Low coolant, no heat AND the A/C feels like it's on all of the time.

DOC-Z

Chickun maka LOUSY housspaat!
Oct 13, 2008
1,386
158
Johnsburg, IL.
Real Name
-Larry
The other day, I was driving home and I didn't have much in the way of heat. I figured I had a problem with the radiator, so wasn't surprising to see the radiator was about 1/2 a bottle of coolant down.

However, when I filled it up, what looked like someone poured coffee grounds into a blender. Last weekend, I disconnected all of the hoses and used some pressurized water and blew it through the engine, heater core and radiator. All kinds of brown liquidy $#!t spewed out of the hoses. I then reconnected all of the hoses and filled the cooling system with Dex-Cool and warm water.

I thought this would have solved the problem plus revealed where the leak was. I drove the car, brought it up to temperature and there are NO leaks that I can see NOR were there any puddles of liquid on the ground.

I drove the car to work this morning, and it never registered over 200 degrees (I have a 180 degree thermostat in the car). In fact, I just replaced the 160 degree thermostat, so the car will run warmer for the winter. Anyway, the car NOW isn't blowing ANY heat, but the hoses going to the heater core are HOT. However, the A/C condenser was cold and full of condensation.

Does my HVAC sound like it's malfunctioning or FUBAR'd?

Also, today when I was driving the car, I was constantly checking under the car, and popping the hood to feel the radiator cap. I couldn't find any apparent leaks and the cap was hot. When I got home tonight, the radiator was again about a 1/4 to a 1/2 bottle of coolant low.

To me, this sounds like a bad radiator OR maybe some sort of leak somewhere. Because I can't see or SMELL anything, I'm thinking I have a blown head gasket or something.

You 3800 guy's on here have forgotten more than I've ever learned about these cars so I need your help to try to figure this out. ANY idea's? I want to say it's the HVAC, but the dials all feel like they turn the same. The vents all work properly, the blower motor works great, other than the air that comes out is colder than the outside air.



Engine: 3800 V6 Firebird with a T5 Manual
Mileage: about 105,000

Recent clutch replacement
I don't think the car doesn't run too hot for the thermostat
Most of the coffee ground $#!T was flushed out.


PLEASE HELP!
 

DOC-Z

Chickun maka LOUSY housspaat!
Oct 13, 2008
1,386
158
Johnsburg, IL.
Real Name
-Larry
I'm not sure what you mean. The hoses which go to the Heater Core, use some sort of twist and pull type connectors, that attach right next to each other. In fact, the heater hoses look just like the L67 3800 I had in my '99 GTP, except that I can actually get to them.
 

DOC-Z

Chickun maka LOUSY housspaat!
Oct 13, 2008
1,386
158
Johnsburg, IL.
Real Name
-Larry
After a few weeks and 4 cooling system flushes, I resolved the problem. I've done some research and found that that orange DEX-COOL coolant is SHIT! If you get a leak and don't notice it for a while, the coolant WILL degrade and turn into what looks like puree'd coffee grounds or basically mud!

Here's a link to what I found out about DEX-COOL and it's many PROBLEMS. (link --->)
Dex-cool Contamination

Apparently, this stuff will break down after 5 years OR 100,000 miles. In order to NOT void any current vehicle warranties, they recommend you replace your coolant every 2 years!

Direct Quote from link above:
General Motors introduced Dex-Cool to certain lines of vehicles in 1996. Since it was formulated without the addition of silicates (the corrosion inhibitors in green antifreeze) a different corrosion inhibitor strategy was needed. Organic Acid Technology or OAT is the inhibitor part of DEX-COOL. Unfortunately, the DEX-COOL is capable a rather nasty breakdown. The residue it leaves behind is very sticky, and likes to find areas in the engine and other areas to "drop out" or "fall out " of solution and stick to the wall surface of engine and radiator. If the residue is in the radiator, hoses, or recovery bottle, it's relatively easy to clean and remove the debris. When the residue is in the heads and block, only a chemical flush will remove this orange mud. In some cases, the orange mud hardens, and seems to expand or push the gasketed surfaces out of position, causing leaks.

As a side note, I also read that DEX-COOL doesn't play well with tap water. Instead, you need to dilute it with DISTILLED WATER ONLY.

To clean out the "MUD", I looked online to see what other people did. What you need to do is use a very weak acid, to break up the solid contaminants in your cooling system. I read that OXALIC ACID works really well. OXALIC ACID is commonly found as WOOD BLEACH. I called around and found some WOOD BLEACH at my local Ace Hardware. Neither the local Sherman-Williams or Home Depot had WOOD BLEACH in stock. Another thing you could use is VINEGAR. The WOOD BLEACH was $9.99 at Ace Hardware in McHenry, IL.. 2 gallons of VINEGAR was under 7.00 at the local IGA, Jewel and Meijer.

To dissolve the WOOD BLEACH, you need to add it to hot or very warm water. If you buy VINEGAR, you just add it into your radiator when it is cooled off.

However, my heater core was completely blocked and I had NO HEAT in my 2000 V6 Firebird. When I looked into the heater hoses, both the outgoing and return hoses were caked with mud. Figured it would work, I used a garden hose to try to push all the gunk out. It sort of worked, but not really well. I managed to bet a semi-solid, worm-like plug to ooze out of the heater core return hose. However, I was squirting water all over creation and when the hose slipped, water shot back out of the hose I was trying to pump it into. When I went against the normal flow, a brownish, chunky liquid started to come out of the other end.

I thought that was kind of odd, but at least some crud was coming out. As a result of the first flush, it looked like someone from Starbuck's had a full garbage can of coffee grounds and spilled them under my car. After the car was cooled down for several hours, I removed every hose and flushed out the entire system with water...reservoir and all.

I did the WOOD BLEACH flush and drove the car for a few driving hours. When I went to remove the hoses again and do another thorough flush, I was amazed that the rubber hoses looked really clean inside and the radiator was cleaner looking. I repeated the flush and draining of the system 2 more times...each time the system was looking cleaner and cleaner. The heat was still marginal at best, but every time I hooked the garden hose up to it, more gunk would flow out.

Yesterday, I did another flush. The radiator was immaculate inside.

I wound up running out of Oxalic Acid (a.k.a. WOOD BLEACH), but was told VINEGAR works just as well. It did work, but I think the WOOD BLEACH dissolved the gunk up better. The VINEGAR only emulsified it a little bit and caused it to come off the inside of the engine bits and want to float on top of the fluid. If you only have VINEGAR, then that will work, but the WOOD BLEACH worked better and quicker.

Moral of the story:

1). CHECK YOUR ANTIFREEZE!
2). If you have DEX-COOL in your vehicle...CHANGE IT!
3). If you have what looks like brown mud inside of your radiator, OXALIC ACID will work well to clean it out.*

* = I read you should drive the car for about 3 hours and then flush it out. I did this seven times over the course of a few weeks. My heater blows warm, so I know there is still more "mud" floating around inside of the engine. Still, a little heat is better than NO heat!



.
 
Last edited:

02BlueGT

No Fucks Have Been Given
Feb 21, 2008
9,922
18
Now apearing in Hanover Park
Doesn't take 100,000 miles, this was the build up on my Head Gaskets at 50,000 miles, and the dex had been switched out at 28,000 with an LIM change-over

Image015.jpg


Image019.jpg
 

M@

Somebody buy this thing
Nov 26, 2007
2,871
2
It's almost worrisome how little I've done to my silly honda in over 100k miles of driving it.

Brake pads, a wheel bearing, and a set of tires. Haven't touched a thing other than that.

My GM required more shit than that to be fixed every week it seems like.
 

smug

Please go back to eating crayons
TCG Premium
Aug 4, 2007
8,087
3,751
Cedar Lake, IN
Real Name
Dan Erickson
It's almost worrisome how little I've done to my silly honda in over 100k miles of driving it.

Brake pads, a wheel bearing, and a set of tires. Haven't touched a thing other than that.

My GM required more shit than that to be fixed every week it seems like.

My GXP was just plain horrible. All I have to say is thank god I had an extended warranty.

Although my Honda is still pretty new I have had the brake rotors cut and a rattle fixed under warranty. Thats it.
 

Charlie_Boy7

Addict
May 10, 2010
655
120
University Park, IL
Real Name
Charles
^^This is what i tell the customers. i say we do preventive maintenance. After the car overheats tho, they get all freaked out and get the exchange as an instant (temporary) fix when they could just get the system flushed correctly in the first place at a shop or do it themselves:snooppalm:

I can at least tell them about this method now and wtf is wrong with dex
 

DOC-Z

Chickun maka LOUSY housspaat!
Oct 13, 2008
1,386
158
Johnsburg, IL.
Real Name
-Larry
those exchange machines wont do dick

even a few days with the prestone neglected system flush wont get all of it.

i am interested in trying that wood acid stuff sometime though


It's wood Bleach...not wood acid. I'm sure if you went to the hardware store, they would sort of know what you're talking about though.

^^This is what i tell the customers. i say we do preventive maintenance. After the car overheats tho, they get all freaked out and get the exchange as an instant (temporary) fix when they could just get the system flushed correctly in the first place at a shop or do it themselves:snooppalm:

I can at least tell them about this method now and wtf is wrong with dex

This is why I made the thread. I had NO idea and searched all over to figure out what to do. So many people have helped me on here, so I was hoping to return the favor to someone.
 

DOC-Z

Chickun maka LOUSY housspaat!
Oct 13, 2008
1,386
158
Johnsburg, IL.
Real Name
-Larry
WTF...REALLY???

.....AND IT STARTS AGAIN!.....

The coolant level is low, when driving, I have the smell of antifreeze in the car, but it goes away when I turn on the heat? I think it might be a radiator cap because the one I just bought you can turn with 2 fingers and not have to press down.
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 90 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant. Consider starting a new thread to get fresh replies.

Thread Info