Pontiac grand prix se 3.1 coolant problems
Asked by Chrisjay21 Sep 23, 2016 at 09:40 PM about the 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix SE
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
Ok so I have a 2002 pontiac grand prix se
3.1. I'm kinda lost at what to do since I'm not
a car guy, I do have mechanical abilities as I
have fixed a couple things already on
vehicles. But I was wondering, I'm having an
overheating problem due to my radiator
being sucked dry, air getting in my coolant
system which I've bled twice. It'll run fine for
a couple days after I bleed it, then start to
overheat, I seem to be loosing coolant
below the belts and near the back of the
engine when the car starts to overheat.
Sometimes I also don't have heat. It's not
like I'm loosing fluid all the time because
most of the time I can't see any apparent
leak. I've ran the car with the radiator cap
off and it seems to be circulating well. I
know my information is all over the place
but like I said I'm not a mechanic!!! Please
respond asap with any information
10 Answers
enginecreator answered 8 years ago
Is the leak near the water pump? If so replace it.
Chrisjay21 answered 8 years ago
Only leak I seen was after the car got really hot and overheated. and it came from around the back of the bottom end of the motor
Chrisjay21 answered 8 years ago
No heat right now, temp gauge fluctuating but not past 210. Bled alot of air out the system lastnight afyer having problems with overheating, drove to work and no heat at all, cool air. And like I said temp gauge fluctuating.
watch a video on how to clean out or unplug heater core. it will at least help you in an overheat condition you can turn your heat on full blast to help keep engine cool
Chrisjay21 answered 8 years ago
Was gonna replace the heater core but if can unplug or clean out that would be better
First issue is to find out where the coolant is going. Are all the hose clamps tight? There are a couple of plastic elbows in the heater lines that always fail eventually. Usually they just blow out and dump all the coolant, but maybe yours aren't quite there yet. Good new is they are cheap and easy to change and should be changed even if they're not leaking yet. It can also be leaking at the head gaskets (which you do not want to fix) or the intake manifold which could be running down the engine as you drive (you really don't want to fix that either if you don't have to. Put a couple of units of Bars Leak into the system and make sure its full and has no air trapped. That will often fix up bad gaskets well enough to get to the end of whatever life is left in this car. Its easy and its cheap so if it doesn't work, you're not out much. Remember its 14 years old and not worth spending boat loads of money on if you don't have to. And no, the Bars Leak won't harm your cooling system in any way despite what the alarmists might try to tell you.
Chrisjay21 answered 8 years ago
Yea don't really have the funds to dump into it anyway, so I appreciate the cheap thinking lol. Definitely will try the bars leak. As for it leaking only time I noticed or could see one is when the car gets really hot. Thank you I appreciate the help.
