Hello all,

Please forgive me first of all. I'm relatively new to the automobile repair world, but I'm slowly learning, so take anything I say with a grain of salt.

I'm having an issue with my '96 Sable overheating. It happens relatively quickly, within about 5-10 minutes of it being throttled. Temperature gauge goes off the chart. The engine begins to sound like it's a diesel engine at that point and the oil light triggers.

Plugging in an OBD-II produced a P0117 code, which I know is the electric coolant temperature sensor. Erasing the code is only temporary until the engine heats up again.

I just replaced the thermostat hoping that was the issue but no luck. Coolant seems like it's circulating fine.

Any ideas as to what I should check next?

Thanks!


(This post was edited by adamr on Apr 18, 2009, 8:42 PM)

I did a bit more looking around and I want to confirm a theory.

At this point, I'm thinking it might be a blown head gasket.

After I drained the coolant to replace the thermostat, obviously I filled it back up. After I took at 15 minute test drive (which I referred to above), I let the engine cool off for a few hours before starting it again. Upon doing so, pretty much all of my coolant was gone. I'm sure there's no leaks in the system.

Looking at the exhaust, there is steam coming out.

Can anyone confirm or deny this possibility?

adam; For some reason, these are one of the hardest to bleed the air out of the cooling system. The mention of your coolant disappeared is probably that it 'worked' out some of the air in the system. For testing purposes, you can use plain water. Continue filling the cooling system. If you can get the nose of the car up as high as possible, with the heater running, will help. Watching the temp guage, once it reaches 1/2 to 3/4 on it's way to hot, you can shut it down and let it heat soak for 15-20 minutes, then go again. Takes patience. If you do have a head gasket leaking, which is very possible, you will get bubbles constantly from the radiator. These bubbles can be tested with an exhaust analyzer for HC, or chemically tested with a product called Block Check. (sic?) Make sure that the cooling fans come on before it gets very hot. By turning on the A/C or putting the heater into the defrost mode, they should come on.
As far as the 'steam' out of the exhaust, some is completely normal. When the fuel burns and goes through the catalyst, in turns into CO2. Not to mention the normal condensation. When a head gasket 'really blows', it will leave a cloud of steam behind you so bad that you can't see the cop that's trying to pull you over.
Good luck.
Loren
SW Washington

Try removing the thermostat and test driving with out it. These cars are also odd about fluid flow. They will seem to be moving enough water but are not. If the car dose not over heat with the thermostat out there is a good chance that the impeller on the water pump is worn. If it is worn away but not gone it will move enough coolant to keep it cool when the restriction from the thermostat is removed but not when it is in. Good Luck

Jeff