bad day in snow

[geetarspaz]

Thanks man

[cooljess76]

Cool man, glad you're up and runnin again. Be sure to check your heater, make sure it blows really hot air.

[geetarspaz]

Yeh all is good. Bled it well. Especially with the new filters..you should have seen the old ones. Don't think they were ever changed.

[geetarspaz]

I've got another coolant leak now. Pretty good one too. At the end of the day the tank needs refilling. Coming from the bottom on the cylinder where you put the coolant in. Though I just replaced all the tubes and seals. Sucks.

[teetime4one]

there is an O-ring at the bottom of the expansion tank. mine also leaked from the same spot after sitting for 3.5 years. that could be your problem.

[geetarspaz]

Yeah. I just replaced that ring about a month ago. Ugh

[teetime4one]

maybe the expansion tank didn't seat right when you put it back in. i don't know.

[geetarspaz]

I guess it just went with the rest of what happened earlier in this thread.

[cooljess76]

Originally Posted by geetarspaz

I've got another coolant leak now. Pretty good one too. At the end of the day the tank needs refilling. Coming from the bottom on the cylinder where you put the coolant in. Though I just replaced all the tubes and seals. Sucks.

Originally Posted by geetarspaz

Yeah. I just replaced that ring about a month ago. Ugh

Originally Posted by cooljess76

There's plenty of info on this as this part is notorious for breaking. It's most commonly referred to as the plastic "Y" connector/fitting. Search the knowledge base section for "cooling system rebuild" and you'll see what I'm talking about.

It's not necessary to remove the intake manifold to access this part. You'll get better accessability by removing the valve cover. The "Y" fitting is located on the back of the cylinder head between the engine and the firewall. Removing the valve cover not only gains you better access to the "Y" fitting, but it also gives you the opportunity to replace the valve cover gasket, spark plug seals and clean out the CCV orifice on the left rear corner of the valve cover.

Some people remove the intake manifold to access the "octopus" fitting on the side of the engine block. Totally different part, totally different location. I don't recommend EVER removing the intake manifold. Most people who do this end up causing more problems because they can't figure out where stuff goes when they try to put everything back together. Instead, I recommend removing the alternator and oil filter housing to access the octopus fitting. Chances are, the oil filter housing is leaking anyway(another common problem with these cars), so this is a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone(access octopus fitting & fix leaking oil filter housing).

Whenever you "open the coolant loop"(replace a cooling system part), it's VERY IMPORTANT to bleed the system of air. There's a writeup in the knowledge base section on "How to properly bleed the cooling system". This process often takes several attempts to accomplish. This, combined with the fact that most if not all of your other cooling system parts are about the same age and have the same wear, makes it a good idea to replace everything at once. If the plastic connector on the back of your engine broke, the one on the side of the engine is probably getting ready to break too. Then the radiator, then the thermostat, then the water pump etc. Instead of draining, filling and bleeding the system over and over and over and over again, just replace everything at once and call it done.
And never drive a car that overheats. That's something a stupid teenage girl would do. For every second that your engine goes above normal operating temperature, you run a substantial risk of head gasket failure and a warped or cracked head. The temp needle doesn't even have to get to the red for a head gasket to fail. At the very least, you could pretty much count on the fact that you've fatigued the gasket and significantly shortened it's service life. So unless you have 2 grand burning a hole in your pocket, don't ever let the needle go past 12 o'clock.

[geetarspaz]

So it looks like my engine did in fact overheat during my whole coolant escapade. I've been having some recent various complications that many have said relate and are the symptoms to a blown head gasket and bad head. My symptoms include my radiator being very low at the end of the day, and having to let the air out till it reaches top again, milky white color when checking oil dip stick, slight smell of coolant through the fans when the heat is on well, lots of oil in my first two spark plugs, recent radiator leak after doing a fix and it lasting for about a week, and a general loss of power. I did a compression test 3 times today. Thing is, I could only test 3/4 of them because my second spark plug last year completely shot out one day when i turned on the car. I was an hour and half away from home, and managed to get the car to a local shop where an older mechanic helicoiled it in for $200 because the inside was completely stripped. I went to take this spark plug out today for the test and the whole helicoil came with it so regardless i'll need a new cylinder head at some point to put a new spark plug back in. The compression test on the other 3 resulted all in average 235 even, which at least was a good sign.

I've got a new thread up for a WTB head

[cooljess76]

Aside from the milky white dipstick, you may just have a cracked heater core or something. Maybe you're smelling coolant residue from the hose on the firewall that blew off? You should drain some of the oil into a empty/dry water bottle and see if you get oil/water separation. I'd hate to see you do a headgasket job when you might just need another helicoil. Either way, bummer dude. Hope you get it all sorted out. Pelicanparts has a good writeup on headgasket replacement in their tech section.

[geetarspaz]