Recent content by CNAKitty

Hey guys. I'm in a similar situation. Blown head gasket caused coolant to mix in with my oil. Unfortunately, the gasket job isn't something I could tackle on my own, so I had the car towed to an AAMCO shop for an estimate. The guy there is trying to BS me into buying a new engine for my 98 Buick...

Here's pictures of my cap. The first one shows how gunky it was STILL after cleaning with a paper towel. The second, misnamed one shows after I scrubbed it with dishsoap and a good scrub sponge. I'm still replacing it today.

Thanks. The thing is, even though I was needing to add so much coolant at first, I'm not seeing evidence of a bad leak on the pavement under car. I'm thinking it was the fact that it had mostly water, not coolant, it was evaporating/boiling down, since I started topping it up with the 50/50 Peak...

Thanks. Since the radiator is all gunky as witness my poor cap, I'm still going with original plan of drain, flush & refill now that I have a night off. I'm replacing both hoses, even new clamps, ALL coolant, thermostat, and radiator cap with quality new ones. I WOULD replace the reservoir tank...

Yes they came on the other night when I checked. Running the heater on HIGH has allowed me to baby it enough to get back and forth to work last 2 nights w/o overheating again at the slower speeds. I'm replacing both hoses, all coolant, thermostat, cap, and go from there. I wanted to replace the...

Yeah, I was thinking along the same line about it boiling over into the reservoir then sucking back in. I know it's gunky, which is 1 reason I planned to flush it soon. And the reason I bought a replacement thermostat as well. Seems like I jinxed myself by planning this when there weren't these...

That's the first thing I'm getting asap. I just discovered it was gunked up last night when the parts stores were closed and haven't had a chance yet. I did clean it up, but still plan on getting a new one.

Good news on the fans. With the cab blower fan on, they run. I had to run to the office for my check (wish they had direct deposit), and with the fan on high, temp dial straight up between cool and heat, and set at "normal" not Max or Heat, it didn't get near as hot. I checked the reservoir...

NO mechanic will touch my car right now (nor could I afford them taking days which they tend to do in my experience). I'm a front line nursing assistant working directly with COVID 19 patients, and therefore exposed nightly to the virus, which means so is my car's interior from my driving home...

Thanks for fan info! I can check that now! Replies coming so fast I almost missed yours!

If you mean don't keep the AC temp at 100% cool, I'm not running it at all. As for keeping the fan running, do you mean the blower fan in the cab? No one has yet answered my question regarding the engine fans!

What's best way to check the water pump? Can it be done without taking off or needing to drain etc?

'98 buick Century, recently bought, less than 160K miles, 3.1L, And I have no prior maintenance records from previous owners. I have had to add water to the reservoir now and then past few months since I bought it. As stated, planned to drain/flush and fill soon, as a maintenance thing since I...

It was steaming hot! And the gauge shows it heating up fast when I'm idling. And the fluid level in the reservoir keeps going way down.The main question regards the fans. Are they supposed to be turning when parked and idling? Because mine aren't.

My car wasn't overheating while driving. But last night while sitting idling in a drive thru forever, I started hearing a odd noise from the front, and my passenger noticed "smoke" coming from under the hood. I shut the engine off and popped the hood. The water in my radiator reserve tank was...