I had my '48 Buick out for about 90 mins. straight today...outside temp was about 38-40F. Car has the original straight 8. On my way home I could smell antifreeze and thought, what the hell? Sure enough, a few minutes later at a stop light, billowing clouds of steam came from out under the hood. I could also hear an ungodly whining noise (water pump?). I revved up the engine and turned on the heater...it helped while driving, but at every late the same thing happened. I made it home about 15 mins. later and took a look at the engine...the steam was coming from the hose at the bottom of the rad and leaking a bit of fluid...not much though. Any idea what's going on here? It shouldn't be overheating in January, for crying out loud. I've put about 2-300 miles on the car since I got it on the road in December, without this problem. Water pump was replaced last year (NOS), and the coolant was changed as well. Plugged up radiator? Faulty thermostat? My temp gauge is not working, so I can't check the coolant temperature (sigh)... Thanks in advance.
It sounds like thermostat, or radiator! You need to get a working temp gauge for yours and the old straight 8's protection!!
Hard to say...I'll have to go down under there in the morning and have a look. What worries me more is the whining sound that appeared when it was overheating...it may have just been the steam escaping, but it sounded bad and was damn loud. After I turned on the heater it went away....weird. As I mentioned there wasn't much coolant leaking out...I checked the floor of the parking garage after I parked it and there was no trail of coolant. It was dripping a bit after I parked it from that lower hose area, but could a hole that small lead to overheating? And it's funny it took 90 mins. of city driving to overheat...you'd think it would have done it much sooner than that....
it could have been steam escaping, or the pump making noise because of a lack of water.when you got home were you out of water? A small hole won't cause an instant overheat, but steam will pour out whether you overheating or not. I'd replace the hose and fix the gauge and see what happens. i see alot of people over-tighten hose clamps too, which can cut the hose over time and cause steam to pour out.
Silly question but are the belts tightened properly? Are all pulleys tight? Maybe something is coming loose. Check for missing bolts. Some may have been lost from during replacement of the (NOS) waterpump. Just what I would look at before taking anything apart.-Weeks
Had a look at the car this morning....there appears to be no leak in the hoses or rad itself. Fan belt looks OK. I started the engine up and it seemed fine. The coolant (mostly steam) that did come out appears to have escaped from around a clamp at the lower hose.The coolant level was down about a quart, but I don't know how much of that was lost due to overheating yesterday. Admittedly, I hadn't checked the coolant level for a couple of months...in any event, being down a quart or so shouldn't result in such dramatic overheating, esp. in January, should it? I guess I'll have to bring it to a rad shop, but I was wondering what you guys thought would be the likely culprit here...does this sound like what a faulty thermostat would do? The other thing I was wondering about is the rad cap...it's rated 4 lbs psi. Too low, or not an issue? Thanks in advance.
Hey, what do you know about the age of the radiator? With the engine warmed up, and the thermastat open, does the radiator have good flow? Perhaps the core is silted up and needs to be rodded out or replaced? N.O.S. water pump? Good blades on the impeller? Does the engine block have good clean passages for the coolant to flow through? A complete check of the cooling system, with a pressure check of such could yield a bad hose, gasket (head or other) or cold spots in the radiator core that would point up bad flow and cause overheating. Also, is the engine in correct tune, timing etc? Swankey Devils C.C. "It's time for another Tea Party!"
Hey, A quick removal of the thermostat and a test in a pan of boiling water, with a thermometer to determine when it opens, if at all ,will check off that the thermostat isn't the problem. A possible reason that the engine hadn't overheated this winter, with the heater on, is that the heater provides additional cooling via the heater core. When the engine is warmed up, and the heater not in use, the cooling system is called upon to only rely upon the radiator alone. Swankey Devils C.C. "It's time for another Tea Party!"
You can get non contact thermometeres as cheap as 10 bucks at harbor freight, or you can get better ones at Sears or parts stores or the tool trucks. Use it to check for cool spots in the radiator indicating a blockage.
That noise you heard has me suspicious of the water pump. Steam is a symptom- the problem needs to be diagonsed. Buick S-8s typically run cool- it's not like they have a history of leaky head gaskets or anything. If you've got an overheating issue, look in the traditional places (pump, stat, rad) and find the glitch. This is best accomplished by just letting it idle until it gets hot, and then chasing the problem down. A stat is cheap enough to be a good place to start, but I'm thinking that noise you heard is contributing. If you heard a whine, the water pump is a top suspect.
Thanks for the input everyone. One problem may be the rad cap; it's rated 4 lbs psi (came with the car when I got it...never thought twice about it), and I just found out 7 lbs. is standard for straight 8s. The other may be the thermostat...I haven't checked it out yet, but will asap. Hopefully those two things will take care of the problem. Scotch: The sound I heard when it was overheating *may* have just been the steam escaping.....it was only there when the clouds of white smoke came billowing out from under the car, and went away when I revved the engine or started moving. I've since had the car running with no visible/audible problems. If the water pump had a problem wouldn't it act up all the time? I think having the heater on until last weekend may have been masking a problem that was there all along...just got the car on the road in November.
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