Hope you guys can give me some idea of what's going on with the car. I might have introduced air into the system through the overflow due to opening it when it was still hot. Obviously not advisable but I had a brain fart. It bubbled up and think that's what started all this but not sure.

Just recently I noticed a low coolant error and checked the overflow and it seemed alright. I didn't have any deathcool handy so I added a bit of water to top it off. Might be doing a full flush anyways but that's what it is.

I noticed temp spikes going up to 113c so 235f and when I rev it up a bit it will drop back down to 87 or lower but will go back up again some minutes later. Just tonight I had the overflow full and I was driving the car hard to see if I could raise the temps because it was holding ok. But then I smelled coolant because the overflow pissed most of it out on my tire. I drove home with the temps randomly spiking and I would just rev a bit to lower the temps again. The upper rad hose sometimes has pressure but seems weak and seems to have lost fluid now again from the overflow pissing it out. When the system was full the rad hose was hard not like now. Almost seems like it's boiling and pissing out the overflow but I can't be sure. I can do a full dexool flush if need be but I didn't think a bit of water would hurt.

Temp outside is about 15c 59f and the other day it did something similar even at a colder temp.

It's like I'm chasing this bubble around the system. I think on another forum someone said they fixed a similar issue with squeezing the upper rad hose 30+ times to get the air out but that doesn't seem to do anything with me.

Oil seems fine exhaust seems fine as well. I've been reading about the cracked/porous blocks but don't think I have that problem. Or at least I hope not.

Thank you very much for any help or ideas.

 

Do a proper bleed. Start with a cold car, remove the reservoir cap and start it. Let the car warm up to full temperature. As you mentioned, you can help bubbles out by squeezing the rad hose. Add coolant as required. After 5-10 minutes of operating temp, and you don't see bubbles in the reservoir, close the reservoir and shut it down. Then see if you still get overflow issues.

 

Ok will try that tomorrow. I was just doing something similar before you posted and it seemed to be working. Car wasn't completely cold though.

I topped it up and temps seemed normal I kept revving and then going to the hose and squeezing the bubbles out. The hose firmed up which it didn't do before so I revved again until I couldn't hear any bubbles.

I drove the car hard for about 15 minutes and temps didn't go over 199f, and then hit the hwy and took it up to hwy speeds. As soon as I got off the hwy I could smell some coolant again and temps started going to 230f. This time it didn't let go of as much coolant but still enough again to cause the temp spikes.

I'll do it from a cold car as you said tomorrow and repost. Thanks a lot.

 

So here's everything I did.

Cold car topped up the overflow and let it idle for about 15 minutes with cap off.
Cap on.
Drove about 8miles pulled over to check upper rad hose was solid small hose pumping fluid into overflow. Overflow seemed really full.
Temp around 200f turned on the heater and it started going colder. Temp rose to 226f.
Temps started going down again drove away and drove for a good 15miles not in boost checked again and still have coolant in the overflow. Should of emptied itself by now but it didn't.

Drove around town for about a hour at all different speeds and on the hwy in boost highest temp I saw was 201f and it was usually around 188f. Heater was not turned on.

Car was parked after for about a hour.

Drove home about 15miles and turned the heater on full about half way home and temp spiked to 237f but it returned to 188f in about a minute and I drove the rest of the way home at that normal temperature. Got home and at idle it hovered at 210 and wouldn't budge.

When I popped the hood and checked the overflow it was at the cold fill line even though it was at running temp. So will have to top it off when it's cold again.

Seems strange though that the overflow was so full before and now is just at around the cold fill mark.

So yeah that's where I'm at. A lot better than before though with the overflow just taking a dump constantly.

 

If the system is burping then the bubbles go to the reservoir. You may still have a bubble in there working its way around but if the reservoir is not overflowing then it's not bad. You can also try pulling vacuum on the small overflow hose to get any bubbles out of there. That hose will get air in it, but I think bubbles can get trapped in the "bump" in that hose. The bubble should eventually work it's way out, but running with the cap off will help it burp faster. Just be sure to either open cold and close cold, or open cold and close hot. Don't open hot or you can feed more bubbles in, and worse cause it to boil over and burn you.

 

I had the car for a couple of weeks when I opened the res I just wasn't paying full attention. It bubbled up pretty good but I got the cap back on quick. Pretty sure that's what caused air to get into the system.

I'll go for a drive today and see what the car does. Going to cap off idle it maybe let some more air out and top it off and see what happens.

 

Seem to have done it. This time I noticed some bubbles coming up in the res out of the lower hose. Temp was 188f most of the time driving and it's about 80 degrees out.

I'll keep an eye on it from time to time see what it does.

Thanks

 

Glad to help!

 

First, what kind of water did you add, distilled water I hope. If you put tap water, drinking water, or mineral water in the reservoir you need to do a complete system flush ASAP. Anything but distilled water will completely mess up the cooling system.

Second, it can take a week or more to get air out of the system. If you did get some air trapped in the system just drive it and as the air works its way out of the system you should have to add some additional coolant. If the system is overflowing coolant you could either have some massive air bubbles trapped in the system or your thermostat or water pump is going out.

 

I think your right about the water pump failing. I have had the car at a mechanic and he said nothing was wrong but that's because he was idling the car. When the car idles it will keep a 90c temp and rise to 96c with the heater on.

So far I changed the thermostat myself and did a complete coolant flush. I got rid of my dex I don't trust it. Have had too many issues with it in the past. Even after the flush and thermostat the issue is still here. I tried burping the system as recommended. I even tried it at the top of the engine by the nipple and it was foaming good and letting out air but still turned into the same problem again.

When the car is at idle it seems temp stay nominal longer and don't really get over 100c. As soon as I drive the temps will hit 115 and then work their way back down slowly. Sometimes if I put the clutch in and rev and hold at 4000rpm it will start to cool. To me that seems like a failing water pump. I talked to some others at work and when I give them they symptoms they say water pump.

I recently did a oil change and it came out clean. I also did lose coolant today it shot it out the overflow again.

I watched some videos on how to change the water pump so I know about the holding tool and all that. Looks like a pain in the ass though because of the location. Would be nice if it wasn't jammed up by the firewall.

 

Hey ninja just replied. The problem is still around. So far replaced the thermostat and did a full flush of the system and bled the system a bunch of times and tried the top end of the motor too. Had it at a mechanic and he said it was fine so lost money there to heh. I think that water pump is shot. No way even a air bubble would hang around that long. On my 3800 Camaro I never had problems like this burping the system. Just take the rad cap off and let it belch.

 

I wouldn't think a water pump would be intermittent. It's mechanical, connected directly to the crankshaft via a chain. Are your fans working properly?

 

When I had it at the mechanic he said he would like to see them come on earlier and I should get them programmed at the dealership because he couldn't do it.

I think it's the on on the right that comes on at 103c roughly and the one on the left comes on with the ac. I think he did say something about them only coming on high. I have observed them on a different speed. I gotta go out and check to be sure now.

 

Well this is something new. I went out there and the fan on the passenger side is completely off. Just laying in there lol!. Now I wonder why my mechanic didn't catch that and you did .


check the video. this is actually a bit funny now. lol

 

I can probably get the fans out while in the car was just thinking. I saw a radiator swap video for our cars and it looked like a complete from end removal.

 

missing the metal retainer the other one has. no wonder it was just flopping around.

 

Glad you found that! BTW, the fan and radiator can be removed through the bottom without taking the bumper off. I hate messing with plastic stuff.

 

Just went to a local parts store and all they had was a aux fan that I would rather not install. Looks like it won't mate up at all without a bunch of messing around. I'll see if I can get one of those metal clips online or at the dealer. I took the motor out tot take a look it was only 3 10mm bolts and it slid out the bottom just had to push the plastic a bit.

Ok so what I don't completely get is. Does driver side fan do most of the work or do both work together. I read somewhere that the driver side fan does most of the work and the passenger side only comes on when the ac is turned on.

 

The guys that have poked around in HPTuners can tell you more about fan behavior. But from my understanding they both come on under high temperatures. I discovered one of my fans came unplugged the other day when I was seeing high temps for no apparent reason.

The clip can be purchased seperate from a full fan assembly, though that might be hard to locate. GMPN:22722593
ENGINE COOLANT FAN

It looks like RockAuto has one of those clips left.
GENERAL MOTORS 22722593 Clip | RockAuto

But you can probably find something similar since you have another on your other fan. Or visit a junkyard and find basically any FWD GM car in the 2004-2010 era.

 

Just checked rockauto they want $7 for the clip $23 for the shipping ffs. I'll maybe try the yard but a lot of those cobalts have no rads or engine from what I remember but I can check others like you said you never know. I can stop by the dealer on my way home see if they can get that clip at a reasonable price.

Jesus christ acautoparts wants 54 dollars for fed ex lol!

This listing seems to be selling the complete package.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/RADIATOR-COND...RWFqXl&vxp=mtr

 

I don't remember the exact temps off the top of my head but I believe that the first fan kicks on at 212F (100C) and the second fan kicks on at 224F (106C). The first fan will also turn on when the A/C is turned on and the second fan will kick on when the AC pressure gets to a certain level. The fans will also turn off once the car is moving above 15 MPH (25 KPH).

Having a bad fan can definitely cause issues with the car getting hot at idle but once you are moving the fans are not going to be on anyways. It could be possible that the broken fan was blocking airflow enough that when you were moving it caused the temperatures to rise. That still doesn't explain why you would have coolant coming out of the overflow.

 

Yeah I was thinking something similar. That almost seems to happen when I have the heater on for a while and I'm cruising around getting the motor hot. It will just randomly blow out fluid.

I just ordered the retainer at the dealer and it cost $9 instead of the insane shipping costs online. I'll see if putting that second fan on does something. Right now I'm driving around without it and idle seems to be alright but temps do still spike randomly here and there. I did drive it home today without any extreme spikes the highest I saw was 105c and then it usually drops down to around 90c. But I know with the heater on it will spike it so I just left it off. I'll see what happens when the retainer comes in they said 3 days it'll be here.

 

I had to look up where you were when you were talking about having to have the heater on. It hasn't been below 25C here for two months.

At 15C I have never seen my car go above 100C at idle and never above 87C while moving. There has to be something else going on with the car aside from the fan.

 

Yeah that seems about right. Before all this started to happen the car used to be at 87c just like you said and even at idle very similar. Even when I gave it some **** and was in boost hard it wouldn't get up to 100c. Recently it's been 32c out and it seems the temps fluctuate just as much on a colder day as they do on these hot days.

I think last resort I'll take it to my mechanic again have him go through it. Just sucks having to spend money and mechanics love money.

 

So today I rented a compression tester because I've never used one before and this was a good chance to.

I looked up eric the car guys video on how to. I did a wet and dry test like he said.

I did from left to right and got 120psi dry and 180psi wet on all 4. Are these numbers correct for the LNF? I know some of the LSJ motors get way different numbers. I thought it was a bit strange that it was 100% identical across all 4 cylinders.

I installed new plugs as well.

Also I do have more bad news. code p0011 which are the cam solenoids I believe. When it rains it ******* pours boys lol!.

update : replaced the solenoids codes cleared and gone and back in boost. also had that low boost code.
think the retainer came in going to pick it up soon.

I think after this I'm doing the pump . I'm learning a lot about these cars anyways :P.