210,000 miles!!! need advice

[kslspaul]

hello everyone!

Ive had my 2002 ls for over 5 years now and love this car..... i should be a lincoln mechanic by now since ive repaired and figured out many issues with this car..... most frustrating problem was the first time overheating became a problem...... everyone tries the main three..... thermostat...not, cooling fan....hell no..... bleeding system nope!.... its the acuator on the powersteering pump!..... anyway that brings me to my newest prob

Car running any given time...... fan comes on(sounds like a tank fan!!) heater blows cold, engine overheats!.... this is an electrical glitch, this is how i know..... when it happens i can do one of three things to make it reset itself.... #1.... while cruising....put car in nuetral shut car off and restart... temp gauge goes back to normal #2 Stop and turn car off..... restart car resets itself..... #3 and my most favorite!!.... floor it, redline it and everytime it resets itself..... cars so fast this is my prefered method!!...

So with that said I think my problem is a faulty CHT sensor... my question is to conferm.... is it located under the intake manifold, and if anyone has removed the intake and how difficult is is to do. Pics would be great if anyone knows if they exist. The parts only twenty bucks

Thanks for your help........ Paul, Sorry bout spelling errors....... typing fast!

 

[Mechanicboy]

First post I see. We need more information. Year and engine at least.

 

[kslspaul]

ya im new........ 02 ls 3.9........ think i answered my question looking at the supercharger thread.... good pics of CHT and its location.............

 

[jt351]

It's not electrical!! cht will not do this. loss of heat means low coolant or no flow, where did you get your thermostat from? also I have not seen but have heard of the waterpump impeller coming loose from shaft, it is plastic impeller.

 

[Outkast]

I vote air in your system.

 

[Quik LS]

yes - the CHT is inboard of the 3/4 cylinder intake port, so you have to pull the manifold to get to it. they can wear the insulation off the leads and short....

it does seem like a classic t-stat being stuck.

 

[joegr]

It's not electrical!! cht will not do this. loss of heat means low coolant or no flow, where did you get your thermostat from? also I have not seen but have heard of the waterpump impeller coming loose from shaft, it is plastic impeller.

I agree. If it was just the overheat message, it could be electrical, but combine that with a lack of heat from the heater and it becomes a coolant flow issue.

 

[tireman]

Hmmmmm

210,000 miles! Kiss the ground where you live! If it wasn't for my Lincoln all my tools would rust!

No heat? Coolant problems,,,flow is bad or coolant leaking, any pressure in the system? Could be failing water pump. What have you changed in the coolant system? DCCV ok? Failed? The fan and coolant system are two different problems. You are going to need to isolate the problem first. Fix the fan if it is messed up, then go after the next issue. Already you know that the fan should not sound like a tank!

Check to see if the hoses are HOT going to the heater core when heat is full on, if not your DCCV could not be working correctly.

 

[lseguy]

those exact same symptoms on my 2002 V8 LSE..were solved by a thorough bleed, particularly making sure the cooling tower was COMPLETELY FULL..to the RIM..during the part of the bleed process that specifies "fill cooling tower". Anything less that the tower being totally full, resulted in random overheating.

 

[jt351]

I do a vacuum fill, I have a giant looking rubber cork, stick in reservoir and hook to a vacuum source, I have a air pressure to vacuum tank, let her suck for about 30 seconds pull off and watch coolant go down and take another gallon, you will be surprised how much air can get trapped after a leak, radiators can have a slow leak and steam it off w/o dripping on ground.