My Overheating or Degas bottle findings.

WS6HUMMER

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Well, you guys were right, the problem did lie in the Degas bottle. Yes it had spider or stress cracks that you couldnt see untill you pulled it out of the car.
What I ALSO found was a broken siphon tube inside the bottle. When I pulled the bottle out I emptied it and threw it on the ground beside the car and it made a sound indicating that something metal was loose inside the bottle. Upon close inspection I noticed that the nipple in the top of the jug/bottle beside the false nipple the heater bleader loops around is supposed to have a brass tube insude the nipple pressed in that makes a 90* turn inside the bottle and goes straight down. My sipohn tube just fell out loose inside the jug and all that was going to that hose was hot pressured air from inside the Degas bottle instead of the coolant it should be receiving from the bottom. Hope this helps someone in some way.

Also my car is an 03 LS8, I looked up the cooling system info on All Data @ work and found that these cars (the 03 V8's @ least) have a secondary electric water pump. I noticed the sound it made while trying to diagnose the problem and have heard other people mention the sound but no one on this forum ever mentioned anything about it so I just figured I'd mention it.
 
That whiring noise that gets quiet after you stop at a light or park?

When I noticed mine running, it was right after I killed the engine in the driveway because it was overheating. I shut off the engine poped the hood, herd liquid rushing back to the Degas bottle and a faint noise of an electric motor running. The electric motor I heard running was the aux water pump.
 
See, I dont know what my noise still is then. Its not like that, it kinda slowly howls or humms up when accelerating, stays at a certain level of sound then goes down when stopping, but the sound dont stop, it slowly gets quieter as the car sits a few seconds. I loose some power, not shutting down but I loose power that I can feel in performance as well. The last time this started it did it for a bit then the degas bottle cracked. I dont know if it was related or not but the noise seems like somethings getting to hot. It also dont do it all the time, only sometimes.
 
See, I dont know what my noise still is then. Its not like that, it kinda slowly howls or humms up when accelerating, stays at a certain level of sound then goes down when stopping, but the sound dont stop, it slowly gets quieter as the car sits a few seconds. I loose some power, not shutting down but I loose power that I can feel in performance as well. The last time this started it did it for a bit then the degas bottle cracked. I dont know if it was related or not but the noise seems like somethings getting to hot. It also dont do it all the time, only sometimes.

Wow, what about idling? Will it do it @ idle so you can stick you head under the hood and investigate?

What about the acessory drive belt, is anything locking up? Will it still make the noise with the ac off? Did you spill any coolant on the belt while burping the cooling system?

Mine made some squeaking and howling while it was drying the belt off, I tried to avoid spilling coolant on the belt like All-Data said but it was inevitable.

Think you may have a idler pulley, waterpump, or AC compressor locking up?
That would rob power and probably not throw a DTC.
 
Sometimes when the belt gets wet (water, coolant, etc..) and it's an old belt. It will scream,howl, whatever you want to call it until the belt heats up.

You hear it all the times on the crap cars people don't take car of. Do you think while draining to the bottle or switching it out that it could have dripped on the belts? Or the bottle been leaking?
 
I think the sound you're hearing is just the cooling fan kicking in. It goes up and down with the engine revs.

Mine always comes on when I overheat. The odd thing is that it sometimes comes on when the temp is at or below normal, but when it does the engine will always overheat. I don't understand how it "knows" the engine is going to overheat unless it has its own temperature sensor somewhere else in the system.

I got my degas bottle about a week ago but haven't installed it yet. Temps have been below 50° here and for whatever reason I don't have problems when its cooler outside. This weekend it is supposed to be a lot warmer, so I will probably have to finally make the swap.

Hummer, how long did it take you to change the bottle? Any difficulties?
 
Shouldn't take more that an hour from start to finish. Of course that also includes draining and filling the engine coolant.


1. Drain the engine cooling system.
2. Remove the cowl vent screen.
3. Disconnect the engine vent hose, and separate the air bleed hose from the degas bottle.
4. Remove the seven bolts and reposition the cross vehicle support.
5. Disconnect the degas return hose from the degas return tube.
6. Remove the two bolts.
7. Remove the degas bottle from the vehicle.
 
Hummer, how long did it take you to change the bottle? Any difficulties?

Not very long, about 30 minutes. You must first remove the wiper arms, cowl panel, strut tower brace/cowl support, then fight the hose clamp on the hose coming off the bottom Degas bottle. Make sure you remove the side of the hose that connects to the pipe behind the drivers side head, the new bottle comes with the hose on it already, that's exactly the way it needs to come off the car. Fill and bleed the air and your done. All you should need are a medium length needle nose pliers, 10 & 13mm sockets and ratchet. Not that difficult at all.
 
Shouldn't take more that an hour from start to finish. Of course that also includes draining and filling the engine coolant.


1. Drain the engine cooling system.
2. Remove the cowl vent screen.
3. Disconnect the engine vent hose, and separate the air bleed hose from the degas bottle.
4. Remove the seven bolts and reposition the cross vehicle support.
5. Disconnect the degas return hose from the degas return tube.
6. Remove the two bolts.
7. Remove the degas bottle from the vehicle.


You dont need to drain the coolant from the engine just the Degas bottle. I only lost about 3/4 of a gallon of coolant.
 
Eliot Ness - That whirring sound is most certainly the fan running. I had a problem with overheating and heard it every time the temp gauge rose above 9 o'clock. Since the overheating has been fixed I haven't heard the whirring since. I suspect that the radiator/cooling system is efficient enough that the fan isn't needed in normal driving conditions...thankfully. That thing can make a lot of noise.
 
Wow, what about idling?

At idle its to faint.None of the rest fits either.
I think the sound you're hearing is just the cooling fan kicking in

Thats what I was thinking but its not just the regular sound. It seems to come from the belt area but its not the fan or the belts unless there is something wrong with the fan that it works extra hard when this is happening cause it gets really loud allmost sounds like a camed out S.C'ed muscle car and lose alot of performance but there is no warning lights or messages.
 

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