There's a coolant leak somewhere in the LS's engine (already checked water pump, thermostat, degas bottle, and thermostat housing/cover) and causes the car to overheat everytime I try to use the AC. So the past 2 weeks I've been riding with no AC. Yesterday I was removing the radio/climate control module to set up some speakers and since removing the control module, the AC is constantly on with no way of being turned off. The lights on the module only come on when the panel/floor button is pressed but no options to turn off the AC. Any suggestions? temporary fixes are welcomed
Coolant Control Module Issue
- Thread starter teforne
- Start date
jjcool00
Dedicated LVC Member
Have you checked the plastic tubes? Specifically the upper radiator hose? It tends to crack at the plastic T section. Where exactly is it leaking and how did you verify it wasn't the Degas? The degas bottle tends to leak intermittently under special conditions. If you are getting a leak near the driver side wheel well it is almost certainly the degas or the hose attached to the bottom of the degas. Hairline cracks tend to form over time and with in the right situation (high temperature coolant return causing the hairline crack to spread open) it will leak.
Is the leak elsewhere? Where exactly?
Is the leak elsewhere? Where exactly?
I verified is not the Degas bottle because I replace it last week because it used to leak from there. will check plastic T section. I noticed a hising noise coming from under the intake air filter but could not locate exactly where it was. Also, car over heated today but coolant level is normal, there was no leak this time and almost no pressure from the cap.
jjcool00
Dedicated LVC Member
Did you correctly bleed the system after replacing the Degas bottle? Have you noticed any leaks since replacing the degas?
Oops, haven't bled the system. I did notice a leak from the front of the engine but since then haven't seen it
jjcool00
Dedicated LVC Member
Front of the engine leads me to believe that its one of those plastic pipes... check the upper radiator hose and lower hoses. Once you find the leak (they are usually pinholes, hard to spot, however there is usually a white residue from the left over antifreeze - which is a good indication of where it is leaking) - replace whatever part is leaking, then bleed the system correctly.
jjcool00
Dedicated LVC Member
This was before or after the replacement? Most likely just need to bleed your system... follow the instructions posted in the tech articles section here: http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/tech/Lincoln-LS/CoolingSystemDraining/
Did you replace the cap along with the degas or just the degas?
Did you replace the cap along with the degas or just the degas?
after replacement and replaced cap with Degas
Will try replacing thermostat, its a small fix
joegr
Dedicated LVC Member
Well, it could be, but...
I've seen them with coolant boiling into the degas when the only problem was that it wasn't bled correctly after parts were replaced. If you have trapped air, it prevents circulation, so the coolant in the engine boils.
That said, any coolant at the front of the engine indicates that he does still have a leak. The only place the coolant vents by design, is at the cap of the degas bottle. Anywhere else is a always a leak.
Telco
Dedicated LVC Member
On any other car, you would be correct. On the LS you must replace the thermostat housing. Lincoln, for some stupid reason, chose to use an assemble it yourself thermostat that uses the thermostat housing to hold it together, THEN made that housing out of plastic and didn't even use any metal reinforcement on it. After repeated heat and pressure cycles, the tabs that hold the thermostat together will get brittle and break. Even if the housing is fine just this minute, you will need to replace the thermostat housing as well as the thermostat because the damage to the housing is cumulative. The new, stronger spring on the thermostat might even be enough to break the old housing on install. While you are in there, you may as well replace the rest of the plastic pieces and all the seals as well as the hoses because almost every single piece of it has to come out to change the parts. By the time you get to the thermostat housing, all that is left to pull out is the crosspipe and the third leg of the crosspipe. If you have the Gen 1 you can at least replace some of these parts with Jaguar metal parts but if you have a Gen 2, so far as I know you are stuck with plastic.
Make sure to get enough of the seals as well, I failed to do so when I did mine. Luckily the local Jaguar dealer was able to get the seals for me, my local Lincoln dealer was going to take several weeks to get the seals in but the Jag dealer next door to them had them to me the next day.
jjcool00
Dedicated LVC Member
Since the LS requires a decent amount of maintenance as it is getting older and older... I would recommend you keep a list of the things you've repaired. I keep a list on my phone of everything I do, what date, and what the mileage was when I did it, this way I always know exactly what I did and when I did it. Really helps out in situations like this, since you have changed several coolant parts you can eliminate some of them as a culprit.
Also, the bleed may not help you right now as you are currently experience a leak. The faulty part will continue letting in air until replaced. So you will have to replace the part first, then bleed.. to have the overheating issue completely resolved.
joegr
Dedicated LVC Member
Does "everything" include the short plastic pipe at a 45 degree angle from the top of the engine to the back of the thermostat cross over? (You would have needed to remove the intake manifold or cut some screws to change it.) If not, there's a good chance this is where it is leaking from in the front.
Yep, the plastic was breaking off and was gonna need replacing sooner or later so I went ahead and knocked that out when I seen it
I already keep a log off everything I've done for/to the car along with the old/faulty part I replaced, but just need a temporary fix so I can at least drive the car when I need it
I tried bleeding coolant system and no luck there. While test driving it, it over heated of course but I quickly looked under the hood and found the culprit
The plastic bracket holding three lower radiator go hose snapped and has been grinding on the power steering pump (explains why my power steering gives out randomly) and the metal pulley was grinding against the lower hose puncturing it.
The plastic bracket holding three lower radiator go hose snapped and has been grinding on the power steering pump (explains why my power steering gives out randomly) and the metal pulley was grinding against the lower hose puncturing it.
Telco
Dedicated LVC Member
Wow what a mess. What's up with the open hose, top pic, lower left hand corner? Looks like it is the oil cooler line and that it was cut, which I assume means that those two hoses hanging under the one that broke loose are looped to themselves?
I have no clue I was looking at that too trying to figure out what it was and why it was cut like that
Telco
Dedicated LVC Member
You have a 2001, right? Electric or hydraulic fan? If it isn't an oil cooler hose and you have an electric conversion I'd wonder if that isn't a hydraulic fan hose that was just left in.
joegr
Dedicated LVC Member
Notice also that the lower radiator hose (the one that has failed) was repaired/modified in the past. Someone cut part of the long plastic pipe off and added some radiator hose and clamped it to the cut off pipe. From the factory, it is a single assembly of a pipe with a hose on each end and the two oil cooler hoses in the middle.
It's an 01, and I'm not sure. I'll find out tomorrow when I bring it in the shop
Ok that explains alot Thanks, when I was searching for the hose all of the ones that came up looked nothing like the one I have
oddball
Dedicated LVC Member
That's the lower hose for the oil cooler. If you have the oil cooler (those two smaller rad lines go to a doo-dad that the oil filter screws onto), then that's the right one, although that specific one has been butchered. If those two lines coming off the plastic housing don't go anywhere, then you can get the non-sport lower rad hose.
The other hose that's hanging out there is something else, looks like the low pressure hose used for the power steering, hydraulic fan, and tranny cooler.
The other hose that's hanging out there is something else, looks like the low pressure hose used for the power steering, hydraulic fan, and tranny cooler.
RigsLS
Dedicated LVC Member
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2012
- Messages
- 7,756
- Reaction score
- 532
No, just pointing out the hose issue and that bolt looks backed out. 2 separate issues.