Overheating

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

It strikes again. Several hundred dollars later and all new plastic this piece of junk has me stranded as we speak.

Did the temp gauge peg H?

Oddly enough, my 06 only pegged H once when the tstat blew during hard acceleration on a sloped on-ramp.
Every other time, it's just been literally a hair's width over middle / top of the waves on the symbol, just with very noticeable coolant loss.

 

[Bnewton530]

Yeah it pins H after about 5 minutes. No matter what. Then if I cool it to midrange then it pegs in about 30 seconds.

 

[RigsLS]

Air in system

 

[Bnewton530]

Yeah. I also suspect that I got a defective hose from motorcraft. It's steaming.

 

[RigsLS]

A defective hose?

Newton, although you didn't answer some key questions we are to assume it's one of the rubber lines coming and going to the Dual Climate Control Valve. Such rubber lines often do not prove themselves to either require replacing nor are provided defective. However, anything is possible.

I noted your frustrations in your other thread. Referring to your LS as a POS.

It's steaming because it's overheating.
It's overheating because there is air in the system.

I can understand your not interested in replacing the entire cooling system with brand new OEM part because you noted that the previous owner had already replace several items.

These frustrations you are experiencing are the direct cause of only replacing some items and now dealing with the items that were not replaced the first time around. Recall we said specifically that the system ages at the same rate. Replacing a piece here and there will only lead to further failures of the remaining items which were not addressed previously.

Trust me, I'm with you on the "attempting" efforts of piecing it back together as long as you are prepared for the fact that it can and will continue to fail.

Now ....

You replaced a line at the DCCV.
The system dumped most it's coolant.

When you finished replacing that line and you were convinced that it's not leaking anywhere else and should be fully capable of making and keeping pressure, did you open the bleed valve and while you were adding coolant at the fill neck, DID YOU MASSAGE THE RUBBER HOSES AND THEREBY BURPED AND ASSISTED THE AIR OUT?

The trick to it when refilling, is to add a little coolant at a time and squeeze the large rubber hose gently ever so small, to burp the air out of the system while continously adding more coolant.

To the part where the level at the fill neck nearly wants to overflow when you squeeze the lines.

When your convinced you hear and saw the curgeling of air out past the fill neck without overflowing the coolant, what I always like to do is have another person start the car and idle up slightly .... immediately as that happens, you can see the level at the fill neck get sucked down, continue to poor coolant down and try and catch up with it then close it by screwing the cap on.

Do not do this process too long as when the engine gets up to temp and the thermostat opens, it will puke coolant everywhere. It'd a quick startup and fill then close.

The degas bottle level should have already been at level and it would further suck coolant into the system, you'd need to ensure it does not run empty and begin to suck air back into the system.

I honestly recommend a second person to keep idle with full heat on while you bled it.

Close and reopen the bleed valve continuesly and verify a solid continuous flow. No drips with air in between. Wash any coolant coming out down with a water hose. Just goes behind front left wheel, no biggie.

You may have to attempt the bleed process once or twice more to assist and ensure all air is out. It's only going to stop overheating once all the air is out and able to retain pressure as a whole.

Please don't get frustrated, take a step back and have a thought as to why you aren't getting all the air out.

You have to understand, if your not going to replace any further plastic parts,you had better be 100% sure it doesn't have any further microcracks or line leaks. Thermostat also had to be installed properly and correctly.

Best of luck, it's not all that difficult but get another person to hold steady idle while you bleed it.

Myself I redid my entire 01 1st GEN plstic cooling system, Aux pump, DCCV, JAG tstat hosing, degas bottle and inlet pipe. I did not have to replace the rad nor a few rubber lines. ... I successfully bled it within minutes on the first go and has not presented any further problems since rebuild.

GLWR ... and keep calm Bud. Just a pesky precise plastic cooling system.

 

[StaySideways]

Didn't he say somewhere else that his LS has well over 250K miles on it? I am impressed that it is still alive, even more impressed that he is surprised when something breaks.

 

[1LoudLS]

I have a hard time believing any car that has ticked over 250k can be a POS. I mean sh!t, a "good" car can have a hard time making it near 200k.

people usually call it a POS because they are mad when either something does break and it cost a lot to fix fix because it is a 40k luxury car, or they bought a 40k luxury car for pennies in the dollar because it was all used and abused when they got it and everything IS falling apart.

 

[Gary Vogeler]

For members who purchased their LS new like me, you can probably understand my perspective.

I purchased my LS in July 02 for ~$38k. At the time, I researched what else I could purchase for $38k. Lexus options were limited to the ES330. FWD, no thank you. The RWD LSs could not be touched for less than $10k more.

BMW options were slightly better. 3 Series was RWD and comparable price, but the 3 Series is small. The LS is closer in size to the 5 Series but again, looking at ~10k more.

Didn't care for the Acuras, again FWD. Can't recall if the AWDs were available.

No Mercedes dealer close by so I didn't investigate but I expect it was the same situation as the BMW. And my co-worker who bought a 2005 C class had nothing but stupid problems. Eventually he dumped it for a loaded, trouble free Ram 1500.

Audi A6 AWD was attractive but limited to V6 and pricey.

Cadilllac CTS was new but I could not handle the styling. Think the V8 was not available either.

Everyone here knows the Jag S type was $10k more too.

I've had my share of issues with my LS outside of normal maintenance, but for the total money spent, I've had a safe, good size car (worked in a ford only salvage yard in HS, the small cars were the death cars) with V8 power and torque. It handles better than any car I've owned and I still think it looks great, especially from the 2nd floor of our office building.

I have few complaints for the money spent from 2002-2007 (0% financing over 60 months which few others were offering).

I can understand frustration with the current owners who purchased used however I also expect the same differences I identified above are reflected in the used car purchase prices. You get what you pay for.

I probably won't see 200k miles with mine, too many short trips for the wife to work during its youth. I'm at 91k but have a lot of thermal cycles. I'm glad to see there are a lot of LSs on this forum that are at or above 200k.

I still think it is a great car for the $$$ I spent. Plan to keep it for a few more until the 15 Explorer Sport is paid off. Always wanted a convertible so LS replacement will be a ragtop.

It's all about your perspective.

 

[Bnewton530]

Don't get me wrong guys. I was just angry. The LS is a hell of a car. And it still drives like new. With starting my engineering job and life setting in I just don't have the time to fix one problem after the other. And I know that eventually the back to back will stop. For a nearly 300k car it is evident how well built it is. I wish in all the years since the release of these things Ford would have sent out some aluminum versions of the plastic coolin parts.

 

[Jay Will]

So I have heard. I am getting so sick of this car. What's over in that direction? It's not the thermostat assembly. It's toward the bottom. It is leaking onto the splash guard pretty quickly.

Sounds like it could be the temperature control valve or the auxiliary pump. I'd try the auxiliary pump first as long as you still have heat.

 

[Jay Will]

Right front = DCCV, rad (plastic side tank), hoses

Been there, done ALL of that, including the damn coolant crossover.
I'm talking hoses, tstat, degas, rad, DCCV, the whole nine yards

On the upside, she is purrdy. It's like with women - we see a nice face/body, and try our darndest to put up with her personality
View attachment 828487341

She is purdy, where did you find that ground effects kit? I like the circular fog lights.

 

[Jay Will]

what do you know? After going through hell with the hard shifting, I finally get my beloved car on the road and it pins the temp needle. There is coolant leaking from the right front now too. Any suggestions?

Just a heads up, if you end up removing the throttle body to get to the entire thermostat housing, be careful with the fuel regulator attached to the fuel rail. It's probably severely dry rotted from extreme heating over the years.

 

[Jay Will]

There appears to have been a huge leak at the dccv. But I'm sitting here and he car has been running for a long time and no leak nor is it overheating. Any suggestions?

Pump up the pressure and watch it closely, I doubt it fixed itself.

 

[1LoudLS]

She is purdy, where did you find that ground effects kit? I like the circular fog lights.

there is no ground effect kit, that is how the 2nd gen LSE and all 06 LSes look, they come with a unique front bumper, side skirts, and grill (his headlights do have eyebrows on)

 

[Gary Vogeler]

Don't get me wrong guys. I was just angry. The LS is a hell of a car. And it still drives like new. With starting my engineering job and life setting in I just don't have the time to fix one problem after the other. And I know that eventually the back to back will stop. For a nearly 300k car it is evident how well built it is. I wish in all the years since the release of these things Ford would have sent out some aluminum versions of the plastic coolin parts.

No problem with getting angry. That's part of being human.

I don't like dumping a few hundred or a thousand into my LS every year or so either. Just had the remaining 5 OEM COPs and front tie rod ends replaced a few weeks ago. One other COPs would only occasionally misfire when the engine was at temp AND the outside air was above 60F. Frustrating, so I just had the remaining OEMs replaced. No misfire since.

I would like to know if other members have had an experience with the DCCV like I had in 2012. I had the dreaded hot one side, cold the other side when I tried to use the AC for the first time of the season. I took it to my dealer suspecting the DCCV however, they performed a cooling system flush and the system has worked correctly ever since. I can't recall seeing any other posts where a flush resolved a stuck DCCV however there are many threads related to cooling system issues.