Thanks for posting the solution, Jim. It good to know. Chris. Wysłane z iPhone'a Dnia Mar 27, 2011 o godz. 13:50 Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM> napisał(a): > A few weeks ago I wrote about a persistent overheating problem on a > 91 2.1. > Since Christmas, the van has been popping this and that, including a > couple > of coolant tanks. I got the problem fixed shortly after with the > help of the > advice of many and one listmember who sent me a replacement heater and > valve. Here's how I figure what went wrong: > > I pulled up the rear seat to its raised position and saw coolant > dripping > from the heater valve. Pulling the seat to get the heater covers off > is the > difficult part of the job (not really, but getting the seat back in by > yourself is) but replacing the valve is trivial. It was during this > procedure that I came to appreciate Craftsman hose clamp pliers for > the > great tool that they are. No junk here. > > The reason the valve was leaking was that the entire topmost surface > had > been lifted off on one big chunk. I called my daughter, who had been > driving > the car around Christmas time, and she confirmed that she had added > water to > the tank, and then coolant the next morning. Either she was a day > too late > with the coolant or she did not run the engine to mix it, as we had > some > very cold nights around that time. It froze and popped the top off > the valve > the size of a half stick of gum. Where it was parked, she didn't > notice the > drips coming out the side of the car as coolant soaked the floor > under the > seat. > > The car still ran hot after replacing the valve. I removed the > thermostat. I > believe it was David B who said something to the effect that "you can > consider a thermostat damaged after any overheating event." In all > my years > of mechanicing, I had never thought about that. He was right. Upon > examination, the wax pellet that operates the thermostat was visible > on the > outside of the mechanism. Not good. A new thermostat and o-ring > completed > the procedure and the car has run at the proper temperature ever > since. > > Jim |
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