Saturday, January 27, 2007

car

pb shut off his car in the garage today and it sounded like boiling of something. we were baffled. we just sat there for over a minute listening. then he popped the hood. it only took like a minute to actually pop the trunk. it was still boiling or sounding like that. we deduced that the noises were coming from the coolant container. what do you think this meas? PB could see that there was still coolant in it but we couldn't find the lines that it shows how high the coolant should be for a warm car or a cold car.

9 comments:

  1. russsss (LiveJournal)January 27, 2007 at 11:08 AM

    Sounds like it may be an overheating problem. Keep an eye on the gauge next time the car is driven. My 89 camaro did the same thing, moreso after I drove it hard, but it can probably still happen in cold weather as well, after normal driving.

    Keep in mind, after the car is shut off, the engine heat will continue to go into the coolant. The fan isn't moving to cool the fluid in the radiator, and the water pump isn't moving to circulate the fluid.

    One thing to think about is that the radiator cap creates pressure in the system to raise the boiling point of the fluid. However, once the car is shut off and the fluid continues to increase in temperature, the pressure may be great enough to open the cap and allow some fluid to escape into the overflow container. Now the fluid went from, say, 30 psi to 14.7 psi, and the boiling point is much lower because of that drop in pressure. Therefore, what was liquid in the radiator is now steam in the overflow bottle and will bubble (boil).

    As I said, my old camaro did the same thing when I would drive it hard, because it would get very hot. It was hot enough that it would begin to boil in normal atmospheric pressure. I'd guess that it was probably 220 degrees or so. Just a guess. If your coolant level is correct, and your temperature gauge doesn't climb too high (above 200-210), you're probably fine.

    Another thing to keep in mind is not to run straight coolant. Run a 50/50 mix or a 70/30 mix. Water is much better than antifreeze when it comes to absorbing heat. Also, 100% antifreeze has a freezing point of only 10 degrees F! With a lack of water, the heat absorbing efficiency is greatly reduced as well. Some people assume that if 70/30 is better than 50/50 for winter protection, then 100% antifreeze must be the best. Not true. Make sure you top off the fluid level with pre-mix. If you have a jug of straight antifreeze, it must be mixed before being added to the system.

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  2. smilincolleen (LiveJournal)January 27, 2007 at 11:48 AM

    i was hoping you'd reply


    i dont know what's in the car. whatever it is is from when he got the car or when he took the car in for service. but i dont know when that was either. he has to make an appointment becuase in the hard rain a few weeks ago he got in the car and water was pouring out of the console in the ceiling that has the button to open the sun roof and the buttons to open garage doors. he could also use his oil change and get his inspection

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  3. russsss (LiveJournal)January 27, 2007 at 12:24 PM

    i would never turn down a post like this.

    i'm sure whatever was in the car was the correct stuff. if yinz decide to keep a bottle of antifreeze around, i'd get a pre-mix bottle. It's ready to add right from the bottle. you also need to make sure you put in the correct type. there is pink antifreeze and green antifreeze. The pink stuff is for the newer vehicles and is made to work well with aluminum components. i'd say there's a 95% chance his car requires the pink stuff. You could tell easily by looking in the radiator. There's also a company that produces a fluid that can be used in any year/type of vehicle. That fluid has a clear color with a slight green tint.

    hmm, i didn't know his car had a sunroof. i'm surprised i didn't notice that when i saw it. or maybe i did notice but forgot since then. yea, some of those vehicles with a sunroof, or convertibles, or cars with t-tops have problems with leaks in some spots. my car has a slight problem that is out of the way for the most part, but still needs fixed.

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  4. smilincolleen (LiveJournal)January 27, 2007 at 1:05 PM

    we used to have to keep coolant around becuase it'd go empty in the frog* like all the time

    *in case you forgot the frog is pb's old station wagon


    i overheard people talking that have a malibu maxx and they were saying their roof leaks. i heard this when i parked beside them and when i was like 15 ft away they came out and noticed and they one questioned the other saying "i wonder if they have a problem with their roof leaking"

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  5. smilincolleen (LiveJournal)January 27, 2007 at 1:09 PM

    so apparently we're slackers and we have like no pics of pb's car. we have pictures of the odometer at some keep mileages. we have 2 pics of the day he got the car. they are in the dark and only from the driveway after he parked it.

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  6. russsss (LiveJournal)January 28, 2007 at 12:45 AM

    i know when you got your car, you took pictures of nearly every angle. even the engine compartment.

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  7. smilincolleen (LiveJournal)January 28, 2007 at 3:12 AM

    actually i didn't have a lot of pictures. you told me to go back and take a few more things while everything was still clean.

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  8. russsss (LiveJournal)January 28, 2007 at 1:36 PM

    hmm, well it's a good thing i said that. you have plenty of pictures of your car cleaner than it will ever be again.

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  9. smilincolleen (LiveJournal)January 28, 2007 at 10:03 PM

    i did take a lot of random things liek he door and the shifter but you had me go back and get some more engine ones.

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