secorbust

06, 3.9, Turn AC off, engine overheating, Temp guage stays on cold


<HR style="COLOR: #333333" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->So my car has been overheating or so the message center says. The car would run this message and I would check the coolant levels. I put maybe a cup of coolant in the fillerneck and it would be full. The car is not overheating. The temp guage has acted a little funny. I disconnected the battery and cleared the computer and the car would function fine for a time. Now disconnecting the battery and clearing the codes does not change the state of this message.

Through a web search I found other questions that are similar to my problem. The car does not appear to be overheating and after having the code read yesterday the code says that the engine is not reaching operating temperature, but everything seems fine.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...6183955AAzB3Xz

http:wiki.answers.com/Q/2006_chevy_i...he_problemp://

http://www.justanswer.com/questions/...-start-the-car



http://www.impalaforums.com/chevy-im...f-message.html



Possibly related/unrelated is the fact that the remote start is not working. The lights blink just like they did before but the car doesn't start. I do have some corrosion on my battery cable that could be the cause of some of the problems.

secorbust

No hits - zero, thanks forum.

It appears that it is my thermostat. When the temp guage works it shows that the car is not reaching operating temp even after 10-15 mins idle with the cooling fans unplugged or 15 mins on the interstate. I think that the thermostat is stuck open.


A new thermostat from GM is $53.00 and the gasket is $8.30, lol! No wonder cars are so expensive. You'd think that the American public was asked to bail them out or something.

When I put it in the shop for warranty repairs, should I ask them to check that the ecm is up to date, for recalls, and etc?

Peruvian

I wouldn't think it would be under the manufacturer's warranty since it's post 3yr/30k. Do you have an extended one?

secorbust

Urgh! Yes I bought an extended powertrain warranty from my bank. It was way cheaper than the one from chevrolet 4-$500. I had not planned for the cost of the warranty when selecting my car. 4 years 74K that was supposed to be added to the previous mileage 28K or so. The warranty has been bought and sold by another company and now they say that my warranty is only to 74K- 86 on clock now. I have to call my bank Tues and straighten this out.

Update: It warmed up yesterday and the temp guage started working. I plugged my fans back up and had Autozone clear the code. It has behaved since then. Here's what I think happened. The thermostat was/is stuck open. The car eventually tripped to default safe where the fans run constantly and the temp guage does not register. It finally warmed up enough that the car did not trigger the default safe mode and I cleared the codes.

If I get the warranty stuff settled I'll let Chevrolet do the work as I also need a ball joint replaced. If I do it I don't know whether to find an aftermarket thermostat or to use the $56 dollar one and the $8.30 gasket, sheesh.

BTW: Who is running dexcool? I wonder if the corrosive props of dexcool had anything to do with my thermostat sticking.

Gwampa

$53.00 and $8.00 for thermostat and gasket......you gotta be kidding me! If you don't go and buy a good Stant and gasket, you seriously need to contact my shrink. He'll relieve you of your cash just as fast and you'll get something for it. Dexcool is good. Just ask MDTahoe. He made a believer out of me, and check the pressure cap. OK?