Antifreeze loss and Overheating...

942 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by bill disorbo, Oct 14, 2003

dongnong

Discussion Starter · Oct 14, 2003

OK, I posted about this awhile ago. Basically, I want to know if anyone else with an SVT has had this problem and/or if someone here knows how or why this would even begin to happen.

Scenario. I'm driving and I smell antifreeze, check engine light is on (as usual) and when I pull over, all the antifreeze poors out. This, of course, leads to overheating if I drive the car. (I was literally one block from home, so I limped her there and it still almost overheated). I put antifreeze back in and its like new. NO LEAKS and NO Overheating. What in the HELL is this? I reset the ECU and the CEL didn't come back.

This happened one other time. I'm thinking the CEL is probably some sort of heat sensor.

Anyone have any ideas? Is there some sort of drain valve for the antifreeze I can't see?? And what would cause it to drain, but be OK if I fill it back up?

Is my car really possessed?

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SVTF4243

· #2 · Oct 14, 2003

Ok these are long shots: check to see if water pump is ok...could be belt, pully or pump itself. Since this happen once already and a fill up of coolant took care of it for a while, I'd guess the belt slips and then you overheat, coolant backs out in overflow.
Another possiblity is thermostat is not opening up on occasion.
Lastly it's possible some debris is clogging up the flow, in which case you'd need to flush it out.

Also can you get a read out of your codes, I hear Auto zone will do it for you.

I'm stretching the theory here, so anyone with more experience please keep me honest. Anyhow hope it puts you on the right track.

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visitor

· #3 · Oct 14, 2003

Haven't had that problem yet. Coolant is overheating and probably shooting out of an overflow tube somewhere, I'll have to check ours to verify. A couple of possibilities come to mind.
1. Check your fans. Start engine, let idle with a/c off, see if it kicks on when coolant heats up. Then, turn on a/c and check if other fan comes on.
2. Check your thermostat. With engine cool, open cap, start motor, let it reach operating temperature and see if you can observe any coolant flow. May be a little difficult with the remote overflow, I'm not sure if there is much to observe, but if you can't see anything and you know that the motor is way hot, try feeling the radiator end tanks. Generally, if there is flow, both sides will feel equally warm/hot. If no flow, one side will be noticeably cooler. (Note: Never put face/body over any radiator opening at any time, observe from the side. I have seen it happen where a car was overheating, the cap was opened safely, radiator was being filled, all seemed well, and when person went to take a look into radiator, coolant came shooting out and blasted him in the face with boiling water. A malfunctioning thermostat was staying closed and not allowing anything to flow, but held back all the pressure, then released it all at once. Not pretty.)

Anyway, good luck and let us know what the problem was.

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dongnong

Discussion Starter · #4 · Oct 14, 2003

Thanks for the input guys! I'll be taking a look sometime during the day.

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MrJingles

· #5 · Oct 14, 2003

Shoot the car and put it out of its misery. I really should do the same for my car ...

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bill disorbo

· #6 · Oct 14, 2003

Bring it to the dealership.

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