Ice Packed Radiator

SoulSoak

SoulSoak

Dedicated LVC Member
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Hey guys,

I had taken my LS in over a fan issue a month or two ago because my car kept overheating or atleast the temp gauge said it was overheating as it read 3/4 temp. So the dealer said that the radiator was really clogged and blocked up, and after I'd gotten it back from them I had no issues until this morning. After sitting idling in parking lot for 10min it started heat creeping. With no time to really inspect it due to it being 5am and dark, I glanced under the hood and went inside.

I'm assuming that with all the bad freezing rain/snow mixture my radiator could be packed with ice again. Is there any specific way or caution to take when cleaning it out? Like can I just go to a DIY power spray car wash and blast it with warm water for 5 min or what?

Of course this is assuming my radiator is however clogged. If it's not then I suppose I'm back in a s*** basket with a knot in my stomach.
 
I'm just going to go ahead and order new fill and degas caps, as well as new upper and lower radiator hoses. They're the only cooling components I haven't replaced, and what's another $200 for peace of mind? Might as well replace them to rule them out if problem persists. Glad we got some warmer weather coming. It's sad when low 30's is considered warm weather lol
 
As long as the coolant isn't too thin it'll simply warm the ice and snow around the fins and melt it away. I accidentally froze my '68 Ranchero a couple weeks ago (water pump was leaking and I just kept adding water last summer) and just poured about ten gallons of hot water over the radiator and hoses slowly while the engine idled. It took about twenty minutes to thaw everything out and luckily didn't pop a freeze plug or cause any other damage.
 
Got out of work early. When I got home I checked everything under the hood. It appears as I've lost some coolant. The coolant level has dropped about 3/4" in the degas tank since my coolant system overhaul last August. I checked around the radiator hoses and I did notice a slight bit of dried white residue spots that look as if they came from the lower radiator hose plastic fixture and ran down the oil cooler lines.

Is it common to experience overheating with a leak so small that you only lose a half inch from degas tank over a period of 6 months? I would assume the leak would have to be more severe, or at least lose more coolant than I have. But I'm no expert otherwise I wouldn't be here lol.

I'm planning to go ahead and order my new upper/lower hoses as well as new engine fill and degas caps. I'll keep you guys updated but this probably won't happen until I got steady decent weather. Unless this overheating goes crazy, then it'll be sooner.
 
SoulSoak said:
Got out of work early. When I got home I checked everything under the hood. It appears as I've lost some coolant. The coolant level has dropped about 3/4" in the degas tank since my coolant system overhaul last August. I checked around the radiator hoses and I did notice a slight bit of dried white residue spots that look as if they came from the lower radiator hose plastic fixture and ran down the oil cooler lines.

Is it common to experience overheating with a leak so small that you only lose a half inch from degas tank over a period of 6 months? I would assume the leak would have to be more severe, or at least lose more coolant than I have. But I'm no expert otherwise I wouldn't be here lol.

I'm planning to go ahead and order my new upper/lower hoses as well as new engine fill and degas caps. I'll keep you guys updated but this probably won't happen until I got steady decent weather. Unless this overheating goes crazy, then it'll be sooner.
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Yes. I was in the same boat on my '06 with the upper radiator hose. Lost some coolant with no obvious leak. I had the residue on the hood liner and the passenger side of the engine bay; not a lot, just enough to make me investigate. I didn't see the leak until about 3 months later when the pinhole in the hose sprung a real leak (about 2 years ago). Interestingly enough, with over 123K miles all the other cooling system parts are original.
 
SoulSoak said:
...Is it common to experience overheating with a leak so small that you only lose a half inch from degas tank over a period of 6 months? ....
Click to expand...

I don't know if common is the right word, but it is not unusual. You are looking at it the wrong way. It's not the minor loss of coolant that is the problem. You could lose considerably more than that before there was any problem. The problem is that air is getting sucked into the system through that leak each time the engine cools down. The air in the system blocks coolant circulation, and that causes overheating.
 
Okay, I still plan to replace the caps as well as the hoses... but now I'm stumped..

I went to pick up a couple of the fellas to play some poker this afternoon and while driving the temp started to creep. It was horizontal for 20minutes and then crept just a tiny bit past horizontal. I'd have to say around 6/10th's. It stayed there for a minute or so and while we were listening to music, the bass dropped the temp needle instantly jumped to 3/4. I turned the music down. At first I thought to myself... "I swear this temp needle just reacted with my bass.." but found it hard to believe. It went back down to just above the horizontal mark for another couple minutes of driving (6/10th's again), and as I turn the music back up and as soon as the bass hit the needle instantly jumped to 3/4sh again. This happened in EXACT correlation as the timing that the bass hit.

I only have a single 12" alpine type R and a 700 watt rockford fosgate amp. It does hit hard, but I wouldn't think it'd have a physical effect on my cooling system. I mean... could the vibration of it really cause any part of my cooling system to react to it..? That seems quite surreal. Because if that were the case, driving over railroads and/or pot holes etc. would trigger the symptom as well (In theory).

I just bring this up because I find it hard to be coincidental that the temp gauge reacted directly to my bass line... TWICE..

I don't know if anyone has any helpful or advisable input but I just wanted to update because now my mind is at a complete loss. Like I said, I still plan to replace the upper and lower radiator hoses as well as the engine fill and degas cap simply because after doing so my entire cooling system as been replaced (minus the radiator itself). But what really kicks me in the ass... is I've STOPPED the car when the temp gauge is reading 3/4 hot, popped the hood and come to find that the engine cooling fan is not running at any noticeably higher speed than normal operation at normal temperature...

When my car first overheated on me last summer in July, the temp gauge read 3/4 and I turned the car off. You could hear coolant boiling out of control. Also when this incident occurred, I had cycled the key to the run position without cranking and the temp still read 3/4 and gradually decreased as it cooled down.

Now when my temp needle is reading 3/4, I pop the hood and there's no coolant boiling noise, the fan is at normal speed, then engine doesn't feel "Hot" (though I know I'm not a thermometer), and to TOP IT ALL OFF... when I shut the engine off and cycle the key back to the run position the needle is instantly back to horizontal (normal operating temperature).

I'm just so confused. I've explained this situation and symptom to the dealer and as you all know... the mechanics and technicians don't get payed enough to actually care about your vehicle. They get payed enough to make their paper work legit, and get all the money they can from you legally. Dealerships are a license to steal and that's the god given truth. I'm not looking for responses to this statement and sorry if I offended anyone that may work at a dealer or represent one. I just want to address the problem my car is having and the symptoms I'm getting aren't adding up or pointing directly to a source.

So I suppose I'm just going to order my hoses and caps come Monday, and get my hands dirty in the next stretch of decent weather. Sorry to bore you guys, but any advice is greatly appreciated and thanks for being an awesome community. God bless
 
You probably dropped the voltage enough to alter the sensor reading slightly. Please do note that the temperature gauge is scaled. It's not linear. For a wide temperature range (considered normal operating), the needle will stay at exactly the center point. Once it gets past the center point, there is a very narrow temperature range. It may be that there are only a few degrees difference between just above the half way mark and all the way to "H."

The long and short of it is, once you are even slightly above the half way mark, you are overheating. It really doesn't matter that much how far above the mark you are.
 
joegr said:
You probably dropped the voltage enough to alter the sensor reading slightly. Please do note that the temperature gauge is scaled. It's not linear. For a wide temperature range (considered normal operating), the needle will stay at exactly the center point. Once it gets past the center point, there is a very narrow temperature range. It may be that there are only a few degrees difference between just above the half way mark and all the way to "H."

The long and short of it is, once you are even slightly above the half way mark, you are overheating. It really doesn't matter that much how far above the mark you are.
Click to expand...

Thanks Joe, didn't know the temp gauge was scaled to such minimal intergers. Well hopefully after new hoses and caps I'm good. Good morning and God bless LVC
 
Check your radiator itself, near the top towards the passenger side of the vehicle - the tank - a common place for it to fail. Several members including myself have had a crack towards the front of the vehicle there.
 
jjcool00 said:
Check your radiator itself, near the top towards the passenger side of the vehicle - the tank - a common place for it to fail. Several members including myself have had a crack towards the front of the vehicle there.
Click to expand...

Thanks I'll check this out
 
You have been d!cking around with this thing's cooling issues since September.
 
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