[BurnMac42]

OK my girlfriend has a grand am that for some reason or another loves to overheat sporadically and i mean SPORADICALLY. This thing will be fine for 2 or 3 weeks and then all of a sudden it will spike to red hot temps, shut the car off and sometimes its fine but other times it isnt. It has been to the mechanics three times now and each time they find something else to replace which is beginning to make me think they are incompetent and/or taking her to the bank. I refuse to let her take it back to them and will prbably have her take it to my mechanic from now on (hers has been a family mechanic and her parents take offense for her switching or it would have been done sooner) anyway it has a new headgasket, new water pump, new seals, the only other thing i can think of is simply a thermostat if they did not do it. I am just wondering if a sensor like the thermo or the something is wrong. Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated however if this is yet another mystery problem she might just buy my Xterra and I will come back to either the Supra/350Z crowd or join possibly the Evo world either way its win win for me hehe

 

[BurnMac42]

forgot to mention the coolant levels are fine etc......and it still does this overheating thing

 

[T66Dawg]

Have her sell the POS.

Other than that have the hoses replaced as well. A friend of mine had an 89 Grand AM way back in the day and it was doing something similar. Turned out one of the hoses had a "flap" that had develoed inside the hose (kind of hard to explain) and from time to time it would block coolant flow causing the car to overheat.

 

[BurnMac42]

I will have to check with her but I think throughout her visit to the mechanics most of the hoses were changed. She really wants my Xterra and we are getting married in a year anway so she might buy that from me (i paid cash so i need the cash back to buy another car) and then get myself back into a sports car

 

[Nick 95 6sp]

If the time between overheatings is typically long and not short like a day or few hours, it could be a very slow water leak? ...so that you fill it up, then after a few weeks enough has leaked out that it overheats ...you fill it up and it starts all over again. The leak could be so small that it evaporates before making even a puddle but eventually you loose enough coolant that it overheats. To check, you could check coolant level actually in the radiator every day or other day and see what it does.

 

[BurnMac42]

well her coolant resoivor is really low again, i really think it is potentially her thermo sticking as well.....

 

[cnewingham]

my sister had the same issure with her grand am and when they changed the thermo it was fine again

 

[Nick 95 6sp]

thermostat is easy to check, just put it in boiling water and watch it open, cooler water watch it close ...but it's so cheap might as well replace it if in doubt.