Engine over heating

Tiny
CHERYLYN STACEY
  • MEMBER
  • CHEVROLET TRUCK
I had a major tune up done in February on my 1985 Chevy C10 half ton. One of the things done was a radiator flush and change of coolant. According to the work order, a pressure check for leaks indicated there were none.

Six weeks later my heater began to behave irratically. I'd have heat for the first fifteen minutes or 2 miles (approx.) And then none. Having spent so much on the tune-up, I put off seeing to this--just no money left.

There was also an intermittent sound when I stepped on the accelerator, sort of a muted iron- filings- in-a-tin-can sound. I put having my under-carriage checked on my to-do list.

About 40 K out on a highway my oil light came up and I pulled over immediately. The oil, which I'd changed recently myself, was fine but my coolant reservoir had boiling coolant in it. (At the same time, the noise I'd attributed to my undercarriage became much louder.) About 5 liters of water got me where I was going and back home again without further problems.

The mechanic who'd done my tune up says the clutch on my radiator fan had gone. My Chev manual has nothing under troubleshooting or Fan clutches to back up the diagnosis.

I'd really appreciate any light you can shed on what happened!
Tuesday, April 17th, 2007 AT 12:50 PM

2 Replies

Tiny
BACKYARDMECHANIC
  • MECHANIC
  • 337 POSTS
Here is a simple way for you to check to clutch fan. With the car off and at normal operating temperature try to spin the fan by hand and see how much it spins. If the clutch fan is good you should feel resistance when you attempt to spin the fan. It should not spin freely. Also with the the car cold spin the fan and you should feel little or no resistance when attempting to spin it. One other check you can do is to observe to fan with the car at idle and see how the fan is spinning in relationship to the motors RPM's. While watching the fan throttle the motor up slowly and see if the fan increases speed along with the engine. If not the clutch fan is bad. Good luck and I hope this helps
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Tuesday, April 17th, 2007 AT 1:13 PM
Tiny
NEWBURG
  • MEMBER
  • 20 POSTS
Now i'm not a mechanic, nor do I play one on tv but over the years i've learned that the way gm cooling systems work. If you have a leak you'll notice a no heat or hot then cold air from your heater. That doesn't help much in the summer but if you notice no heat check your coolant as soon as it's safe to do so.
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Friday, April 20th, 2007 AT 7:23 PM

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