95 Grand-Am Losing coolant

First of all, I want to say I don't know much about cars. Here's what I have. I have a 95 Grand-Am. Recently, I took the car to have it serviced because it was overheating and leaking coolant. As well as the temperature gauge kept raising even if there was coolant in the car, and when you turned it off, the coolant would gush out of the car. So I took it to Pep Boys (which I will never do again) and they replaced some hoses and the radiator. (They said it the old one had a hole in it.) So I get the car back and it runs fine. It's not over heating, the low coolant light is off, and everything is good. Then about a week later, the car started overheating again. But this time, there was not coolant leak, on the ground that is. The coolant seems to be disappearing from the car. I can't find a visible leak on the ground. So I take the car to my local Pontiac Dealer. I figure, hey the experts can fix the car. Well, needless to say, they have replaced some more hoses and said that should fix the problem. Well it hasn't. The car still overheats, but there still is not leak anywhere on the ground for the coolant. However, I am having to put coolant in the car every 4 or 5 days in order to keep it from overheating. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Reply to
jamz
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Any coolant showing up in your oil? Sounds like maybe a head gasket problem. Coolant does not leave one location without showing up someplace else.

Gotta watch the new motors with overhead cams, they need to be monitored.

Reply to
jwebster

You need to say what engine you have. GW

Reply to
Geoff Welsh

If you have the 3.1 V-6 it is most likely an intake manifold gasket problem. The coolant is vaporizing on the hot engine before it can run to the ground. It is a very common problem and the exact one I had in my '95. I was only losing a quart a month and did not have an overheating problem.

Other lesser possibilities include 1) a failed head gasket which would cause the coolant to be burned in the combustion chambers. Usually though, this will cause a significant amount of white smoke, or steam to appear in the exhaust; or 2) a cracked block which should also have some visual signs which would be hard to miss.

Lee

Reply to
Lee C. Carpenter

What about the other possibility? A leak in the heater core? Though here the symptom is fog out of the ac vents when you turn the ac on.

If it isn't showing up on the ground, I would vote for it going into the oil, there the symptom shows up as foamy oil.

Reply to
john graesser

If he's losing enough coolant to cause overheating, the oil would be trashed by now.

Isn't the heater core inside the passenger compartment anymore? I remember an old Chevy Citation I had that had a core leak. It leaked onto the passenger floor.

Lee

Reply to
Lee C. Carpenter

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