**** did I blow a headgasket? Overheating fun in this thread.

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KyleH

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Yesterday I was stuck in traffic idling stop light to stop light. It is 97* outside. My A/C needs to be recharged. The car overheated. I opened the top and of course it boiled over big time . (I know I wasn't supposed to, I don't know why I did.) Luckily I pulled over in a kmart parking lot so I bought a gallon of coolant and drove home (a few miles)

I don't think the fan is coming on. Today I drove it (I didn't know the fan probably isn't coming on until today.) I stayed below 2000RPM driving and it almost overheated again when I hit a heavy patch of traffic very close to home. At one point while driving it also kind of fluctuated very quickly in temperature. It went from about normal to high (not quite in the red) quickly then dropped to normal very quickly. I just looked at the fan for the plug and one of the terminals looks burnt. The fan does seem to spin freely. I will change the oil and filter tomorrow and check for coolant, but what do you think is causing the fan to not work? Burnt relay, burnt terminal or something else?

I have also added almost 2.5 gallons of coolant at this point. I will drive for a while before it will fluctuate like I mentioned and then say low coolant. I am hoping to god that its because of airbubbles trapped in there and not that its eating coolant because of a lifting head or bad gasket. :(

What do you think my problems are here? Just an air bubble and connector or a bad relay and bad head gasket?
 
First, stop driving! Never EVER drive a car with a cooling problem. Ok, rant over.

Temperature fluctuations are caused by air in the cross-over tube. The sensor is picking up hot air, them some coolant, and so forth. This is because the coolant is boiling. At this point coolant is no longer getting across the tube. In effect, the car is no longer cooling and the temp sensor is not a reliable measurement due to its location.

If the fan does not spin freely, replace it. Odds are thats the problem. If you let it go too long it may blow the VRCM. $$ The fan does not cost a ton, cheaper than a new engine or car.

What you will need to do is replace the fan. 20 minute job if you never have. Then you need to follow the "burping" directions to get the coolant back in check and air out of the system.

After that keep an eye on things, like the exhaust. If its smoking you may have blown a head gasket. If not, keep your fingers crossed for a couple hundred miles.
 
I can get a new fan from Jamie shipped here quickly. I had supercharged the car a while back. My radiators is moved forward and I can have the fan in and out in 5 minutes easy.

The fan seems to spin fairly freely. I have a second fan (my original one) in my garage but it is hacked up. I can still use it to test if that fan is bad though.

I saw no smoking, I will be changing my oil tomorrow. The plug looks burnt though, so I may need to replace it. If the fan motor is in OK shape, what is likely the next culprit causing it not to turn on? Where is the relay for the fan? I looks in the fuse box but it didnt mention the fan in my owners manual.

Car is a 98 by the way.
 
if the fan is good next thing i would go after is the vlcm, ( vcrm on earlier models ) i have those too for your year.
 
Its almost 2 am am, the only time in a Florida summer where you can work on cars. I would say its about 85* right now too. haha

Anyway down to business. I once read on here that if the car is on Max A/C it will turn the fan on no matter what.
Test 1) I turned the car on Max AC and plugged in my for sure working second fan. Nothing. 2
Test 2) Car on Max A/C, test light to obviously burnt fan plug. Nothing.
Test 3) Check fuse 23. Fuse 23 is good.

I will call Jamie tomorrow for a replacement plug but in the mean time, I cant seem to see my VLCM. How hard is it to pull out and replace?
 
Bought the parts from Jamie, took out my VLCM. Going to change my oil and filter in a minute. Not having the diffuser on the bottom made that a ten second job :p
 
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