HELP!! 94 LeBaron Convertible is overheating BAD!

Just an update...

The water pump was, in fact, bad. I had it replaced and all is well!

I had them replace the timing chain as well. Since I only have around
130,000 miles, it wasn't QUITE time to do it. But, better to do it while
it's all apart, instead of paying for double the work.

They said that the water pipe coming from the block looks better than most
of the cars that come through. Could that be because I use distilled water
in my coolant?



"Ted Mittelstaedt" > wrote in message
...
>
> "SMoo" > wrote in message
> ...
>> I don't think there is coolant inside the vehicle...
>>
>> I've been told that this car has the core completely outside of the
> cabin...
>>
>>
>
> That may be so, but if the core is bad you most definitely are going to
> smell
> coolant with the heater or defroster on, since it's blowing air over the
> bad
> core then into the passenger compartment. If you don't smell it then your
> probably fine with the heater. You could have a crack in a hose going to
> the heater. Hoses often crack first at stress points, such as where the
> hose is clamped to a tube.
>
> Another kind of rule of thumb is that if you have coolant just hissing or
> dripping out, it's probably a hole or crack in some metal coolant line.
> If
> you have coolant gushing out it's probably a crack in a flexible line like
> a hose. When hoses crack the crack bursts open like a balloon popping
> and usually gets a lot larger, a lot quicker. There are exceptions of
> course
> to this.
>
> Ted
>
>

SMoo wrote:

> Just an update...

> The water pump was, in fact, bad. I had it replaced and all is well!

> I had them replace the timing chain as well. Since I only have around
> 130,000 miles, it wasn't QUITE time to do it. But, better to do it while
> it's all apart, instead of paying for double the work.

> They said that the water pipe coming from the block looks better than most
> of the cars that come through. Could that be because I use distilled water
> in my coolant?

if you live in an area that has excessively hard water then yes,
using distilled water is a good idea. Also, if you have a
water softener you definitely want to do this since water softners
work by replacing the minerals with sodium (that is why you have to
keep dumping rock salt into them) which is not something that you
want to put into your coolant.

Also, coolant has anti-rust additives, and if you don't change it
every couple of years, those additives get used up. The coolant may
look OK and still test out good with a hydrometer, but not have
any rust-preventatives left in it.

Ted

SMoo wrote:

> Just an update...
>
> The water pump was, in fact, bad. I had it replaced and all is well!
>
> I had them replace the timing chain as well. Since I only have around
> 130,000 miles, it wasn't QUITE time to do it. But, better to do it while
> it's all apart, instead of paying for double the work.
>
> They said that the water pipe coming from the block looks better than most
> of the cars that come through. Could that be because I use distilled water
> in my coolant?

Could be as distilled water is what you are supposed to mix with the
coolant. Have you changed your coolant and flushed the cooling system
per the maintenance schedule in your OM?


Matt

Yes, I've done it twice now.

Each refill I've used distilled water...



"Matt Whiting" > wrote in message
...
> SMoo wrote:
>
>> Just an update...
>>
>> The water pump was, in fact, bad. I had it replaced and all is well!
>>
>> I had them replace the timing chain as well. Since I only have around
>> 130,000 miles, it wasn't QUITE time to do it. But, better to do it while
>> it's all apart, instead of paying for double the work.
>>
>> They said that the water pipe coming from the block looks better than
>> most of the cars that come through. Could that be because I use distilled
>> water in my coolant?
>
> Could be as distilled water is what you are supposed to mix with the
> coolant. Have you changed your coolant and flushed the cooling system per
> the maintenance schedule in your OM?
>
>
> Matt

SMoo wrote:
> Yes, I've done it twice now.
>
> Each refill I've used distilled water...

Then I'm not surprised at all that the coolant passages are pretty
clean. I maintain my 1996 GV much the same and its still on its
original radiator, heater core, etc. with 169,000 miles on it and when
ever I change the hoses the internals still look pretty good.


Matt