probably boiling and can knock off some of the internal rust in an older engine. go the fresh coolant and thermostat route first. maybe flush it out, too.
sounds like a head gasket and a stat. prob drain and change kinda deal. just did it to mine not the head gasket just the stat. will take about an hour. have fun with the gasket that will take a better part of the day to get all of the gasket off.
Can't be the trans cooler in the radiator, I have a external trans cooler. What temperature thermostat should I get? If it's the head gasket I'll just swap the engine. I've fixed and tweaked this 200,000+ mile engine enough, made up my mind the next major problem I have with it, one of my spare lower mileage engines will be going in. This engine should have been dead long ago, amazing it is still going and still dosen't smoke. My dad seems to agree that the brown is from the coolant boiling the rust and gunk off the inside of the 32 year old block. I'll go ahead and change the 'stat and coolant and see what happens. I at least need to get the engine to keep going till April 1st when I get out for spring break.
jamie, i can see the prob. from here...Terry... sounds like a stuck t-stat...i did the look down and saw a 235 in the orange mav. i use to have. got rid of it as soon as i could . if you have that other motor you got a backup...good luck...frank...
Change coolant and flush out. Might want to fill with water and drive a coupel of days and repeat the process a couple of times to see what crud comes out. Cleaver
definatley replace the thermostat and change coolant. had a thermostat that wasnt even a year old go one day and i went from running 195 to over 225 on a 20 mile drive. the hose into the thermostat will stay hard until the tstat opens then should become squeezable when it opens. just a quick check i use whenever a vehicle starts running hotter than normal to check it. id change it and the fluid like suggested, then drive it til l something harder to fix breaks.
Thats the thing that struck me as strange, the upper radiator hose didn't seem to have ANY pressure on it and the car was 230 degrees when I checked! I am beginning to think the thermostat stuck open and at 75 mph the engine was turning enough RPM's to move the coolant so fast that it didn't have time to actually cool off in the radiator. The slower I went, the cooler it ran. But at 65 mph I was practically getting ran over on the interstates around here...
