OT bought an economical car

In article , Bruce L. Bergman (munged human readable) writes

On my old Passat It was a major job to replace the core. I had to take out the whole dash to get to it; never quite fit as well after, :(

Sounds like the Germans made a hash out of designing the coolant system if it had to be bled in such odeous ways.

Btw...any one care to give me a few hints on a 97 Saturn overheating problem?

If I pull the hose off the upper end of the engine..the return line..and put a garden hose in it to keep the radiator filled while running..I only get the volume of the garden hose back out of the engine while its running...

It just spurts and sputters a very small amount of water from the engine without the hose.

I replaced the water pump 8 months ago..... Autozone.

Did it fail?

How much volume should a saturn water pump actually push with water in the radiator? More than spurts and ?

Gunner

"The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination." --Voltaire

Yeah, most conventional cruise controls on engines with directly-operated throttles use engine vacuum to operate a diaphragm. If the control valve gets crudded up with engine fumes, it might stick for a while, and then break free. If that doesn't work, you can probably trace the vacuum line from the actuator (usually a metal cylinder with a hose coming out one end and a throttle cable on the other.) Follow the hose to the control valve, and maybe a few drops of mild solvent in it might clear the gumming. These things are all plastic, so make sure to use something that won't attack it.

And, first, probably check the buttons, connectors and fuses for an electrical problem. Possibly the buttons have also gotten gummed up and are not making contact, repeated pressing might break through.

You should have gotten a hybrid - you could get 50 MPG! But, probably would have cost more than $750.

Jon

Which model and engine?

Is the thermostat installed when you do this test? If so is it in correctly? The thermal bulb needs to face the block side of the system.

Pull the thermostat out and try the test again.

Next hit a parts store and grab a coolant system pressure tester. (they are loaner/rental tools and AZ should have one) Test it to see if it holds pressure as it is also possible it has an internal leak causing an overheat.

Most cruise units on modern vehicles are fully electric. Gets a signal from the ECM to hold the throttle.

Either way a bad switch or sticky cable is a possible item.

Iggy said it was a 1995, not sure what sort of throttle scheme they used, but I'm guessing from the age it probably is mechanical.

Jon

Check the brake lights too. In many cases, no brake lights (or a bad connection at /or bad brake switch will prevent the cruise from engaging.

WOW! That's really GOOD! Yes, if the brake switch circuit is messed up it will keep the cruise from engaging.

Jon

Yeah, I think this has even been on Car Talk a couple times.

Jon

SL2. No idea of what the motor is. The SL2s all appear to be the same

I had to take the termostat apart. The bulb element is part of the intake connection. When you buy a thermostat for the car..it includes the hose bib.

Ill do that.

No water showing in the oil at all and no water or oil coming out the exhaust....so that leaves out most head gasket /cracked block issues

It acts like the impeller on the pump simply isnt doing much of anything.

Gunner

"The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination." --Voltaire

Either way they are very similar with about the only real difference being the actual actuator. The sensors and stuff are a lot alike.

Over 40 years experience speaking.

SL2 is the twin cam

I have had several cars with that problem.

The plastic impeller on the 2.5 liter V6 Mystique had a habit of splitting at about 6000 engine RPM. The metal ones were fine. I didn't know which mine had when I bought it, so I took it up to about 6500 RPM under accelleration, and the temperatue went way up shortly after. Replaced with a metal impeller plug.

On my '63 Valiant or my '69 dart - cannot remember any more which one, I used to have intermittent overheating problems. It ended up, after replacing thermostat several times, and checking anything that could POSSIBLY be causing the overheating, I pulled off the water pump - and under carefull inspection, found evidence that the (if I remember correctly)alloy impeller had turned on the steel shaft. I warmed up the impeller with a torch and it almost fell off. Put in a new pump, and no more overheating

Check your E-Mail

Steel impeller..but Im starting to think you are correct.

And its such a bitch to get that water pump out. Damnit!!

Gunner

"The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination." --Voltaire

Thanks! I believe you are right..and Ive spun an impeller. And its such a pain in the ass pulling the water pump on these cars.

Damnit

Gunner

"The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination." --Voltaire