2000 LS Overheating

[beanslimm]

Hey guys.. I've searched this forum up and down to find a solution to my problem, but had no luck. I picked up a 00 LS V8 last month and it ran perfectly until this weekend. Last week I disconnected the battery to install a new cd player and amp and when I started driving it again on Saturday I only got about 5 minutes from the house when it started overheating.

Yesterday I took the car to a local mechanic, he has been a friend of mine for years. He bled the air of the coolant with a special tool and everything was fine until I went to pick up the car. I just left the parking lot and it is started again with the overheating. I took it back and this morning, he changed the thermostat out with a Ford one and bled the coolant system again. Then he took it for a ride and it still is doing the same thing. He told me to take it to the dealer in the morning.

We looked at the fan and it spins fast and you can feel the air moving from it. The car overheats both while driving it and while it is siting still. When the car gets a little over the center of the temp gauge, you can smell the coolant and is it bubbling in the tank. I changed out the degas tank cap on Sunday.

The mechanic has worked on a few LSs before, so he is aware of the procedure of bleeding out the air from the coolant. Is there anything I can check in the morning before I bring it to the stealership?

I know disconnecting the battery has nothing to do with the problem, but the car did sit in the driveway for a few days without being started or driven.

Any help will be appreciated. Thanks!

Anthony

 

[LS4me]

Obvious, but is the cap tight on the bottle? It should be tightened until it clicks. The cap could also be bad and not holding pressure.

 

[joegr]

There's a good chance that the tank and many of the other plastic cooling system parts are cracked/cracking and letting air back in. A pressure test would tell you.
It's possible the the coolant and cooling system is gunked up.
It's possible that the water pump fins have worn down.

 

[lseguy]

Check the ground just behind your drivers side wheel. any fluid there? If so, the degas bottle aka coolant overflow tank has the usual hairline cracks that develop from the inside out. Its causing the system to lose pressure.
if thats not the case? Try bleeding again. Seriously. I had to bleed mine 3 times to get it JUST right. The part of the bleeding process that says to fill the cooling tower? It HAS to be COMPLETELY full..to the point of overflowing a bit even.

I strongly suggest another full bleed, done by the letter of the procedure

 

[beanslimm]

Thanks guys for the tips. I'll be sure to check the degas bottle out tomorrow morning. Hopefully that will be the issue and that is something I can fix here at the house. I'll go through the bleeding procedure again and make sure that everything goes as the procedure calls for.

I appreciate the help. Thanks again!

 

[lseguy]

good luck. I had the most success bleeding with the car on perfectly level ground and following the procedure to the letter. ESPECIALLY making sure that cooling tower is 100% full of coolant during that part of the process. Really cant stress that enough. And if the degas bottle requires replacement, its definitely a DIY job. You will need to remve the drivers side wheel and pull back the plastic wheel well liner to get to a hole in the sheetmetal that allows you to get to one of the hose clamps.

 

[tireman]

check here

www.carpartsdiscount.com for coolant bottles. cheap.

You may have a leak elsewhere in the system on the hose connections.

pressure test for leaks.

or your hydraulic pump or fan motor is failing.

 

[joegr]

good luck. I had the most success bleeding with the car on perfectly level ground and following the procedure to the letter. ESPECIALLY making sure that cooling tower is 100% full of coolant during that part of the process. Really cant stress that enough. And if the degas bottle requires replacement, its definitely a DIY job. You will need to remve the drivers side wheel and pull back the plastic wheel well liner to get to a hole in the sheetmetal that allows you to get to one of the hose clamps.

Disconnect the hose at the other end and leave it on the degas bottle, then you don't have to remove the wheel or fight with the clamp.

 

[lseguy]

admittedly it's been awhile..but I thought in order to disconnect at the other end..the clamp for "the other end" is down there in that hole that's behind the wheelwell liner?

 

[joegr]

admittedly it's been awhile..but I thought in order to disconnect at the other end..the clamp for "the other end" is down there in that hole that's behind the wheelwell liner?

No, it's up to the left of the brake booster. It's not hard to get to with hose clamp pliers.

 

[2000LSMichael]

Best of luck to you finding your problem. I just had the tranny flushed and told my Ford mechanic that the LS overheats when it is stuck in traffic and cannot move or sits with the A/C on.

He tried everything to get it to overheat, but it wouldn't. I had put on a new degas bottle cap and a new thermostat.

Guess I will have to get stuck in traffic again to find out for sure!

 

[MaroonLS]

My problem was in the bottle There is a little brass tube that runs from the top of the jug to the bottom of the jug where a line connects to the bottle it keeps the system from sucking air back into the motor when shut of or tilted or such when the jugs get old and expands and lets the tube drop out of the plastic jug and leaves the line open to the top of the jug therefore when you shut the car off and it cools down it sucks air into the system and air locks the coolant passages get a new jug and that should fix the problem.

 

[jahmezis45]

i was having serious overheating issues with my ls awhile back. brought it to some suspect mechanic my car was under an aftermarket warranty he tried charging them 6000 for all this work and so on well they sent a claims adjuster down and he said my car didnt need that much work done so i took my car from the shop. well long story short the adjuster told me all that was wrong was my coolant reservoir was cracked and that was it i changed the reservoir and no more overheating whatsoever. the cracks was hard to see but there was a crack and its a female dog to exchange the reservoirs i cut the hell out of my hand doing so