02 chevy venture overheating after lots of work
March 14th, 2017, 11:22 AM
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02 chevy venture overheating after lots of work
Last April my 02 venture overheated it was the thermostat. I did an overhaul and replaced all the tubes, water pump, temp sensor sending unit, and thermostat. After this it was still overheating and I noticed I had bubbles in my overflow tank. I changed the headgaskets the bubbles went away and it seemed to be doing better for about a day.
The van was still getting hot 200°f-250°f. I could run the heater and it would cool down fairly easily and it seemed to heat up the most at highway speeds so this lead me to believe it was also a clogged radiator. This last weekend I put in a new radiator and thermostat (to be safe) and I'm having The same issues.
The van operates at highway speeds at 203°f at a 60° ambient air temp and 212° At 90° ambient air temp. At road speeds (35-45mph) 198°f at both 60° and 90° ambient air temp.
My father in law is insistent that you can't mix max strength dex-cool and distilled water 50/50 when adding new coolant. Which is what I did after changing my head gaskets. Is this the case and do I just need to get my system flushed and refilled to fix this issue?
Anything helps, thanks.
The van was still getting hot 200°f-250°f. I could run the heater and it would cool down fairly easily and it seemed to heat up the most at highway speeds so this lead me to believe it was also a clogged radiator. This last weekend I put in a new radiator and thermostat (to be safe) and I'm having The same issues.
The van operates at highway speeds at 203°f at a 60° ambient air temp and 212° At 90° ambient air temp. At road speeds (35-45mph) 198°f at both 60° and 90° ambient air temp.
My father in law is insistent that you can't mix max strength dex-cool and distilled water 50/50 when adding new coolant. Which is what I did after changing my head gaskets. Is this the case and do I just need to get my system flushed and refilled to fix this issue?
Anything helps, thanks.
Last edited by Russel Finehout; March 14th, 2017 at 11:51 AM.
May 18th, 2017, 3:10 PM
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Radiator fan power connector
Look at the pins on the radiator fans careful and see if they appear melted. Mine would not kick the fans on sometimes. As a temporary solution I would leave the ac on and that would normally make them run. Hopefully this Info helps. I replaced the three relays and still the fans would turn on intermittently.
September 9th, 2017, 3:50 PM
#3
While GM specifically states that you should never mix one type of coolant with another, a lot of people have the opinion that Dex-Cool shouldn't be mixed with radiators or cars in general.
October 23rd, 2017, 12:58 PM
#4
I flushed the Dex Cool (orange coolant) in favor of the standard green coolant. I have a buddy mechanic who swears he's taken off aluminum cyl heads that have been eaten away by it but I have yet to see it.
I went through this overheating issue with a fine tooth comb on my 04 Venture. I have the service manual which helps a lot. My temp gauge would climb once in awhle and my radiator fans never would turn on. Tested fan motors, wiring, temp sender, etc - all good. Accidenly shorted the two wires on the temp sender when i was probing them - fans kicked on! Ended up being temp sender although it tested good.
However, these were designed to run hot. The fans do not turn on until 230F. It takes approximately 45 seconds to 2 minutes for the engine to drop down to around 200F. I logged this on my scanner and actually have a video of it. The temp gauge readout is a stupid mystery to me. 3 or 4 dashes to the right of the center of the temp gauge is about 230F on mine.
At highway speeds I would assume it would run under 195 due to the thermostat opening/closing. The water pump could be at fault if it is not circulating fluid well. But it could also be a clog, etc. I never have experienced a clogged cooling system. I usually flush in both directions with a hose adapter ($3 - $4 @ Wally World).
I went through this overheating issue with a fine tooth comb on my 04 Venture. I have the service manual which helps a lot. My temp gauge would climb once in awhle and my radiator fans never would turn on. Tested fan motors, wiring, temp sender, etc - all good. Accidenly shorted the two wires on the temp sender when i was probing them - fans kicked on! Ended up being temp sender although it tested good.
However, these were designed to run hot. The fans do not turn on until 230F. It takes approximately 45 seconds to 2 minutes for the engine to drop down to around 200F. I logged this on my scanner and actually have a video of it. The temp gauge readout is a stupid mystery to me. 3 or 4 dashes to the right of the center of the temp gauge is about 230F on mine.
At highway speeds I would assume it would run under 195 due to the thermostat opening/closing. The water pump could be at fault if it is not circulating fluid well. But it could also be a clog, etc. I never have experienced a clogged cooling system. I usually flush in both directions with a hose adapter ($3 - $4 @ Wally World).