2001 overheating and limiting speed

[carlos1984]

Hi everyone I am posting this for my son who bought a 2001 Montana. I was driving it a few weeks back and it overheated while on the highway, I was goingabout 100 km but when it overheated it limited the speed down to around 60km and no matter what it would not let me speed up. So I drove it a that speed for about 5 mins until Igot to work. I opened the radiator to put new coolant in but it would not let me put any in, so I filled the radiator reservoir which was empty.

That seemed to have solved the problem until today, when my son was driving it and the same thing happened, over heating, limited the speed to 60 km but this time it was overflowing fluid out of the reservoir.

I checked the engine with obd sensor but the only fault i get is p0401 EGR code.
one thing I did notice when driving the van is the temp gauge is usually always low, on my other car it usually sits at the half way mark at normal operating temp.

If any one can give me some advice concerning this issue it would be very helpful. My son just moved out and does not have a lot of money to take it to a mechanic.

 

[Steelcity]

If the coolant is old and is original dex-cool 2(the orange stuff) it tends to gel up and clog heater cores and radiators and will limit the cooling of the system.

 

[melsg5]

Sounds like you have a bad temperature sensor which might prevent the fans from turning on and this causes the engine to overheat.

 

[carlos1984]

thanks for the replies

I called a garage and explained the symptoms, what he told me was that these vans have a well known problem where air gets trapped in the cooling system and prevents it from regestring the correct temp until it is too late, and that it could have a cracked heads. He said to fix it would be around 1700 to fix, more then the van is worth. But to make sure that is the problem he could do a pressure test for 20. So now I guess I will have to do tis test.

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[Steelcity]

Well, that pressure test is a great start, it will tell you if you have a coolant leak and also where it is. Once you find out what and where , you can then make a better decision on what to do. keep the info coming.