need help finding antifreeze leak on 95 Camaro

[sixpack_sid]

I have a 95 Camaro with a 3.4 liter engine, automatic. It's been overheating lately, and I topped off the antifreeze and changed the thermostat, but it still is overheating after only 15 min. of running it and I'm not getting any heat out of the heater. After the car warms up, I see puddles under it. It's been too dark to check it out when it happens. Any ideas on what it could be? I'm ready to get rid of it! I'm tired of freezing on the way home from work.

[Silver R/T]

You sure water pump is working?

[1969chargerrtse]

So you work less than 15 mins from home?  Cool.  Yeah non movement of the water pump would certainly do that, but I've never seen a water pump spin and not cycle water? You could have 2 issues. One being a part of the head gasket has opened up and the compression from the cyl's is sneaking into the water jacket/area heating up the antifreeze and causing it to over heat and the valve that opens water flow to the heater core is off/broken.
Also the radiator could be clogged limiting water flow and causing the overheating and again something is limiting water flow to the heater core.  When the car is hot feel the hoses to the firewall for the heater core and see if they are hot?

[Cooter]

3.4? Well I think a better question would be where these DON'T leak coolant if not flushed regularly...If the coolant looked/looks like River mud then it could be anything from the lower intake, to the freeze plugs in the rear of the engine....You really didn't state WHERE the coolant puddles were..(IE Front of engine area, middle, rear)..IIRC, the 3.4 was nothing more than a stroked out version of the ever popular POS Chevy 2.8 V6 and those were turds in the worst sense..

 Yeah non movement of the water pump would certainly do that, but I've never seen a water pump spin and not cycle water?

Yes, Again, the coolant turns into an acid based material when left in the cooling system for years and years until when you open the rad. cap, it looks like River mud...This Acidic sludge eats all the vanes off the water pump and while it still spins and doesn't leak, it is worthless...VW's had a huge problem with there's as the vanes were PLASTIC...It usually WILL circulate coolant, but at Super high RPM...

[SRT-440]

Yea I always heard the 3.4 had some issues...I had a '96 Camaro with a 3.8 and it ran great and had decent performance.

[sixpack_sid]

So you work less than 15 mins from home?  Cool.  Yeah non movement of the water pump would certainly do that, but I've never seen a water pump spin and not cycle water? You could have 2 issues. One being a part of the head gasket has opened up and the compression from the cyl's is sneaking into the water jacket/area heating up the antifreeze and causing it to over heat and the valve that opens water flow to the heater core is off/broken.
Also the radiator could be clogged limiting water flow and causing the overheating and again something is limiting water flow to the heater core.  When the car is hot feel the hoses to the firewall for the heater core and see if they are hot?

Actually, it's 40 min drive, the first time it happend I checked it out the next day found no leaks. I topped off the fluid ran it for 20 mins worked fine but at night I warm it up 10 min before coming home after 15 min. the car gets hot.Igot home last night and it was leaking out of the over flow I topped it off and went in to work, everything was fine, no overheating, the heater blew hot air. When I come back home is when it starts giving me trouble again. It overheats after about 15min. and no heat thru the heater.

[elacruze]

Mid-90's GM products had trouble with the long-life coolant reacting with casting sand poorly rinsed from the blocks/heads. The chemical reaction between the two created a sort of glue that plugs water passages between the block and head at the gasket. GM released a service bulletin (which should have been a recall IMO) detailing the process for the dealer to flush the cooling system, which required some sort of nasty stuff and about 8 hours to do by the book.

I found out about this and immediately changed over my mid-90's GM to green coolant. I discovered later upon pulling a head (not coolant related) that the passages were about 50% blocked.

[Tilar]

Yes, Again, the coolant turns into an acid based material when left in the cooling system for years and years until when you open the rad. cap, it looks like River mud...This Acidic sludge eats all the vanes off the water pump and while it still spins and doesn't leak, it is worthless...

I've seen this a number of times on the Cummins engines. Nice thing is that you can change the water pump on one in 30 minutes or less.

[sixpack_sid]

Yes, Again, the coolant turns into an acid based material when left in the cooling system for years and years until when you open the rad. cap, it looks like River mud...This Acidic sludge eats all the vanes off the water pump and while it still spins and doesn't leak, it is worthless...

I've seen this a number of times on the Cummins engines. Nice thing is that you can change the water pump on one in 30 minutes or less.

That sounds like it may be my problem. I am going to take the rad out tomorrow and get it checked for leaks. While it's out, I'll replace the water pump.  But what do I do about the "river mud" in the system? I'm in PA and the temps aren't going above the 30's. I don't think I can run a garden hose thru it. Do they sell stuff at the auto parts store to flush out the system?

[Cooter]

MY experience is once it's in there, it's done...We've flushed and flushed cars like this at the shop to no avail...Just simply waited too long to service the cooling system...You do reallize that once you plug up/clean out all the gunk and leaks, freeze plugs, headgaskets, intake gaskets, heater core, etc. are next to go...Weakest link....You could try some of that cooling system flush from NAPA in the YELLOW bottle, but I think it's time you looked for another car...I wonder how many here drain and flush the cooling system Every year like it should be?

[Tilar]

We use that system flush that Cooter mentioned and it's really pretty good stuff. I'd still flush it out while you have it apart before you use the system flush.

While the radiator is out and you're going to have the water pump out anyway, you can pull the thermostat out and put a hose in where the thermostat goes and backflush the block. This will get quite a lot of that crap out. Then once you get the radiator back in you still leave the thermostat out, Put the hose down the radiator and start the truck. This will let the pump push clean water through your heater hoses and heater core. Then when you put it back together I'd just put water in it and use that system flush and when you're done and drain that out refill with a good GREEN antifreeze.

I wrote this with the cummins engine in mind but it should still work with that Camaro.

[sixpack_sid]

Well, after reading Cooter's post, instead of wasting time pulling it all apart, I took it down to the garage and found out it's the head gasket! I was worried about that. It's also leaking from the timing cover, and the mechanic said it will just get worse. With 181k on it, I don't think it's worth putting money into. I thank you all for your posts. Looks like I need to look for another car. Maybe Santa will bring me one for Xmas--oh S&!T--I haven't been THAT good!
Sid