'02 Impala (3.4L) Intake Project Complete, but...

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'02 Impala (3.4L) Intake Project Complete, but... - 5/7/2008 5:29:48 PM    Colt Hero   Posts: 16 Joined: 12/9/2006 Status: offline '02 Impala (3.4L) Intake Project Complete, but... It's done and seems to be running fine - smooth idle, heats up to about 185-192, new T-Stat appears to be opening OK ... BUT I drove it 30 miles to work today and could smell a very faint whiff of coolant inside the car with Outside Air flowing throught the vents.  I've looked several times for leaks but so far cannot see any.  You'd think that if there was a leak while driving that you'd still be able to detect it after pulling over and shutting off the car.  Maybe I need to leave the car running after stopping ... Also, I haven't been able to get more than, say, 6-7 quarts of antifreeze/water mix into the car (a jug and a half) - even after bleeding at the T-Stat and leaving the radiator and tank caps off (and trying to fill after the T-Stat opened)!  I could've sworn the system was bone dry when I opened it up - never saw any coolant spill out anywhere after emptying the radiator.  When I started it up for the first time, I was getting the Low Coolant messages, but as I bled and filled it those went away and haven't returned (I DID remove and clean the radiator sensor).  I also overfilled the plastic tank (at, or even slightly above, the HOT line) thinking that I'd be pouring in AT LEAST two full jugs and it would bubble down, but it hasn't gone down much.  Pretty weird!  After the drive to work today I tried to pour more in at noontime, but same thing - just a few tablespoons until the filler neck started to overflow.  So I guess it's full! So should I flush and fill the coolant again - like I will be doing with the oil in a couple of weeks - since there apparently is contaminated coolant still inside?      Post #: 1

RE: '02 Impala (3.4L) Intake Project Complete, but... - 5/7/2008 6:20:08 PM    HotSauce6226   Posts: 153 Joined: 1/16/2008 Status: offline what t-stat did you use after? and what coolant> _____________________________ 2003 Chevy Impala 3.4 NAIOA FWI V2, ZZP DP, ZZP Voltage Boost and Alt Rewire, K&N RX-4990,Intense-Racing PCM,BBEngineering Impala SS Cluster (in reply to Colt Hero) Post #: 2

RE: '02 Impala (3.4L) Intake Project Complete, but... - 5/8/2008 11:39:27 AM    Colt Hero   Posts: 16 Joined: 12/9/2006 Status: offline I don't have the part numbers in front of me, but I bought the dealer T-Stat because I didn't want to take a chance on installing an aftermarket one and having problems.  It's not that easy to get at the T-Stat on this car after everything is back together. For the coolant, I've been using the Wal-Mart stuff for years without any problems, so that's what I re-filled with.  This way, both of my cars have the same coolant.  This stuff supposedly mixes with any type of coolant, but I always flush and refill with one type of coolant.  Even before the gasket job, I had completely flushed out all the Dex-Cool with several water flushes and re-filled with this green stuff.  Did that about two years ago, I believe... (in reply to HotSauce6226) Post #: 3

RE: '02 Impala (3.4L) Intake Project Complete, but... - 5/9/2008 1:23:32 PM    shawnvw   Posts: 789 Joined: 1/18/2008 Status: offline The coolant could just be some that spilled on the exhaust and other parts of the motor and they are just burning off. You may have emptied the rad completly, but the block was probably still full of coolant. 1 way of refilling the rad when an airlock is suspected, is to fill the system as much as you can, get the motor nice and hot, then shut the eninge down while making sure there is lots of coolant in the bottle. let the engine cool completly(couple hours usually pretty good). after the engine is cooled down, check the bottle again, if there was any major air locks, the cooling system would have sucked the coolant from the bottle in. open the rad, refill as needed, and top up the bottle as needed (in reply to Colt Hero) Post #: 4

RE: '02 Impala (3.4L) Intake Project Complete, but... - 5/9/2008 4:29:52 PM    Colt Hero   Posts: 16 Joined: 12/9/2006 Status: offline Shawnvw: Yeah, I'm guessing it's exactly what you're saying - coolant burning off the block.  But I really didn't spill much coolant - that's what concerns me.  Still - not visible leaks anywhere.  Maybe I'm just paranoid. On the refill, what you said is sort of what I did.  When I couldn't get any more coolant into the radiator and the bleed screw only spewed out a stream of coolant and no air, I slightly overfilled the plastic tank - thinking I was going to be pouring in AT LEAST 8 Qts, so on cooldown the engine would eventually just suck it out of the tank.  Never seemed to happen.  I guess it's full. I'm going to flush it again in a couple of weeks when I change the oil again.  I'll measure what comes out.  Maybe even open the block plugs this time - I've done this before on my Taurus on the front bank.    (in reply to shawnvw) Post #: 5

RE: '02 Impala (3.4L) Intake Project Complete, but... - 5/11/2008 8:05:09 AM    HotSauce6226   Posts: 153 Joined: 1/16/2008 Status: offline i would say coolant still on the block. By the way i would of went with a 180* tstat _____________________________ 2003 Chevy Impala 3.4 NAIOA FWI V2, ZZP DP, ZZP Voltage Boost and Alt Rewire, K&N RX-4990,Intense-Racing PCM,BBEngineering Impala SS Cluster (in reply to Colt Hero) Post #: 6

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