well here's the story. i was driving home from the mall last night going with traffic at about 55MPH and i saw that my coolant was getting VERY high. like ~220. then out of nowhere i start seeing warnings on my DIC; Service Airbags, Power Steering. i then had to cut across 3 lanes of traffic to get to a parking lot. i pull in with no power brakes. i pop the hood and its just HOT as hell. i try to crank it over again...nothing. i wait a few minutes and it starts. the weird thing is that i never got the overheat indicator lamp.

does anyone know what could have caused my car to just die?

and by the way my uncle said it seems like there is no pressure in the coolant line coming out of the radiator. is that normal? i thought it was supposed to flow through that tube with some force to keep the coolant moving through the motor.

my average coolant temp is 189.


help please?!

bump for someone that MIGHT have an idea as to whats wrong

 

check your coolant tank if its low add coolant

check your oil

if coolant and oil are fine start the car up and let it warmup and squeeze the coolant hoses to see if there is pressure built up..

 

coolant and oil levels are good. which line should i squeeze? the coolant line coming FROM the engine or AFTER the radiator? cause my uncle said that it didn't feel like there was pressure in the line coming FROM the radiator.

that help?

 

Water pump fail? Blockage of cooling system some how? Blown head gasket?

 

um..you do know 220 is like normal? our engines are good till 240 then its time to worry..

 

well the pressure shouldnt be that high in the coolant line..but it should be kinda noticable... eaither hose comming from the radiator works.. hmm

 

i forgot to mention that the car does run now. so a blown head gasket wouldn't be the problem would it?

it runs and it doesn't get as hot as it did last night. i just don't want it to happen when i'm driving to school.

 

Sounds like the water pump possibly? I had nearly the same thing happen to me with a Dodge Stratus and it was a busted water pump. I may be wrong though..

 

Sounds like an electrical/computer related issue to me...

 

typically speaking once the water pump goes, it goes. your vehicle would be excessively prone to overheat.

as for head gasket, usually tell tell signs include exhaust smelling like coolant to white smoke.

i'm wondering if perhaps your key ignition is going bad. i had that happen on my honda, 65+ mph to have the car die without powersteering etc. i mention this because the symbols u mentioned usually come on for a lil bit with the accessory turn of the key.

 

if it overheats while ur driving most likely ur water pump if you squeeze the hoses and there's pressure then might be the thermostat.

 

you know that's the best information i've heard so far. as a matter of fact i did see the little car with the lock in my cluster when i tried to turn it over after it died. maybe it was the ignition?

i was worried about the cooling system because it does this sometimes. it will be normal temp outside and my coolant will start rising, for no reason. i won't be going fast or WOT. just random heat.

 

when the ignition switch when out in my vw golf ton of stuff went wrong! radio, wipers, windows, ect. wouldnt work

 

haha ya know it's funny you mention the heat deal. since the first day at the dealer i'm usually on outside temp/mileage or the coolant temp via the DIC. The car does have odd temps at times. if the car shuts off again, if it's still under warranty take it to the chevy dealer and have them check it out.

as for the little car with a lock, yea that usually comes on for me anyways on acc. the thing about ignition switches is that this is a spot where intermittent failure can occur.

something odd that happened to me one day was that, believe it or not, the electronic portion of the accelerator got stuck thinkin i was at half throttle for about 10 seconds. couldn't believe it, but that was like 2 months after i bought the car, no issues with that since lol

gotta love electronics sometimes lol.

 

That lock indicator is probably not cause for concern. I thought the same thing when I was having trouble starting my car. It would come on after it failed to turn over. I would go back to stock and immediately take it to the dealer if you still have a warranty.

 

i do still have powertrain but someone said that the mods i have should pose no problem with dealers. it's only catback and intake. they most likely won't be able to tell i have the 2.4 manifold anyway.

 

even if they knew it was the 2.4 mani, they'd also know it comes with it's own warranty from gm. and being a gm part, doesn't void warranty.

 

that maybe true it will have its own warranty but im pretty sure if they were an ass about it they could void it because he "moded" it. dealers can be blood suckers when it comes to that stuff

 

it wasnt original equipment for that model of that car, so it wouldnt be warrantied IF the dealer is a douche AND if the dealer even noticed in the first place.

This is what prevents people from buying the LS9 intake manifold/intake/SC assembly and putting it on a LS3 and then going to the dealer for warranty work, even though its a GM part.

Anyway, it's definitely an electrical issue if all the DIC/gauge stuff popped up.

 

Yep, I've heard that stage 2 will void it for SC guys if you do it yourself, even though it's a GMPP.

I definitely don't think they're going to notice the IM. I'd go ahead to go back to stock just in case.

 

that's what i was thinking too, cause we had the car running in the driveway for about a half hour and if it was gonna overheat cause of the water pump or the thermo it would have done it then.

but what could have malfunctioned that caused the car to just die though? out of nowhere?

i don't like how we don't have a ******* voltmeter stock in our cars.

 

your ignition is what could have caused it. check the recall listings. i do remember a specific year being recalled for this.

 

well this **** is getting old. she broke down TWICE today. how do i check the recall listings?

buuuuuuuuuumpity


anyone think it's the ignition and how would i be able to find out?

if i got it scanned would they be able to find out what it was or is that only if you have a CEL?

 

dude...just take it to the dealer already

 

lol. dealers by me aren't open sunday. and they only do work from 9-2 or some **** like that. and i work during the day