Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting i love overheating

umm when i start the car with the overflow cap off i do get some bubbles in the tank, but the oil looks perfect. thermostat works perfect.

say it is the engine how much would a replacement run me???

You might have a small leak on the head gasket but you don't need a $3000 engine job. You still haven't ruled out a system air lock or plugged heater core. Look at the small picture first. Do some trouble shooting!

okay so i got exhaust coming out of the overflow tank. i have hot and cold coming out on high hot. it just switches up. i dont see how to check the heatercore with it off for a clog. and what is the solution for an airlock?

Raise the front tires off the ground / ramps are fine.
Start the engine-let it get to full temp. Leave the cap off the expansion tank and watch for circulation. Massage the rad hoses as well during the process. Turn the heat on full and the fan on 4. If there is air it will eventually pushed to the top of the system. Keep feeling the vents for heat quality.
What does you temp guage say at full temp. Is it over the R, A, L, ??

i'll give that a whirl tommorow, it usally wont overheat just sitting there. when i touch the hoses i usally dont get much flow over by the tstat

This may be a silly question. Is the thermostat in correctly?

yea tstat in correct. so when i turn it on i get bubbles in the reservoir for like 5 seconds and exhaust ish gas coming out of it.

What's the mileage?
Try this: start engine and take off cap to resovior.
While at idle, pull one spark plug lead off and watch what happens in the resovoir. If the bubbling stops completely or gets right out of hand, more than likely the head gasket is leaking around that cylinder.
Getting a service like that done will cost around $1000-$1200.
If there is no change in the expansion tank during this test you can rule out your worst fear.

yea but the worst thing is that the bubbles go away within about 10 seconds so it will be hard checking this out. is this a good sign that they go away quickly