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2001 Buick Century Overheats
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Celestialsfire
New User
Nov 23, 2009, 5:56 PM
Post #1 of 4
(10092 views)
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2001 Buick Century Overheats
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2001 Buick Century
3.1 Engine
~95,000 miles
Low coolant light comes on and off at will. Losing coolant out of reserve tank. Losing a little bit of oil too. Now coolant is running out of the radiator a lot more than usual. A year ago had the coolant system flushed out. After I took a trip out of state and came back, the car acts likes it overheats, meaning the temperature gauge on the dash says its hot, but the light indicator saying its hot doesn't come on, nor does steam come out of the car and the car doesn't act up like it has done in the past when it has overheated. Usually when the engine was low on coolant it would jerk when shifting, because it was overheating. In town it used to overheat and on the highway it was fine. Now its just the opposite. It overheats at high speeds but is fine when I stop. Is it the fan belt or the radiator hoses or plainly just the radiator itself? I need to know what I should replace right now to make the most impact.
Thank you for your time.
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Loren Champlain Sr
Veteran
/ Moderator
Nov 23, 2009, 6:17 PM
Post #2 of 4
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Re: 2001 Buick Century Overheats
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Celestialsfire; Oh, I like that name. First, we need to find out where the coolant is going. You cannot depend on the light, or, even the guage. Both require sending units to be in contact with coolant to tell you the truth. Once the coolant level gets too low, they aren't dependable. A cooling system pressure test should answer this question.
Assuming the cooling system is full and all air bled from the system, overheating at speed is usually caused by either a thermostat not opening all of the way or the radiator may be plugged. A rarity, but the impeller on the water pump could be faulty.
Loren
SW Washington
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Celestialsfire
New User
Nov 23, 2009, 8:23 PM
Post #3 of 4
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Re: 2001 Buick Century Overheats
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Thank you for your response.
Another thing I just remembered. When I was returning from my trip, the car started to overheat, so I pulled over the side of the road and looked in the coolant reserve tank. It was filled up with water. I did not put any water in it. I use the 50/50 premixed stuff. How could water mysteriously get into the reserve tank? Is the water pump going bad too?
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Loren Champlain Sr
Veteran
/ Moderator
Nov 23, 2009, 8:44 PM
Post #4 of 4
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Re: 2001 Buick Century Overheats
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Celestialsfire; As the coolant gets hot, it will expand, the pressure will overcome the radiator cap pressure rating and go into the reservoir. As the engine cools, it will reverse, and go back into the radiator. When you have the cooling system pressure tested, make certain that they check the radiator cap as well.
Loren
SW Washington
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