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87 GL cooling system bugs


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Ok my GL is starting to bug me. If I dont keep moving the car likes to overheat because its always low on coolant. I am not sure where it disappears to (I dont SEE any drips under the car, but with it raining all the time right now I really havnt checked much) I have not gotten the temp above 75% of the way to the red so I havn't totally cooked it or anything.

 

I figure the coolant loss could be due to any of the following:

 

Hose leaking (though they were all replaced by me like a year ago)

Leak from base of carb/top of intake (it HAS done this before)

Head gasket

Cracked head :(

Intake gaskets (new as of WCSS5)

Hole in radiator (its only 5 years and like 60K old though)

 

My temporary solution is just to carry afew gallons of 50/50 mixed (cheap) coolant with me until I find out where its all going

 

Thanksgiving I will put it in my parents garage and top it off then run it without the skid plate to see if I can see where its going

 

It could be steaming it out the exhaust, though in the winter most all cars have a little cloud behind them. And only intermitently. Well my car has an intermitent cloud, sometimes not there, sometimes kinda big.

 

One more thing... sometimes the idle changes a bit, (like maybe water is dripping down into the intake or something) Would water going from the head to the combustion chamber change it too?? or would it have to be dripping in at the intake?

 

When I keep the coolant topped off or keep moving the car stays nice and cool, it just heats up when its low and not moving (duh) Its WHERE the coolant is going thats puzzling me.

 

I'm so confused :cornfuzz:

 

The engine will more likely than not be yanked and torn down, but any guesses on what it could be??

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that would be awesome if it was the water pump, that would be such an easy swap compared to yanking the engine. (pump was last done about 4-5 years ago) I dont think the O ring was changed, im not really sure though I had a shop do it back then.

 

Actually, the water pump idea kinda makes sense, maybe the higher RPM's of driving keep it spinning fast enough, but its crapped out enough that it doesnt move enough water to keep the car cool when idling.... that and its probably leaking somewhere too.

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The problem is almost similiar to mine(86 GL-10 TUrbo). I just put a new thermostat in cause of a wierd heating issue. The temp would go up to the red for a couple of minutes, then drop down to normal. I also changed out the temp sending unit. Its still doing it, along with a loss of coolant(you can smell it after driving). I have replaced most of the hoses on top with silicone, but havent changed the return for the turbo. Theres no change in the way it runs, and doesnt act at all like its overheating:cornfuzz: I guess I'm going to have to crawl underneath and have a look at the water return hose:-\

Rob

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