gm help

[BROCCOLI]

desparately seeking help regarding cooling problems with chevy 3.4 litre engine.

I'm not jacked too high.

Any gm gurus out there?

yours truly,

reluctant resident of Whitney Point, NY

[Gunjumper]

Craiggers...

Can't help with the van, but I can make the trip back up there if you /trailer/ van need help getting home. I thought you said Jim was giving you a lift. Call me anytime 267.716.6901 Greg

[BROCCOLI]

Thanks Greg,

Jim and Judy Tower brought me and my trailer all the way home. Very generous and [I]'m very grateful. I'm having trouble sorting expensive options about repair.

[aojesus]

symptoms

What have you got for symptoms?

Russ Waterson

[Sonny]

Cooling

Hey Craig,
Not much to go wrong with a GM system. If it pukes coolant when it gets hot locate the water inlet neck, It will run off of the top radiator hose...were it attaches to the intake manifold. It will be two 9/16 bolts that hold it down. under that is the thermastat (possible spelling error)...Try taking the "T" stat out and put the water inlet neck back on...Motor will run cooler but it will be ok. When you replace the coolant leave the radiator cap off and start it... you will get some bubbles at first but they should go away.. If the bubbles dont stop...that means that the head gasket is shot... it depends how hot it got. With the "T" stat out you should see the coolant swirling in the radiator apon startup. if the cooant stands still with the "T" stat removed you have a water pump issue..A GM water pump has two soft plugs located on the top and bottom of the water pump berring up on the shnout of the pump.. behind the fan.. when they go bad they usually open up one of those plugs and leak...you would recognise the noise it would make. Do you have water in the oil?... be sure to check for white milky oil... It is a nother sign of a bad headgasket due to overheating... I hope this helps.

[STEVE FRENCH]

Like we talked, I think your going to find--intake gaskets....Your 3400 motor is very much like our 3100 Lumina-car........very common. I've gotten 2-years out of Bar's leak sealer.....gotta git all anti-freeze out of system first......Or dive in and pull intake....

19P

[BROCCOLI]

Head gasket is definately blown. The cause seems to be the coolant (dexcool) has started to coagulate restricting flow. Question is; If I rebuild, will the root problem... restricted cooling passages still haunt me? The heads are now off. Is it possible to clean the system with engine in this state?....

[Bill Huson]

Dex cool . . .

The subject of numerous lawsuits against GM on the 3.1 L and 3.4 L engine. Clogs the system. I'd guess an engine block flush is in order, not sure if that can be done with the heads off, and you may need a new radiator. As someone mentioned above, Intake gaskets were a problem on those engines as well. Of course if you have the heads off, new gaskets all the way around . . .

[aojesus]

It is possible to effectively clean the engine. However, the entire cooling system including heater core, radiator, water pump, e.t.c. will need a thorough cleaning.
If the dexcool is gelled it will be easier than if there are crystal like deposits.

Whenever we do head gaskets we spend the extra and replace radiator, heater core, water pump, thermostat and hoses. We also replace sensors related to the fan and temp. as overheating tends to ruin them.

You may be able to get by with a gasket job and really good flush, but I would be very cautious of areas with small openings that could continue to restrict the flow.