2000 Pontiac Grand Am 6 cyl overheating

[Leojbeg]

2000 Pontiac Grand Am 6 cyl overheating. 130,000 miles. Had intake manifold gasket replaced at approximately 65,000 miles. Not sure if the gasket was a flexpro gasket. Now is overheating. Been adding radiator fluid. Car gets hot but no hot air from the heater. Hear the water boiling from the upper radiator hose near the thermostat and the lower radiator hose feels cold. Water seems to be overflowing at the coolant container. Don't see any leaking at the intake manifold or don't see any milkly liquid on the oil dipstick. I'm thinking it might be a water pump failure. Would the gasket fail even if a flexpro gasket was used?

 

[msmith1956]

Have you checked for air trapped in the system? There is a bleeder screw right above the water pump... you need to open it slightly with the car running, and the heater on to properly bleed all the air out.

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[melsg5]

You may want to rent or borrow a pressure tester to see if you have a new leak somewhere.

 

[Leojbeg]

Thanks for the input msmith1956.

Here's a little more history on this. Got the LIM gasket replaced about 7 years ago. Ran fine up until about a month ago. I noticed the temp getting up to 230 with no heat blowing. I added in about 3/4 50/50 radiator fluid. It ran at 200 with blowing heat but would discharge fluid out of the overflow tube once or twice. This weekend it overheated where I had to pull over and add water. I made it back home. Added fluid and it got hot again.

I'm thinking of changing the thermostat and water pump, but will try the air trap method first.

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[msmith1956]

If you're blowing coolant out the overflow tube from the reservoir, I would suggest having the cap pressure tested or just replace it since it's not very expensive.

 

[Leojbeg]

I bought a new radiator cap and loosen the bleeder screw to remove the trapped air. I drove it a couple of times and the car didn't overheat. The temperature on the gauge points to the line just before 200. I'm hoping this was my problem.

Does the removal of trapped air have to be done a couple of times? Will the system eventually burp out the remaining trapped air.

 

[melsg5]

Minor amounts will come out by themselves, since you are now reading 195 you should be fine

 

[Leojbeg]

Thanks for the advice. I parked my car yesterday morning after a 30 minute drive to work. I thought I heard the cooling system bubble for about 5 seconds then quit. I was thinking that since the cooling system is a closed system, I should not hear any noise from it. That was the where my question about having to bleed the system a couple more times.

I will monitor the coolant level for the next few days and will post an update. I find it helpful seeing other users do so, and I hope my issue as well as it's possible solution helps others.

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