Weird Problem

Black_Sunshine

Black_Sunshine

Active LVC Member
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I recently have been battling some overheating problems, and also not having any heat. I ended up replacing the dual climate control valve, the aux water pump, and while I had it all apart, I went ahead and changed the serpentine belt, main water pump, 2 idler pulleys and the serpentine belt tensioner.

Since I did all this, the car still overheats, and the interior heat system seems to barely work.

So, all of that is weird, but it gets worse... Today, I was running the car, trying to see if i could bleed more air out of the cooling system, in case it is air locked or has an air bubble in the heater core, or somewhere else.

I raised the driver's side of the car up a foot while running, to make that the highest side of the car. I was getting some air to come out, but the car again overheated, so I shut the car off...

When I started the car back up, after it cooled, it ran very badly. As-if I had a couple of cylinders not firing. No misfire error code. I lowered the car, and tried to start again. Same thing. Running very rough, as if its misfiring, but again, no errors. I put it in gear to move the car into the garage, and engaging the transmission killed the car. Now, when i try to start it, the starter cranks, but it won't start.

I'm at a loss at the moment. Aside from overheating, the car had otherwise been running fine. It had overheated several times before. The oil still looks clear. Have I destroyed a cylinder? Does raising one side of your car and running it cause problems? Help a brother out.... :)
 
Just an update. I found the fuse for the fuel pumps was blown. I'm not sure how that happened. My best guess is that when I had the front of the car jacked up and running, perhaps the fuel pump hose got exposed in the gas tank, and caused one of the fuel pumps to run empty for a moment??? Not sure. I had a 3/4 full tank of gas, so I'm not sure if that is a plausible theory or not.
 
I guess now I am back to just debugging the overheat problem and the interior heater not working well, despite all new components.
 
I doubt you are the exception to all the rest of us. Replace ALL of the plastic cooling system parts. Fill and bleed exactly by the factory procedure, and raise the back of the car slightly will doing it.
 
joegr said:
I doubt you are the exception to all the rest of us. Replace ALL of the plastic cooling system parts. Fill and bleed exactly by the factory procedure, and raise the back of the car slightly will doing it.
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No, I don't think I am an exception. I have just inspected the plastic parts, and I can't find any evidence that they are leaking.

I am concerned that I am not doing the Fill & Bleed procedure correctly. Does anyone have a link to the correct procedure?
 
Black_Sunshine said:
No, I don't think I am an exception. I have just inspected the plastic parts, and I can't find any evidence that they are leaking.

...
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Sounds like you do think you are an exception.
If you haven't removed those parts and inspected the interior of them, you haven't inspected anything. Nearly everyone at first says there is no evidence of leaking, and nearly everyone is wrong. It's microscopic. You won't see it.
 
Joe - 10-4. Understood. I will find them all on Rock Auto, and go ahead and get them headed this way...
 
Just an update. I just order (I think) all of the plastic components in the cooling system. I purchased the following:

Upper hose/pipe assembly
Lower hose/pipe assembly - with oil cooler hose ports
New plastic thermostat housing
Plastic pipe distribution (mounts in front of the thermostat housing)
New degas bottle

Note: I read a lot of bad press on this forum on the Dorman brand degas bottle. I went with a different brand. Unfortunately, none of the offerings on Rockauto.com were OEM degas bottles. Hopefully I will get some good service out of the SKP brand that I just purchased.

All for $315, including shipping and tax.
 
Black_Sunshine said:
Joe - 10-4. Understood. I will find them all on Rock Auto, and go ahead and get them headed this way...
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Don't go to Rock Auto. While they carry decent aftermarket parts... The Ford dealer still has OEM parts in stock. They will outlast any aftermarket parts.

Be prepared to spend about $1k... and you will get roughly another 7 years before having to completely rebuild it again. FYI... the water pump and DCCV, (and aux pump) last about 10 years.
 
The OEM degas is available from the dealer for $400. You will/should get 7 years out of that too.

Basically it's $1000 for an OEM cooling system rebuild... using your own labor.

The problem part is the O-ring on the gooseneck that goes into the back of the crossover pipe. You will replace that O-ring probably twice between full cooling system rebuilds.
 
Crap. Yea, I have already placed the RockAuto order. Let me look into our local Ford dealer. Can you buy OEM parts anywhere besides a dealership? That's the most expensive place to buy anything...
 
No. OEM parts are dealer only. I've got $1k worth of OEM replacement cooling system parts sitting in my garage... waiting to be installed on my LS (by me)

I have a good repoir with my dealer. The parts guys all know who I am, and give me a good discount.

This goes back over 25 years when I custom ordered a new 1995 F150 4x4 Flareside.

That being said... There are 2 places on the net, that "say" they have the (Ford) parts in stock... but they don't. They just order the parts from the dealer, and "upcharge" you.

That would be Ford Parts Giant... and Tasca. Stay away from them.

It's pretty bad when they say stuff is in stock... and when I call my Ford dealer, they say the part is obsolete, (discontinued).
 
While you are at it, replace your main water pump. It sounds like it may have lost its impellor. Mine did on a V6, and the engine lost either a head gasket, cracked a head, or cracked a cylinder wall while I was troubleshooting it. When I moved my 'lifetime' warranty water pump to my replacement used engine, I had the same symptoms as before my original engine died. I changed the DCCV in an attempt to figure out why my upper bleed port by the brake booster was just barely pissing any coolant, but that did not fix it. I finally pulled the water pump, to find that the impellor had fallen off the shaft. I got a free replacement water pump from autozone, but they would not cover my engine! It sounds like your plastic parts rebuild may alleviate this situation, but if it does not, get rid of that water pump -- before your engine blows.
 
milehighmikey said:
While you are at it, replace your main water pump. It sounds like it may have lost its impellor. Mine did on a V6, and the engine lost either a head gasket, cracked a head, or cracked a cylinder wall while I was troubleshooting it. When I moved my 'lifetime' warranty water pump to my replacement used engine, I had the same symptoms as before my original engine died. I changed the DCCV in an attempt to figure out why my upper bleed port by the brake booster was just barely pissing any coolant, but that did not fix it. I finally pulled the water pump, to find that the impellor had fallen off the shaft. I got a free replacement water pump from autozone, but they would not cover my engine! It sounds like your plastic parts rebuild may alleviate this situation, but if it does not, get rid of that water pump -- before your engine blows.
Click to expand...

Interesting advice on the water pump. I did just change the water pump when I changed the serpentine belt. My logic was, go ahead and change it since I have it all apart. The replacement was an AC Delco. That is a good name brand (I think), so hopefully its reliable. If not, I might crack it back open and look.
 
Black_Sunshine said:
Interesting advice on the water pump. I did just change the water pump when I changed the serpentine belt. My logic was, go ahead and change it since I have it all apart. The replacement was an AC Delco. That is a good name brand (I think), so hopefully its reliable. If not, I might crack it back open and look.
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Nah you're good. I must have missed your water pump in the earlier list you published, and thought I had only seen the aux water pump. You're good.
 
I just put new seals in my crossover and the 9N499 neck. They were OEM Motorcraft from Rockauto and one from my local dealership. The Rockauto seals had dates of 2011 on the package. We appear to be getting to the end of OEM parts and those parts have been sitting for a while.

Hopefully mine will last for a while.

In terms of water pumps, if I need a new one, I will be installing one of these.

And, guys seem to be getting good results with the aluminum overflow/degas bottles. The issue with those is the ability to view coolant levels.
 
rgorke said:
The issue with those is the ability to view coolant levels.
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You can go through an industrial supply shop and get some sight glasses, and the bungs.

Check the location of the sight glass by filling the OEM plastic overflow bottle with water... to the "full" mark.

Then pour the water in the aluminum bottle and "guesstimate" the location of the sight glass. (you could do 2 sight glasses for "low" and "full".

Then go to an online industrial supply shop like Zoro Tools, MSC etc. and get a weld in threaded bung, and the threaded sight glasses.

Use a hole saw and make a hole at the appropriate level, and have someone tig weld the bung(s) in place.

The "EBay" aluminum coolant bottle sellers have no clue how to measure for the bungs... or coolant level, but it shouldn't be to hard to figure out.
 
04_Sport_LS said:
You can go through an industrial supply shop and get some sight glasses, and the bungs.

Check the location of the sight glass by filling the OEM plastic overflow bottle with water... to the "full" mark.

Then pour the water in the aluminum bottle and "guesstimate" the location of the sight glass. (you could do 2 sight glasses for "low" and "full".

Then go to an online industrial supply shop like Zoro Tools, MSC etc. and get a weld in threaded bung, and the threaded sight glasses.

Use a hole saw and make a hole at the appropriate level, and have someone tig weld the bung(s) in place.

The "EBay" aluminum coolant bottle sellers have no clue how to measure for the bungs... or coolant level, but it shouldn't be to hard to figure out.
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Couldn’t you also mark the inside of the bottle? Of course you could only check it when the car is cold…
 
This also assumes that the aluminum bottle holds the same amount of coolant as the plastic (OEM) bottle.

My guess would be that the aluminum bottle is smaller.
 
A number of years back... I had a local guy that was willing to build some aluminum degas bottles for LVC members, (with sight glasses), and use an OEM bottle as the blueprint.

The problem was he didn't know how much material was going to be needed, so he couldn't determine the cost, without building a prototype.

This was back when the OEM bottles were still plentiful, and still somewhat cheap.

So that never panned out.
 
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