Oldsmobile Silhouette Overheating Issues

#overheating #coolingsystem #carrepair
Oldsmobile Silhouette Overheating Issues
Todays video I am taking on a 2002 Oldsmobile Silhouette 3.4L 3400 that is Overheating at all times. This is a pretty easy engine to work on, but terrible to try and get the cooling system to bleed out all the air, mainly because of the rear air in this minivan. So it took a while to get it to bleed out, but with the help of my Harbor Freight No Spill Cooling System Kit, we got things worked out and this van back on the road.
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[@ryanfoster9863]

Good on you for helping best you could. The junkyard is filled with these U body vans. All rust free with about 170k miles. There are parts galore as nobody else seems to pull parts from them. Crazy comfortable and holds a ton of 10+ foot long lumbar or pipe.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

It was super cool inside the van. I was surprised how nice it was!

[@carlosdj4884]

I'm happy with my 1999 it's almost identical, it has dual AC, TV, Air Ride, nice sounding CD/Tape/ FM, Electric Sliding center door, Factory Aluminum Wheels, Removable Leather Bucket Seats. This 6 Cly has a lot of power even when really loaded. Changed my Engine at 170k miles (broken camshaft), it's now at 243k miles n runs strong, no issues and easily passes CA smog. It's a Great Second Vehicle just not the best gas mileage w the AC on. It still has nice original silver paint, except the front bumper needs buffing.

[@MrMDee-si1bz]

Great! Vid! Dude! Thanks for explaining it an sharing!! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@lynseybennett9979]

I have an 01 same excat van. Mine was overheating and i replaced the water pump and thermostat. I didnt know that bleeding would take that long so was not bled as long as you did. After 2 bottles of blue devil head gasket seal the temp gauge reads fine, but no heat still from heater and the coolant is disappearing. Cant find a leak and replaced water pump gasket. Do i need to bleed the system correctly or could thermostat need to be replaced again? I dont see coolent in oil either. Thanks for any advice and thank you for this video!

[@ryanfoster9863]

Thanks for posting this! I’ve got the same van in dark blue, so any tech posting on the old 3.4 is super! With the same overheating problem I found the intake and head gasket were both leaking (a common problem due to Dex-Cool) so I installed new Fel-Pro gaskets. Did you run an engine block test to also check for exhaust gas in the cooling system? It seemed to burp a lot of gas for a long period of time after it was refilled. How is the van doing after several weeks? Good tip on using a driveway slope. Less work than getting ramps out.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

I didn’t run any additional tests on it. The owner had just moved here and had no money to fix the van. I really wanted to pull the heads and just do head gaskets because it has severely overheated several times so I’m 100% sure it needed to be done. The van went into limp mode a few days later, but I haven’t seen it again. The owner didn’t really take care of it so it could be just about any thing, but it doesn’t overheat!!! 😅😂

[@acousticsoundsgreat5046]

Literally just trying to figure out where all the harness plugs need to go and this dude absolutely blew past showing where any of the plugs come from or anything with the electrical

[@emmettturner9452]

Thanks for posting. It’s the way I know that I’m doing something wrong with my spill-free fill/bleed kit. I got the same kit from Harbor Freight but I haven’t find a combination of adapters that fits this van right (same van). The closest I can get doesn’t actually seal against the radiator opening since there is no spring to hold it down like there is with the radiator cap… so the fluid just drizzles out instead of being held in reserve. I tried using the gasket from one of the other adapters to shim under the cap (both sides of the rubber adapter) and add downward pressure to seal but it still drains out. The kit came with no instructions but logic dictates that the adapters go rubber side down. Only the octagonal cap fits, which looks like the one you’re using. I tried with various adapters that have the same diameter gasket as the radiator cap but the only one that fits isn’t being compressed by the cap piece. The other with the same diameter gasket is much too tall to get the octagonal cap piece over it. I know it’s not easy to communicate here with what adapter piece you used but perhaps you could measure it above and below the rubber gasket? Either way: thanks!

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Your correct on the parts that I used. It was the octagon cap with the small adapters. The only issue I had was the overflow drained back to the cap and caused a leak. Once I clamped the overflow line shut with vise grips I didn’t have any other issues.

[@emmettturner9452]

@@chrisbuildsitall Thanks for the reply. It looks like I have an aftermarket radiator and nothing really fits right. I tried to replace the petcock and they are completely different. I tried to replace the coolant level sensor and it fits but simply will not click in to secure itself (could blow out with pressure). Of course, this also explains why the correct radiator cap fit so poorly. I did eventually get it on with much effort but even then I couldn’t get it off without large channel lock pliers. At least it didn’t leak! Once I got it on and off a few times it became easier but I simply couldn’t do it the first time without getting the brace and electrical box out of the way. I’m sure the tight metal cap from the spill-free funnel chewed down the plastic detents a bit, making subsequent threading/unthreading easier. ;) My overflow line wasn’t doing anything but you can simply pull it up and out of the reservoir to keep it from flowing.

[@emmettturner9452]

@@chrisbuildsitall upon second viewing, it seems yours isn’t tight either. It really is supposed to be turned past the same two detents as the original radiator cap… though it’s much more difficult without a compressible spring. It shouldn’t leaks from the overflow tank or anywhere else if you get that part.

[@emmettturner9452]

I couldn’t turn my thermostat housing lower bolt by hand after breaking loose. :( Took hours to get it backed out… one 32nd of a turn at a time (flip wrench for each fractional turn to get another tiny tweak). FYI, the 1/4 mark on the temp gauge is 185°F, which is the specified temperature for the OEM thermostat. The 1/2 mark is 210°F… so *just* below boiling at sea level if you are doing a flush with water (no coolant to raise the boiling point). DO NOT get the temps up to half way if you are just trying to get the thermostat to open! My thermostat was stuck open but I hadn’t been in to confirm it when I was doing the flush and trying to run water+cleaner through the heater core.

[@emmettturner9452]

Correction: OEM spec is 195°. 185° is available as an alternate replacement.

[@lesliesmith2586]

I have a 2004 Silhouette that the coolant is disappearing also. I think mine has a blown head gasket. I replaced the water pump and thermostat in it a couple years ago. The heater never has worked real well. (Minnesota) Guy I took it to filled the engine with coolant and it runs for a few miles, then heats up quickly. I turn the heater on and no warm air comes out and the overflow has ample coolant in it. There is no smoke from the exhaust and it seems to still have all the power as ever.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

This one doing that also. It took me a couple hours to get it to bleed all the air out. You just got to turn all the heat on front and rear full blast, then put that big funnel i used on with some dex-cool in it and bring the idle up to like 2500rpm once the car is warm, you should see it burb a ton of air out when the fluid gets to the rear heater core.

[@lesliesmith2586]

@@chrisbuildsitall I'll try it and let you know my results. Thanks!

[@lesliesmith2586]

I tried it, following your procedure as much as possible. It was idling and temp rose and the fans kicked in. I had the front and rear heat on high and the temp was rising faster than the price for a gallon of gas. I shut it off and will admit defeat and just take it to the scrap yard. The transmission is on it's way out so we wouldn't have gotten anything for it selling it. Have to remember to cut the convertor off it.

[@cwmaxfield2000]

I have one identical. I love it but working on it there are so many layers to remove.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yeah, fun to work on and lots of extra.. 😅

[@cwmaxfield2000]

@@chrisbuildsitall yah. I label my work bench 1 through and so on then reverse the sequence. Good thing is hold down screws have no rusty threads. 😂

[@adriela1237]

What kind of coolant oil did you use?

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Dexcool

[@brianbutterworth8186]

I assume that link I posted is the funnel you used

[@chrisbuildsitall]

It’s the funnel kit from Harbor freight.

[@stowaway475]

I know thermostat is new in the box but I boil water and put every thermostat I installed in hot water 3 time so I can watch it open and close

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yeah I do that also, something my dad taught me when I was little.

[@gambinored81]

I have a 99 having an overheating issue. Fans not coming on only overheats when sitting still.

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Test fans to see if they are getting power, if not check your relay and your temperature sensor for the fans

[@gambinored81]

@@chrisbuildsitall Thank you💕❤️

[@darrenragan1813]

How do you tell if it's a head gasket issue ?

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Oil in the antifreeze

[@gambinored81]

​@@chrisbuildsitall I have a 1999 Oldsmobile silhouette with an overheating issue the fans are not coming on so I'm going to check to see if it's a relay switch. Second question how do you know if it's oil in the coolant will it eventually blow out white smoke when you turn left or right because mines is doing this after I drive it for a while. I got the Van from my mom when she passed away last year.

[@PsychicPhoenixAngel1111]

Some things are helpful, but when it's sped up, can't see where exactly to do it.wish u showed the steps regularly, which would have been a longer video but how else to show someone how to do it if we can't see it. If someone knew their way inside and out of car but someone who is trying to learn this ,it was too complicated of a example video ,so anyone who doesn't know this vehicle well,( even myself who owns this vehicle) I wish I could have seen how to undo etc but you sped up anywhere I needed to see how to do something

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Yeah, I’ve stopped doing the time lapses in my videos now because of exactly that and just make longer videos.

[@idessaoutlaw]

Not a 13 point 13 mm wrench 😹👌

[@chrisbuildsitall]

Haha - Good catch. Didn’t realize I said that..

[@idessaoutlaw]

Thanks for the video. My son has a 2003 Oldsmobile Silhouette having cooling issues. I'm hoping it's not the head gasket. 😼👍